Private schools - funding for Reception Class?

[london20]

I think this has been mentioned on MN before but I can't find the thread. Is it true you can get funding for children in Reception class in a private school while they are under the age of 5? My dd starts Reception in September and as she is an August birthday she will be 4 for the entire Reception year. If it is true - does anyone know whether it applies to all indie schools and how does it affect the fees (i.e. how much money off!!). Thanks if anyone can help.

Just noticed you also mentioned increasing your dd's sessions at nursery - I would if I were you. Cutting excessive after school clubs is also good plan. And after all, we get longer hols so plenty of time to relax and then do extra-curricula holiday clubs. Mine do swimming intensives in hols, and dd1 does drama intensive.
And a bit later up the school they have so many opportunities for great clubs and things, that it cuts down on the taxi-ing that us poor parents need to do after school.
oh - another tip - be brave about turning down after school playdates when necessary for your daughter - explain that she's tired but you'd love to get together in the hols instead. Ditto birthday parties - Reception gets crazy as so many kids invite whole class or whole year - we want family r&r at weekends, so turn quite a few down.

Knowing letters and writing her name is more than enough academically - indeed that will be ahead of some. And it's not important compared to the self care stuff as others have said.

Ds is summer-born and will be totally fine academically but I am starting to stress about the fact he still refuses to put his own shoes on, struggles with socks, can't do zips and can't wipe his own bum.

Five months to go so fingers crossed we sort this out.

Thanks so much for your messages. I feel much better about it all having read all your responses. DD is actually quite good at dressing/putting on shoes etc - although putting on the various items of uniform might be a different matter and we definitely need to work on using knife and fork properly

I would agree with the fact that it doesn't matter if your DC can't read or write at all when starting school. DS could hardly hold his pencil when he started school at 4 1/2 let alone write anything. He hardly knew any phonics before starting school.
Once at school he picked up the phonics very quickly and now in yr 2 is one of the good readers and does very nice cursive writing. Even his spelling is coming on. I was so worried about him when he started school but it has all come together by mid year 2.

DD will start in September - will be 4 1/2 by then. She can write her name, copy other letters and is trying to write numbers. (all done at nursery as she just plays at home). I will be interested to see if this makes things easier for her when she starts school. She is also good at the practical things like getting dressed, doing buttons, zips etc and eating with a knife and fork which DS struggled with. I don't know if she will turn out to be more academic..I've a feeling that it might just be that girls are more interested in writing and better with fine motor skills at this age, whereas boys just want to run around and play.

Does this scheme apply only for England or does it apply for Wales?

I am not sure SAMS. I called the school that dd is due to attend in September today and they informed me that they do not participate in the scheme. Said it was something to do with having to accept non fee paying children or something. Didn't really understand. Oh well - looks like we will be paying the full amount every term then.

Yes happywomble maybe you are right that girls are more interested in writing etc. DD is only 3 1/2 at the moment so she is still very young. I am sure she will be more ready for learning etc by September. Do let us know how your dd gets on when she starts school.

Oh thats a pity london20. I've heard that the government have placed more restrictions on how the vouchers can be used by nurseries/schools in the past few years and were threatening to stop nurseries/schools charging any top up fee, which schools could not afford to comply with. I don't know quite where the legislation has got to but luckily my DD has had the nursery grant at her private school.

I am sure your DD will be fine with the academic side of starting school at 4 but I expect it will be tiring for her to do full days at just 4. Maybe if she starts getting really tired you will be able to collect her early sometimes. Hopefully there will be a bit of flexibility from the school.

"whereas boys just want to run around and play".....let's just roll out the stereotypes again....simply not true ime. Sorry to pick on this but I am getting really tired of all this stereotyping of boys as ALL boisterous little things who can't sit still.

how much a term roughly is the fees if you get £500 off?

camembertandcranberry - where did I say that my son was supposed to be sitting still? At his nursery the children had a lot of free play and were not required to sit down much. Whenever I popped in the boys were always happily running round the garden. I was just pleased that they could be themselves, and were not pushed into writing before they were ready.

I think you have an unpleasant agenda and are looking to pick holes in peoples posts.

The essence of my post was - not to worry if your fb doesn't have amazing writing before starting school ..it will come..so sorry that my experience fits a "stereotype" in your opinion.

LMummy - it varies so much between schools that it's hard to say. Round here typically fees are about £2500 to £3000 a term for reception before the discount.

Happy - I really don't have an unpleasant agenda and am sorry if it came across as nastiness. I did however have an agenda in my post though yes - in that I'm getting really tired of all the stereotyping on MN of boys as these crazy boisterous people who cannot sit still. Some boys are like that but so are some girls.

But maybe I should start another thread about that as it's totally off topic.

There are no 'non-fee paying' children at ds's school. I would speak to the LEA as they would be able to tell you the qualifying grounds. All of the private schools where we live take nursery funding.

Yes might check with the LEA re funding but when I called up the school said they had had a number of enquiries about this matter and that they had looked into it and decided that they could not participate.

camembertandcranberry - I thought that all evidence points to the fact that the vast majority of boys are more physical, need more space and find it more difficult to tackle fine motor tasks - particularly at Reception age. Of course not every boy meets this description but the majority do so that is probably why so many people on MN refer to boys in this way. My friend is a teacher in the state system and seems to have endless training sessions on the difference between boys and girls and how to teach accordingly.

Ds is energetic without being boisterous. Definite difference between boys and girls at this age which I've not noted before.