Can a child attend 2 nurseries?

JemmaM91

Hi, random question,

DS is 18 months and will soon be starting a nursery 2/3 days a week whilst I work. This will be paid for.

However once he's 2 he gets 15 hours free, the local primary school to me accepts two year olds in their pre-school with the funding. I'd like him to also go here as he would start meeting the children he'd be going to school with.

Would this be possible to allow him to go to 2 nurseries?

balletshoes

Yes you can do this ~ if the hours/days you are offered by each nursery works out for you.

Janepig

Mine did. They went to day nursery Monday - Wednesday when I was working, then they went to a welsh pre-school on Thursday and Friday mornings. I didn't get any funding for DD because of when she was born, but I got funding for DS from the January after he turned 3 until he started FT school in the September, which I used for the playgroup.

Jx

Counting_Pennies_2

Mine did too.

I was working and my first child's nursery closed down with less than a days notice. So I had to book a month off work unpaid while I sourced further childcare.

There was a great preschool a drive away into the countryside that kindly offered two days and when DS reached state funded preschool age, another preschool I had his name down on gave us a place.

So I was left in a position of wondering whether to keep him in the countryside or move him to yet another preschool in a couple of months to be with children he will go to school with.

So I opted to keep him in the country for a few days and the local for another couple of days.

When it comes to filling in the state funded paperwork you just need to put down the hours you are claiming and pay the rest.
The preschools were even in two different counties and it was still ok with the funding.

It worked so well that when it came to my DDs time to go to preschool she too went to two different ones as I found there were benefits getting her used to different environments.

valk_scot

My DD used to go to playgroup in the morning and school nursery in the afternoon when she was three. When she turned four the school nursery put her in the older morning group and there was no playgroup in the afternoon. She nearly went mad with boredom, argh, and I nearly went mad full stop. It was a great relief when she started school.

I can't recall exactly how the funding worked back then, it's not relevant to today's situation anyway I expect. But I do know she had a great time going to two different groups,
she was a very sociable girl that liked to keep busy.

jackyann

Yes. The only problem is the logistics and how the child copes.
Some kids are very adept at this - they easily pick up different cues, remember different names & rules.
Others don't do this so easily; and as a broad rule of child development I wouldn't expect a child under 3 to do do so (and I note that most of the positive experiences above relate to 3 year olds). Also it isn't always about how sociable a child is, it's how they process stimuli.
I would begin by chatting to the school. Do they also take admissions at 3? What is their experience of children attending 2 nurseries, at what ages? What is their experience of children "joining" at 3 or 4?
What do other people closely involved with your child think? And how will you organise the school holidays?
I gather that you will get the funding anyway, so I would talk to the school, and maybe some other parents.
Glad you have the funding.

sujac

Have you checked the nursery where child is going to while you work can claim the 15 hours? My son used to go 4 days a week while I was at work and they deducted the 15 hours off my bill for the eligible weeks. Would save running around. Saying that I had a friend who did this their daughter would do 1 morning at one place and 2 at another and she coped fine.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Yep! My DD1 did this - the day care nursery and the school nursery split the 15 hours between them. She was offered a school nursery place on Mon, Tues and half a day wed. As i didnt need her in school on Mon (as i dont work that day) the school nursery let her attend Tuesday and half a day wed and only claimed for those hours. The day care claimed for the rest

choccymoose

Yes you can use two nurseries but can only claim 15hrs. This can be split across the 2 nurseries or used in one of them. Many school nurseries will tell you that you have to use all of your 15hrs with them but you don't.
Its parental choice, choose whichever you are and your child are most comfortable with.
Schools also often make out that if your child attends their nursery, it bumps them up the list for a primary school place, this is not the case.

Janepig

choccymoose wrote: »

Yes you can use two nurseries but can only claim 15hrs. This can be split across the 2 nurseries or used in one of them. Many school nurseries will tell you that you have to use all of your 15hrs with them but you don't.
Its parental choice, choose whichever you are and your child are most comfortable with.
Schools also often make out that if your child attends their nursery, it bumps them up the list for a primary school place, this is not the case.

DS's day nursery weren't willing for me to use my funding towards their fees, they wanted me to book an extra day with them which I wasn't going to do so I couldn't use the funding for there and that was that. I assume that although it's "parental choice", if a particular setting tells you that you can only do it a certain way or you don't get the place then there's not much choice really.

Also, although for some schools it has no bearing whether or not your child attends the nursery, for some it does. With DD/DS's school, you apply to join the nursery, full time at 3, one entry in September, and then you don't have to re-apply for infants and juniors. Some schools locally work like this, whereas others treat the three settings separately within the one school.

Jx

choccymoose

Janepig wrote: »

DS's day nursery weren't willing for me to use my funding towards their fees, they wanted me to book an extra day with them which I wasn't going to do so I couldn't use the funding for there and that was that. I assume that although it's "parental choice", if a particular setting tells you that you can only do it a certain way or you don't get the place then there's not much choice really.

Also, although for some schools it has no bearing whether or not your child attends the nursery, for some it does. With DD/DS's school, you apply to join the nursery, full time at 3, one entry in September, and then you don't have to re-apply for infants and juniors. Some schools locally work like this, whereas others treat the three settings separately within the one school.




Jx

Hmm you should have approached your local authority early years department as this is against the conditions of the funding, unless it is an independent nursery attached to an independent school !

And yes sorry should have said check conditions as set by local authorities and individual schools ref entry to school and whether attending the onside nursery bumps you up the list. All our state schools and academies used to have them as separate entities but now the academies are setting their own entry criteria.