Did anyone not get a nursery place?

seatzie

well said warmhands, think its ridiculous that kids whose parents are on benefit get priority for nursery, where exactly is the sense in that? what is the actual reasoning?

freddie_2

Thank you everyone. I really dont understannd the system but obviously it is unfair to those of use who choose to work. I dont but my H works hard so I can bring up our daughter without claiming benefits etc.


Dont understand why if the parent work they couldnt take up a P/T place. Someone must be looking after the child while they are at work anyway so could they not do the collection? Private nurserys etc all do collections from schools.

Does anyone know what to do now? Is it worth complaining about? If so to who and is it going to make any difference?

warmhands.coldheart

Complain to our Education Minister.. oh hold on... may as well talk to the wall going from her track record to date..:rotfl::rotfl:

Sorry shouldn't joke due to the seriousness of the issue but could Sinn Fein not find someone with a bit of "common" sense and who actually knows how to engage people for such an important role?? The woman is a joke (Purely my opinion).. i'd say her colleagues secretly cringe when she's being interviewed on TV or Radio what with all her talk of "Educationalists" and "Stakeholders" and all those big "impressive" words!! You're from Ireland, NOT South England..

Rant Over!! Sorry..

warmhands.coldheart

Oh and I'm not having a pop at people on Benifits of any kind... I just don't see whay children at that age should be treated any differntly wherever or what background they are from... All boils down to MONEY I suppose!! It's what makes the world go around

seatzie

freddie - what reason did the letter give for turning you down? education board may be your first call to see who has places within your area then maybe your local mp

Golden_Anemone

freddie wrote: »

Dont understand why if the parent work they couldnt take up a P/T place. Someone must be looking after the child while they are at work anyway so could they not do the collection? Private nurserys etc all do collections from schools.

Their child minders didn't have transport and were too far away from the nursery school to walk to. It's a problem in rural areas.

leftieM

You may have to wait until closer to the start dates to see if you have any joy in getting a place. It's rather unfortunate for you though.
Don't give up. Ring the schools at the end of June and the end of August to see if there were any drop outs or kids who didn't show up. I know of 2 cases where parents got places this way.

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

Don't mean to open a can of worms here but I believe there has been a bit of a hoo haa on Stephen Nolan show last week about Children from family's recieving Benifits getting preference over children with any form of Disability. Something to do with selection criteria!! (Oh back to the old Selection agruement!!) I would ask why this is the case.. Shouldn't all children be treated as equals no matter who they are or where they are from? Why should a child from a family recieving benifits be given preference over any other child? With such a big issue being made of children from "poorer" backgrounds not getting access to Grammar Schools then this is just hypocritical as the children from "poorer" families are getting preferential treatment with
access to nursery places..

Discuss!! (And so the can of worms is opened!!)

As for the selection criteria - kids from deprived backgrounds tend to underachieve as a group and this has knock-on effects for society (link between educational underachievement and crime, reliance on benefits etc). I suppose the hope is that taking them into education early and exposing them to books etc. earlier will offset this to an extent. It's based on research although I couldn't find any specific article when I looked.

warmhands.coldheart

leftieM wrote: »

kids from deprived backgrounds tend to underachieve as a group

Are you saying that the middle & upper classes can't underachieve???
That's slanderous..I think they can underachieve and make complete balls ups just as well as the rest of society.... Look at the current situation our banks are in... talk about a bunch of criminals, underachievers and blatent idiots :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

SuperMum2008

My 2 year 11 mth didnt get a free palce, but we just heard thismorning she has secured a place at a paying nursery. We were offered a list of alternatives with free places BUT...(and I dont want to open a can of worms here) - we are in East Belfast and the places offered were at schools where nearly all have gaelic names and are in other parts of Belfast - not sure we would "fit in" there and not sure why we were offered these alternatives!

nadnad

i thought ALL children were entitled to a free nursery place?