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.

[kellibabylove]

I chose mornings for both of mine. I feel that if they were to go in the afternoon we would be waiting all morning to go to nursery, not really having the time to go anywhere.
We wouldn't be able to plan a day out after nursery, when the rest of the day is ours.
I also think it helps with the transition into reception, as at least the time they walk to school will be the same, its just a case of being in a different class.

[LittleBairn]

running worryingly she was actually a very senior HV. And while it was clear that some of children (out of 50!) came from chaotic families many just came from normal but poor families.

It was actually the speach therapist that worked out of the nursery that went off record and told us to get him out of there the issue was the staff not the children. But we had already worked that out anyway after catching them out in a lie when they blamed another little boy for lying when he told his parents about a serious violent incident that was hushed up.

The kids I look after now have done both morning and afternoons in a different nursery. I haven't noticed anything different in terms of care and types of families that use it. Maybe it's because the staff have 45 mins before each session and use it for a quick quite lunch and a tidy up there is more of a separation in the sessions and they get a bit of a break.

Personally when looking at a nursery I find the best are always those without high staff turn overs along with a lot of older women with excellent experience working along side younger staff with lots of enthusiasm and new ideas.

[RunningAgain]

I chose the afternoon session because I was working evenings at that time. Thankfully I'm not a junky! What an odd HV you must have LittleBairn. All the other parents seemed perfectly normal too, in fact a large percentage of them now have children at the school, so have to get up in the morning now anyway. Maybe they've got clean since last year??

[sweetkitty]

There's a definite split in the mornings and afternoon groups at our nursery. The teachers say the afternoon children do tend to come from more disadvantaged families who can't be bothered getting up in the mornings (don't know what they do at school).

I've actually asked for 2 full days for DS but don't know if ill get them, the 3 DDs were all mornings.

[LittleBairn]

I was once told by a HV that all the kids from Junkie parents were given afternoon places due to not being able to pull themselves together in the morning, so best avoid. I pointed out it was the parents that were junkies not the kids! He attitude is, would I want to stand beside them each afternoon?

I do believe she was trying to help, my charge had physical developmental problems and she was concerned he wouldn't get the attention he needed in the afternoon class. He went for a year before his parents pulled him out, nothing to do with the kids (who were fine) but everything to do with the NN and teachers who were negligent.

[teacherwith2kids]

Running, that was the same at our pre-school. 'Core' staff stayed for both, while in the morning there was a nursery nurse who specialised in working with the younger ones, and in the afternoon there was an ex- secondary art teacher who had a special focus on the older ones and preparing them for school.

[RunningAgain]

At our nursery, there were different staff for the morning and afternoon sessions

[AllPurposeNortherner]

We did afternoons as I wanted to do mornings doing educational stuff at home, but as soon as I could I swapped to two full days instead. I don't like five half days as I found it too tying - we didn't have time to go anywhere, so they were only seeing the nursery, home, and very local things, and obviously museums etc are full of noisy kids at weekends.

[Strikeuptheband]

But really don't worry about whether am or pm is better educationally - they're at nursery doing finger painting, not PhD nuclear fission

[FamiliesShareGerms]

Afternoon slots an be a PITA as they cut across the day and limit what else you can do (how much of an issue this is depends on what else you get up to). But really don't worry about whether am or pm is better educationally - they're at nursery doing finger painting, not PhD nuclear fission

[StickyProblem]

We did 1pm till 6 with DD from the age of 3. She got no writing practice because they did that in the mornings, but she spent ages in the garden and had a riot. It fitted better with us as a family. Starting school was a bit of a shock with the early mornings, but the earlier finishes means it soon settles down.

[WhispersOfWickedness]

Our preschool is open monday mornings, tues, weds, thurs all day and Friday mornings. You can choose any amount/combination of sessions you like Had no idea that this wasn't the norm! Obviously this is dependant on if each session has enough space, but it's undersubscribed so I don't know anyone who's been refused their choice yet. DS goes two full days and a half day. It's great, I much prefer the full days as it means I can do something more meaningful with dd in a full day and means more days when he doesn't go to preschool at all so can go out for the whole day somewhere

[hels71]

Well where I live there are no nurseries attached to schools.If you want a pre school you have to go to one of the privately run ones where mostly it's first come first served on places.....so you could have 5 mornings, or 5 afternoons, or 5 full days (9-3) or a couple of mornings etc.....or end up with nothing if you are not quick enough. (There are also two day nurseries offering 8-6 care...)

[mrz]

The nursery school my children attended did the opposite way teacherwith2kids. Younger children in the afternoons, changing to mornings and staying for lunch to prepare them for starting school.

[teacherwith2kids]

Our local pre-school (from 2.5 to starting school) used to keep morning sessions for the younger ones, and then for the year before they started school they went to afternoon sesions.

'Twas brilliant. Completely different activities and ethos in the afternoons, no younger children needing naps, more adult-led stuff, lots of joint work with the Reception class of the school etc.

[WildRumpus]

I think it really depends on your DC. Round here you don't really get a choice. All nursery slots are filled and you take what you are allocated. Both mine got afternoons. They are both born at the same time of year but v different children. DD was fine - loved it. DS is often asleep by the time we get there (they won't take him asleep - I've had to turn round and take him home again a lot) and v often goes off to sleep in book corner or sometimes just in the middle of the floor. Poor child really isn't getting much out of his year at nursery.

[ReallyTired]

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.

[orangepudding]

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!

[MortifiedAdams]

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.

[indyandlara]

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.

[tri10]

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.

[tethersend]

The best is when they give you a full time place

[LowLevelWhinging]

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?