Pre-Schools what are they and where do they fall into the education system? (U.K.)
- Thread starter lopsidedbunny
- Start date
Cloo
Approved by toads
I'm just looking in to pre-schools at the moment - Ez will turn three shortly before I go on maternity leave and will be eligible for free childcare hours from two months after I go on leave (ie, when I stop being on full pay). As I understand it, the 'free' allowance doesn't add up to a whole heap of beans if taken off the costs of a private nursery, like the place she's at right now, but at a school-hours type place, could get her two or three longish sessions for nowt, which would be handy during my leave, as I definitely want her to continue in childcare a few days a week, but it seems nuts to pay for nursery if we don't need to. So I'm looking into whether she can change over to a pre-school setting in September.
Problem is that I'll almost certainly go back to work before she starts school, so the question is how do we deal then - I'm leaning towards sharing a nanny for #2, for at least a year or two, as that would still allow Ez to stay at a pre-school, and cover her care either side of the school day. Given that my salary nothing like covers two lots of childcare.
Problem is that I'll almost certainly go back to work before she starts school, so the question is how do we deal then - I'm leaning towards sharing a nanny for #2, for at least a year or two, as that would still allow Ez to stay at a pre-school, and cover her care either side of the school day. Given that my salary nothing like covers two lots of childcare.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
My daughter does the two and a half days nursery. They are amazing, a million times better than the pay nurseries I have had her in. She is learning to socialize and they teach her all sorts of useful stuff that I can build on at home. The whole thing has been really good for her. She is an August child too so will be going to big school in september having only just turned 4.
I know this isn't super amazing but I had been trying to teach her the alphabet and was starting with abc etc. Then I found out that they had been teaching the kids the first letter of their names and their friends names. In no time my daughter was pointing out anything that looked like (or indeed was) a H. This was closely followed by pointing out her classmates 'letters'. From there is was easy to get her to write her name and look at the sounds of other letters. They recently thought she was suddenly having trouble writing her name for some reason and drawing strange lines. I had a look and it turns out she was trying to write it in Japanese. Pretty amazing stuff.
I know this isn't super amazing but I had been trying to teach her the alphabet and was starting with abc etc. Then I found out that they had been teaching the kids the first letter of their names and their friends names. In no time my daughter was pointing out anything that looked like (or indeed was) a H. This was closely followed by pointing out her classmates 'letters'. From there is was easy to get her to write her name and look at the sounds of other letters. They recently thought she was suddenly having trouble writing her name for some reason and drawing strange lines. I had a look and it turns out she was trying to write it in Japanese. Pretty amazing stuff.
Cloo
Approved by toads
It's mad to think we'll be applying for Ez's school at the end of this year. It's not worth worrying too much about primary schools, though - parental attitude is so the most important thing for kids at that age, and it'd be a severely challenged primary school that would actually do any harm if the parents are behind their kids' education.
My sis in law was worried because the nearest schools to them aren't seen as much good, and she talked to the head of the local school who admitted 'Yes, we have a challenging intake'. He then added 'You and your husband are graduates, right? And you read to your son?... then'll he'll do absolutely fine here' and I'm sure he's right.
My sis in law was worried because the nearest schools to them aren't seen as much good, and she talked to the head of the local school who admitted 'Yes, we have a challenging intake'. He then added 'You and your husband are graduates, right? And you read to your son?... then'll he'll do absolutely fine here' and I'm sure he's right.
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
Oh you are. The foal wants all of them to come to his birthday party next monthI am going to have to make up some excuse as I'm sure they have better things to do on their Saturdays
ask his close friends in loads of time and give out invites to the rest on the monday.
half will be booked up already
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
our local primary school is oversubscribed as its seen as a feeder into the good local secondary.
parents out of the area for either try and get their nippers into the primary to increase their chances of getting into the secondary
Thora
Differently Ethical
I don't think we have feeder primaries in Bristol - admissions are based on catchment, siblings and distance afaik.
trashpony
Hag
ask his close friends in loads of time and give out invites to the rest on the monday.
half will be booked up already
I put them in their boxes at pre-school before half-term (shockingly organised of me
). I am going to have to talk to some of the mums direct though as I'm not sure they all look in the kids' boxes. Unfortunately I don't know what some of the mums (or his friends) look like so that might be a tad tricky 
