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?

You answered that like a true opposition politician, basically just didn’t answer it 👍 what do you plan to do about it then? Write to an MP? Become a childcare provider yourself?

I agree with you @PartyRingaRosie
that in Scotland the provision is supposed to be primarily about nursery and early years education rather than just straightforward childcare (and the SNP government trumpet it as such).

Therefore yes LAs should ensure that there is adequate provision available for all

10 miles away is not adequate provision.

LA’s don’t have sufficient budgets to provide all services where the public would like them.

And yet the SNP claim this as a flag ship policy.

Early years education is a legal right in Scotland. It’s not about where the ‘public would like stuff’.

OP is quite entitled to feel that her child is missing out through inadequate provision and frankly a complete failure to properly implement this.

I have answered.. your concern is a non-issue. I was only half joking when I said people start hunting for childcare the minute they see a positive test. Parents are desperate for affordable, accessible childcare and it’s been the way of it for years. Worrying about unused spots is like fretting a shop won’t sell when there’s a queue 2 miles long out the door.

I’m just trying to access ELC funding for developmental purposes exactly what the government says it’s for. I’m not sure how me becoming a childminder would solve a UK wide problem. Hell, the government doesn’t exactly need to reinvent the wheel, they can just take a peek at countries that actually deliver on childcare.

And yes, I’ve written to my local councillor, who agreed our provision is rubbish and is taking it forward, though maybe they’re just humouring me, who knows!

The OP isn’t being denied it but there isn’t availability where she would like it.

.. Therefore commitment to providing ELC and opportunities to support parents sustaining work is not being adequately met.

Where we are if you tell the nursery you are funding it all yourself they give you priority over those using government funded hours.

That’s how we got a space at our fantastic local nursery.

It is being provided but you don’t want to travel a short distance for it.

That’s becoming more common as the government funding isn’t sufficient for the nursery to financially remain in business.

10 miles along a rural road in the opposite direction of my work is a short distance?

Gosh, I can’t keep repeating myself. Yes, they technically provide the hours, but the provision is not truly accessible and therefore does not fulfil the intent of the ELC funding.

Everyone is always talking about how difficult childcare is, but when anyone raises the issue, they are berated for whining. The declining birth rate alone should be enough to show that the government is not doing enough to make childcare genuinely accessible.

What do you plan on doing about it?

At this point I suppose you have to decide if the added time to your day driving is worth helping your child’s development by going to nursery as that’s what you believe the value is to attending. My boy went two days a week and it has helped him immensely to mix with those his own age so I would recommend it. In the meantime get on a waiting list (or two!). Kids move house, drop out for other reasons etc so it may be this extra driving time is very temporary. I would say it’s worth it for them to attend a couple of days a week.

I’ve written to my local councillor and MSP. I don’t expect change from just my one complaint, it takes more than individual effort. These issues are about policy and infrastructure, and if more of us speak up, they’d be harder to ignore. It’s not a competition about who had it tougher.. real change comes when we push together.

Nurseries don't have catchment areas the way that schools do, so children don't always go to their closest nursery. Parents choose nurseries which are convenient for their work/commute and not necessarily in their own LA, although Edinburgh has recently pulled the plug on funding nursery places for families outwith its council area because so many families were commuting into Edinburgh from other areas and it wasn't financially sustainable for the council to fund all these nursery places.
One of my DDs was in a P1 cohort which had attended 16 different nursery/preschool settings. We were in South Lanarkshire and as well as our own LA area, children had attended nursery in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire because of where parents worked.

People are being deliberately obtuse OP, just ignore it. You’re right to be annoyed. We get the funded hours a year later than in England and yet still the implementation of it in Scotland is terrible, moreso if you’re rural.
We have the lowest birth rate since records began and an aging population with not enough people paying tax; the free childcare hours absolutely should be a priority to get parents back into work. Should note the recent changes to deferral will be having an impact on nurseries also; anyone can defer if aged 4 at start of term in August, and will get another year free childcare hours, hence more kids than ever before not moving on from the nurseries into school/freeing up spaces. Another ill thought out and poorly implemented policy.
Travelling 10 miles is not worth it; if you’re delayed or stuck in traffic in either morning or evening rush hour you could be late for work, or worse late to collect your child in which case a private nursery would fine you. If you don’t have to do this then I wouldn’t. FWIW the biggest benefit my kids got out of nursery was socially at the local one, getting to know the other kids before school. Otherwise developmentally I didn’t see a huge developmental advantage of nursery over general socialisation and varied activities/learning at home. Perhaps more important from age 4 onwards, so I’d keep them on the waitlist.

In our (urban) LA, you put down in order of preference the 3 nurseries you would like a place at and you get assigned one. For us there are 4 maintained nurseries within a 15 minute walk, so while we would prefer the school we are P1 catchment area for, it’s still possible to get an ELC place.

It sounds like it might be similar for you, but unfortunately living rurally has meant that your third choice is not accessible. I think you are best off writing to local councillor and MSP. Have a lot of new houses been built near your town? Is there something that explains why the two LA nurseries are no longer sufficient? Should a third have been built or the existing 2 expanded?

The Nordic model works because it provides incredibly cheap childcare and everyone is expected to use it from age 1 or so because that enables both parents to go out to work, pay taxes that pay for the provision.

Here we have the opposite. State run nurseries that are utterly useless for working parents as they only provide a few hours a day from age 3. If our state run nurseries were open from 8-6 and provided childcare from age 1 only to families of working parents (or parents actively seeking work) our local authorities would be able to plan better and the country’s tax take would be higher. Private nurseries would be a thing of the past.

Yeah, I don’t get why people think our dysfunctional system (which is clearly not working) is the only option. We could just nick the Nordic model, they seem be doing just fine..

Our village has been massively expanded over the last 15 years with no new school/nurseries, no extra GPs, nothing for elderly care. It’s the same old story of houses being thrown up without the infrastructure to support the families moving in. I’ve written to my local councillor and MSP (not that I expect fireworks from one complaint) but honestly, more of us need to speak up. If we all agree this system is such a grind, why are we just putting up with it?

My kids are several years past nursery age now but I couldn’t have used the council nurseries at all as the hours are useless if you work full time. I did indeed put my kids names down at our preferred private nursery from when I had my 12 week scan - that’s just expected in the city I’m in.

In this situation I’d just join the wait lists everywhere as you don’t need it for childcare and look at other opportunities for socialising - forest school and clubs and such. Sounds like you have a couple of years until school so plenty of time to get some nursery time in next year.

of course it’s not ideal and of course I’d rather it worked better but the list of things that need to work better is pretty endless!

Personally it feels like they’re combining two very different things - childcare and education. You can’t meet the needs of all those setups in one place really. If you’re encouraging people back to work school nurseries really need to have better hours. If it’s for socialising there’s no reason for it to be long days - a few hours is plenty. Combining everything together means it’s not great for anyone.

That would explain it! Can you get together with others in the village to bring more attention to the lack of services put in for the new housing?

Have you tried a nursery near your work?

I know lots of people that used to do this so they didn't pay the nursery for travel time, didn't have to worry about train strikes/delays and getting late for pick up and got to spend more time with their DC.