Moving from nursery at school A to different primary : any advice?

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Hi all. I wondered if anyone that has moved their child from a nursery at one school to a different school for primary education has any advice. I am feeling absolutely awful about moving when DC has started to put down roots - and experienced some of school life here. There’s nothing wrong with where DC is and I keep thinking why am I moving my happy child that is doing well. Worried to disrupt DC’s confidence. But thinking of the next 7 years and the other school feels it would be better for DC as DC grows and more aligned to us. DC won’t always be little and key stage 2 will come round quickly. And if we’re ever going to move now’s the time.

I viewed this as nursery only but we have gotten very attached. Have many others made the move between a nursery at school A to school B for reception and onwards (both are very close by) for primary. Do you have any advice on how to prep? Do I need to explain why he can’t continue with friends if the question comes up?

Any advice or experiences or stories to make me feel better would be really useful. I am so close to asking if DC could stay at school A but keep telling myself to keep moving forwards and don’t look back

Yes with both my kids, but I never sent them to a school nursery as needed all year round so they went to a private nursery/pre school and then we chose a primary school. School.anf nursery/pre school are 2 completely separate things

Hi yes that makes sense. This is going from a nursery at 1 school to another school for reception and onwards, so not private nursery

Loads of children will be joining reception not having attended the attached school nursery. It will be absolutely fine (and I say that as someone who attended three different primary schools and two nurseries myself).

They will probably invite you and your child to a visit morning to look around the class, meet the teachers etc. so take pictures, to talk about later . She will be fine.

Please don't feel guilty. So many children do not attend the same school as their nursery friends and, when the time comes, he'll be absolutely fine. By Christmas, you'll be wondering what you were worried about.

You've made the decision for a reason. Focus on those reasons, as you are totally right to put the next 7 years ahead of one or two nice years at nursery.

Yes he's happy here, but there's nothing to say he won't be happy at the new school. Keep the change as positive as you can, treating it as an exciting new adventure.

Worth taking a look after other threads asking very similar questions lately. The long and short of it is that they will settle and probably forgotten they were even at the other school by Easter!

This has good advice :) Am trying to find the other threads I mentioned- i think at least one has been deleted :(

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/primary/5538960-didnt-get-the-primary-school-place-we-wanted?page=1

We’ve done this with our eldest. And his sister will be doing the same move in September. It was absolutely fine, he settled into new friendships relatively quickly and barely asked about the other nursery children. He’s in year 1 now and doesn’t seem to remember much of nursery and is really happy at his school. I think if the new school will suit you better in the long run you should go ahead as he will move on very quickly. We didn’t really do anything special to prepare him for the move, just made sure that he understood he would be going to another school with different children so it wasn’t a shock.

We did that with both children. Neither knew anyone and it was 100% fine. They’ll make new friends very quickly. Neither of my children really remember much about nursery friends now.

Lots of schools don’t have nurseries and lots don’t sent their children to nursery so it won’t be an issue.

Thanks this is true. Irs more the change of environment knowing that DC could have stayed on when most friends are - that is on my mind

We get a blank face when we mention nursery now after 2.5 terms, and this is a child with a great memory who was totally invested in her pre school life.
I get that a school nursery is slightly different as you typically expect children to stay, but they will be totally fine at a new school.

Kids move all the time, don’t overthink it. The days of staying in one place are long gone, even if you don’t move many of their friends will.

Hi! Oh that’s great to hear it was fine, so was this a move from a school nursery to reception at another school?

Oh that’s great. So this was from a school nursery to reception at another school? Glad to hear it went well

Yes it was a school nursery. He was the only one who left before reception. His current school doesn’t have a nursery, but about half of the kids came from a local private nursery and he was able to make friends with loads of them really quickly. I think at that age friendship is very fluid.

Thank you for sharing this, has really reassured me . Sounds like your experience has been positive and that your boy is happy

Also - @Vot78 did you find it hard/ emotional at all? I feel the last day of term will be tough for me and don’t want my child to feel it!

Yeah it has been very positive so far, hoping it’s just as smooth for his sister 🤞. I was a little emotional, they did a graduation for them all during the last week which made it seem very final. He wasn’t emotional at all though, I don’t think he really understood what was happening.

DD's year (60 kids) came from 30 different childcare settings. Most of the others from her preschool went to the linked school which we hated (we also massively disliked the linked juniors, which really wasn't great, and factored in our dislike, not wanting to change after y2 and the fact that our (oversubscribed) catchment school was much better suited for her). The preschool wasn't a school nursery, but privately run on the school grounds. It really made no difference at all, and she made firm friends quickly that have stuck into y1.

We ended up better off as most parents I know who sent their child to the other school dont speak particularly highly of it, and are starting to think about having to apply for juniors now, with very few options. I have had messages asking about DD's school as an option (no space, unfortunately), as they have seen how she has flown academically, how many more opportunities they provide which exceed where they are, and how nurturing it is.

Hi! Thanks this is really helpful to hear. So they were at a nursery in one school and then did their primary school in another? Do you have any tips for the transition?

My eldest went to reception from a different nursery, where no one else went to the same school as her. Loads of kids came from different nurseries. It wasn't an issue at all and we just had one transition morning to prepare. It wasn't an issue at all and she barely remembered her nursery after half a year.

I am in the same situation as you, moving a child from a nursery attached to a school to reception at a different school. We had initially planned to keep stay at the current school which is a lovely place but have decided to switch for various reasons. It is difficult as we had talked to our child about their future there and they are very happy going in every day. However we all feel positive about the new school too and to be honest they are still so young at this age, they will be excited by a new playground / new things to play with / different classroom! Is there a play session or meet the teachers event you can go to at the new school? I think this really helps to reassure, and just be as positive as possible. I was really anxious for a while when we made the decision, but feel much more comfortable now.

Hi. Thanks so much for sharing this. Really appreciate it and so glad you’re feeling less anxious about it. I know . You’re so right about making it positive and the exciting things ahead. Any tips about talking it up positively? I’ve spoken to my child about it a bit in an excited way and thought over the summer if ramp it up. We have a meet the teacher/ intro to the school later this month so looking forward to getting to that xx

Don’t forget that the summer break is long for small people so it’s not like he is leaving one place in a Friday and going somewhere new on the Monday.
Obviously speak positively but don’t ramp it up too much. In my experience it is best to be quite matter of fact and low key about school starting. If you hype it into a big deal emotions run too high and there can be a crash.
Hopefully there is some kind of open event that you can visit and maybe take a couple of photos to refer to over the summer but please don’t worry.
Friendships are so fluid and easily made at this age. Probably slightly harder for you if you have met some nice people at his current nursery but there will be others and you are so right that KS2 comes round so fast.