Rejected from nursery - please help!

[PartyRingaRosie]

My DD has just been rejected from our local nursery (literally a 2 minute walk from home) due to capacity. I called to ask about alternatives and was told the 2 other nurseries in our village are also full. The only option they could offer was waiting to see if a space becomes available at another nursery 10 miles away.

I’m really upset and worried about this. It’s not at all practical for us to be driving 10 miles each way before work every morning, and I’m also anxious that if she can’t get into a local nursery now, she may struggle to get into the local primary when the time comes.

Has anyone been in this situation? What did you do? Is there anything I can do to challenge this and push for a place locally?

Are they private nurseries?

3 nurseries in the village, 2 are LA and 1 private - all at capacity!

Nurseries near us are similar, I couldn't get Dd2 into the one at my sons school site and I had registered when 8 months pregnant!
We ended up in another in our town.
I would suggest putting her on the waitlist for all nurseries in your town and see what comes up when. In the meantime is there a childminder until a spot becomes available?

Your DD has not been rejected. You have failed to research/apply for the childcare you need. That's not the LA's problem to solve.

I posted on your other thread.
For Primary School, your Local Authority will offer a space at your catchment school. This is a legal obligation.

For nursery/pre-school you have a choice to use childminders, private nurseries or LA nurseries but if they are full they are full. You need to get her name down on some waiting lists.

My sons went to nurseries 10 miles away, I worked it into my day, mind you I was a shame, so I can imagine it would be really difficult for you.

Sahm not shame!

How long is it until you go back to work? It’s normal to put them on the waiting list easily a year before hand in many areas

You haven’t been rejected - the nurseries local to you are full. There is no appeal process. We had to put our names on waiting list whilst I was still pregnant to get nursery spaces for DT’s when they were six months old.

You’ll just have to make it work. Everywhere here is crazy busy because of the funded hours for super young ones now. It never used to be this competitive here.

If they are full then they are full, there’s really nothing at all you can do other than add yourself to their wait list and if a space opens up then take it. There is no pushing it through, full = full.

Have you maybe left it late? I know I put my daughter’s name down at nursery when I was about 5 months pregnant, currently 32 weeks with baby number 2 and his name has been down for nursery from about 20 weeks.

How old is your DD and when are you wanting her to start from?
If this is nursery in the sense of attached to a school for the year before school start, because now you're getting free hours, and it's just for her benefit, then don't worry, this doesn't make a difference to school applications. But now you know, so be organised with open days and get your application in on time. Carry on going to whatever parent and toddler groups and activities you have been to entertain her.

If by nursery you mean childcare for a younger child, because you are working, then you will have to find an alternative. Ie childminder, nanny, relative, alter working pattern to allow parents to share the childcare.

I applied to private nursery by 20 weeks pregnant for my youngest as knew about the funding competitiveness. She started at 12months of age. That is completely normal practice, here in SE England at least.

I’m also anxious that if she can’t get into a local nursery now, she may struggle to get into the local primary when the time comes.

You’ll be fine for school, it’s catchment based so she’ll get a place in your catchment school.
Nursery is not catchment based in most areas so it’s 1st come 1st served. I was told it was unlikely DC would get a place and to look elsewhere. I just kept her name on the waiting list and she had a place within a few months

Hi all, I X-posted in AIBU for traffic so apologies for repeating myself here.

As @HiCandles mentioned, this nursery place is not necessarily for childcare, it’s for DD’s developmental benefit now that she’s entitled to ELC funding.

Myself and DH have juggled childcare between ourselves up until now so there has been no need to apply to a private nursery. I applied to a nursery attached to a school and you can’t apply to these any earlier than the short application window prior to their 3rd birthday (which I did).

On the other thread I’ve been reassured that school zoning doesn’t affect school applications, which has lifted a worry I had. That said, I’m still disappointed with the situation. My options are to keep DD at home and continue juggling childcare with DH, or accept a nursery place 10 miles away which would add 40 minutes onto each side of my commute. Realistically, we’ll probably stick with the former, but I do feel she’s missing out on time with peers at an important stage.

Most posters on AIBU think I’m BU and entitled to expect a space at a local nursery, but I honestly don’t see it that way. The government pledged ELC funded hours both to support children’s development and to help parents sustain work. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect local authorities to deliver on that.

She’s still eligible to go to a private nursery with funding though isn’t she? Nursery further away won’t stop you working, you just have to leave earlier.

Yes, the funding exists, but my point is that it’s not being made genuinely accessible by local authorities.

On my other thread there are lots of stories of parents running themselves ragged before and after work to travel to ELC placements miles from home. I don’t understand why this is largely accepted. I get that this is the current reality, but that doesn’t make it right, and it shouldn’t go unchallenged. The whole purpose of funded hours is to support children developmentally and give parents a better chance to sustain work. Technically the hours are being provided, but if the placement is in an inconvenient location, the funding no longer serves its intended purpose.

It’s like being given a free bus pass but the nearest bus stop is a 10 mile walk. Sure, the bus exists, but it’s not actually accessible.

Why does it need to be a local authority nursery and not a private one?
Local authorities will provide services only if there is sufficient demand - a falling birth rate means less places are required.

Are there any closer private nurseries or childminders?

What about nurseries closer to yours or your DH’s workplaces?

It doesn’t need to be a LA nursery. There are 2 LA nurseries in our area and 1 private nursery - all 3 of these are full.

The next nearest LA and private nurseries are 10+ miles away.

Do you live rurally? We were central London so plenty of options but huge waiting lists.

Keep your name on the waiting lists. You might get lucky.

Are you suggesting that the local authorities should be providing and holding open spaces at nurseries specifically for the children of parents who don’t need the childcare?

Where did you get that idea from?

I’m suggesting that LAs should ensure there are accessible local spaces so all families can actually use their ELC funding. If the only available spaces are far away or difficult to reach, the system isn’t fulfilling its intended purpose of supporting parents to sustain work.

But if all families don’t take up the spaces the. They’d be holding open spaces for families that don’t want the childcare. How can they force more childcare provides to open or expand?

I find it really confusing that everyone seems to agree you basically have to start looking for nursery spots the moment the pee dries on the stick because spaces are so limited but then in the next breath say we can’t expect LAs to anticipate uptake. Accessibility is prerequisite to uptake. It’s not just about whether families want childcare, it’s about whether they can actually get it.

If LAs provided enough local, accessible spaces, more families would use ELC funding, which is exactly the point: helping parents stay in work. Without accessibility, we’re stuck in a vicious cycle where childcare is expensive and hard to get, so parents (usually women) reduce hours or leave work, and the policy goal of ELC ends up failing.

Look at the Nordics: when early years provision is well funded, plentiful, and local, uptake is high even for very young kids. Accessibility drives participation, not the other way around.