Is Mornings the preferred Nursey slot and if so, why?

[MortifiedAdams]

just picking a slot for dd and I tend to work lates a few days a week (in addition to a few full days), so think PM nursery is preferable so we can spend time together in the mornings.

However, everyone I speak to advocates Earlies and is of the impression that Lates are just full of kids who either didnt get the AM slot they wanted or have lazy parents who dont want to get out of the house early.

I wanted mornings so that we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted. It also got them used to being up early for when they started school. It's down to your own preference though so if you want afternoons choose them.

Our PM children are often ratty and tired. Not all of them but a big difference to the ones we have in the morning sessions.

I would have preferred mornings but when we moved during ds' preschool-ing the closest (an probably best) was full in am. I went with pm and its been great.

We still do stuff in the morning, or laze about in pjs sometimes. And best of all so far dd naps while ds is at preschool so I get an hour a day to get stuff done or chill! :)

Afternoons are no bad thing for us! :)

I wanted mornings for DD because she still napped in the afternoon until she went to school.......I am going to choose afternoons for DD2 because she doesn't need as much sleep and the place is quieter in the afternoons so she should get more attention.

As a teacher you are fresh first thing and so is the classroom. I have never felt the pm session children get such a good deal as I have already done 4.5 hours at school and the classroom is never as clean tidy and inviting. All of my nursery staff agree we wouldn't want our children in pm sessions. Behaviour is always much worse in the afternoon too, the children tend to be more ratty with each other.

Our afternoon contingent are better this year than before

But I agree about the setting being trashed in the morning

We always find the afternoon sessions much harder going. The children are tired, tend to be younger and often still really need that nap they are missing. Morning sessions tend to be calmer and much more productive.

Mornings are preferable as children have better concentration. Agree with other comments too. If you are going to do fun enriching activities with your child in the mornings, then opt for afternoons if it would suit your family better. There may be smaller numbers in the afternoon which will be a plus.

I wanted mornings but got afternoons and it worked out great.

Almost all the playgroups were in the morning so we did a playgroup then lunch then they went to nursery.

Got so much more out of the day.
I went to playgroup with all 3 then dropped the eldest two into nursery then dd3 would have a nap.
As I was pregnant with ds then it worked perfectly.

Now all out at 830 for school run no more taking our time!

oh no maybe I should change it? i figured it would be better to have her with me in the mornings but if ots more beneficial for her to be at school as she is freshest then maybe I should swap?

although girls makes me think otherwise

dd has her biggest nap in the morning but she is only 16mo so that could change. We also do do toddler groups etc.

Do what's right for you and your child. If you do not need to be up and out every weekday morning from nursery, it may be nice to have more relaxed starts to the morning. As an infant teacher, I would always go for the morning nursery slot, however, for educational reasons.

We started off with afternoons but it didn't work for us so transferred to mornings when a space became available. PM nursery started at 12.15 meaning lunch had to be 11.30am as DD a slow eater. She was still full from breakfast so never really ate much. It worked much better for us in the morning.

Hmmm... I want to do the best for her amd hear what you are saying about AMs being best.

This is so hard.

Both of mine did afternoons. We could either arrange to meet up with friends or do something in the mornings, or opt for a lazy morning.
Also, whilst ds was at nursery dd was a tiny newborn so it took a lot of pressure of the mornings.
Ds still needed an afternoon nap but after a few weeks at nursery he swapped to a morning nap before dropping napping alltogether.
I did ask for a morning slot for him, but was given afternoons and it worked out fine for all the reasons mentioned above.

With dd I chose afternoons as we would be up and out taking ds to school and then head off to the pool or somewhere with friends before taking her to nursery. She is December born and thus a bit older in the school year so for her afternoons was fine and a good preparation for starting full time school the following year.

I never noticed the staff being tired or the children being ratty with one another.

We chose afternoons for DC1 and DC3. They're older in the year, had both long dropped their nap and were able to carry-on with ballet/gym/singing/football/playgroup in the morning and then go to nursery in the afternoon. DC2 is summer born and still needed his nap in the afternoon, so for him we chose mornings.

Mornings are defintely more popular at our school. The reasons seem to be; children less tired, fits better with younger child's routine, get nursery out the way and then have the rest of the day free, child still needs an afternoon nap.

I've worked as a nursery teacher and in pre-schools and I still chose afternoon sessions for my DS as I wanted to be able to carry on going to all our lovely toddler groups in the mornings. I guess other things being equal I'd possibly marginally favour the morning sessions for the reasons several have mentioned. But other things aren't always equal so I think it very much depends on what's going to suit you and your child. DD also went to her maintained school nursery for afternoon sessions as she went to an excellent, small, private nursery for morning sessions. She was tired but happy !

eh?

um, this is all news to me (on DC3)

don't you just get what child care fits with your job and family? And as long as it's a good nursery, with good people providing care, then, that's what you do?

does afternoon Vs morning really matter in the bigger picture?

do you, as an adult feel you should have had morning sessions when you were a pre-schooler? REALLY?

The best is when they give you a full time place

I started off with a combination of mornings and afternoon when dd1 was three and dd2 was a new born and at that stage afternoons were definitely better but have now switched to 5 mornings as I work 3 days a week it's nice to be able to do something in the afternoon as with morning you only really have 2 hours from when things open to when they need too be having lunch.

We wanted mornings but got pm. So glad now. We will be able to carry on with a relaxed time in the mornings all the way until compulsory education. There is a mix of ages in the afternoon and the kids are not noticeable ratty. I'm a teacher and haven't found pm in nursery to he worse. During change over the room is set up again and is never trashed for the pm kids. Do what seems to fit your family best and don't stress which is best.

How do you get a FT place?!

I suppose it doesnt matter in the overall picture but I would like dd to have a good work ethic and attitude to school and wouldnt want to put her in a session that might hinder that.

she is december born, didnt consider how that would make a difference.

I preferred mornings with my first as it gave us time to go out later in the day of we wanted to.

My third was the only one who did afternoon nursery. It would have been easier to drop them all off in the morning as by the afternoon he wanted to stay home. Also he had to have lunch around 11.30 due to the afternoon session time!

I wish that school nursery could offer 3 days of five hours rather than 3 hours on five days. Lots of mums just spend their days constantly doing the school run. I also think it would be better for the children who find themselves having to drop of big brother in the morning, come back in the afternoon and then walk back afterwards.

We got afternoon nursery and it has definate advantages. The pupil to teacher ratio is far smaller and the older school children come and play with the younger children in the nursery during their lunch hour and golden time. Dd is able to do activites like swimming or gymnastics in the morning.

I feel schools should make sure that there is a mixture of families at both the morning and afternoon sessions. Afternoon nursery has a disportionate number of children with special needs, a disportionate number of children from challenging backgrounds and a disportionate number of summer born children.

I think it would help if schools made the home visit before deciding which children were in the afternoon nursery and which children were in the morning nursery. Some children would really benefit from being made to get up in the morning and other (september born) children would benefit from being forced to give up their afternoon nap.

Ie. we know an October born child whose mum lied argued heavily for morning nursery by falsely claiming her daughter needed a nap. My summer born daughter didn't get mornings and last week fell asleep during the nursery session.