15 hours free childcare??

clumsy_cupcake

hi, i cant get help with nursery fees for my 2 year old daughter absoutley nowhere so i can do a college course and get back to work.

i understand when she turns 3 she will get 15 hrs per week free nursey.
the problem is what ive been told by friends is that you can only use the hours in 3 hour blocks either 5 mornings or 5 afternoons a week.

is it not possible to get 2 full days of nursery using the free 15 hours as my course would be 2 days a week.

does anybody know of nurseries that let you use the hours like this as i really want to do my course bu have no other childcare options.

any adivce of experience would be grateful

Umm_jannah

Hi,
The nursery my daughter goes to is a private one and they let my daughter do 2 full days (7 1/2 hours) each day. Best to put her name down now and tell them that you want 2 full days. Im in goodmayes.

clumsy_cupcake

thankyou, maybe i am best to call some nurseries in the area and ask if they will allow me to do this as i have friends that have only been able to do 3 hours each day

DorsetGirl_2

She will get her free 15 hours the term after she turns three.

So if she is 3 on 1st February for example, she will get her free place after Easter.

MissKitty

Hi There

I work in the office of a local nursery/pre-school where I live and I do all the early years funding, which is the 15hrs free from the government for 3 year olds. A child is entitled to the free funded hours the term after their 3rd birthday. Some children miss out by days and have to wait till the next term, it depends when their birthday falls.

Being able to do full days instead of x 5 mornings or x 5 afternoons will depend on what nursery you send your child to and how much space they have available. Sometimes we don't have enough spaces free to offer full days and can only offer mornings or afternoons.

In our nursery the sessions are in 3hr blocks but parents can put 2 funded sessions together to make one day, so the child could do 9:00am to 3:30pm and all the parent would pay for is the lunchtime from 12:00 to 12:30pm. You could do this for 2 days a week, that would mean you using four 3hr sessions so you would have one 3hr session left to have a morning or afternoon. Or you could have a 3rd full day and pay for the lunch and afternoon on the 3rd day.

It will really depend on what the nursery has available and how they set their sessions out, not all nurseries have sessions in 3hr blocks.

If I was you I would call a few nurseries in your area to see what they have available and what their session timings are.

tibawo

it all depends on the nursery so i would ask around

I work 4 days and then took the free hours off the total bill

MissKitty

I forgot to mention, have you tried any local children's centres for help with funding for nursery places for 2 year olds?

We have a children's centre local to us that pay for some sessions for 2 years olds. I'm not sure how the parents get this funding, but there must be some set criteria for them helping families. It's certainly worth a try and after all they are there to help and support families.

clumsy_cupcake

thanks for your help and miss kitty. i think the best thing i can do is call and ask but the info u gave is really helpful. the job centre told me of a place that might be able to help with childcare so i will also try there but not very hopefull.

MissKitty

Your welcome, I hope you manage to find something.

You could also maybe try your local council for a bit of help, check out their website and see if there is a department you could call for some advice.

I know the government is giving some free funded nursery places to 2 year olds but I think you have to be living in a deprived area and other criteria may apply. I'm not 100% sure of all the details of this scheme but maybe your council could help.

skibadee

You could ask at the college you hope to attend if they can help with childcare costs, when I worked in a nursery we had several parents getting their childcare paid for by the college they were attending, this obviously dependent on individual circumstances.

HRV

there is some funding for 2 year ols- one of the othe rposters is correct that i think it is allocate to 'deprived' area but u have to be entitled to certain benefits to access it too.

I would suspect that the 3 hour slots ur friends have mentioned are probably at school based nurseries/preschools however your 15 hours can be used in day nurseries and childminders too- i suggest contacting some of these and enquiring as i think these will be more flexible and will also you to add extra hours as necessary- you wont have this flexibility with school based nurseries.