Son's Nursery

Mojisola

Does the nursery have a prospectus which sets out how they prepare children for school or talks about the different activities they provide for the pre-schoolers?

jp1964

I think you are right to be concerned, if there are 4 other children in the same situation as your son, then the nursery ought to be ensuring that the pre school children who cannot move up to the pre school room are still accessing the same activities that are provided for those in the preschool room, not kept down with much younger children who have different needs and at a different stage, and then left to get on with it.

You need some clarification from the nursery as to what steps they will take to ensure that those children have access to the same as the other preschoolers, and what their policy is on preparing pre schoolers for their move to a school environment.

All children attending any form of childcare provision including nursery are supposed to be treated equally according to their needs/age/stage of development, if the nursery exclude four children for their own i.e space reasons from accessing the same activities as those in the 'older' room then they are not meeting those children's needs.

I also agree that socially, being with other children who were in nursery with them, at least initially when they start school, does help to ease the transition in the first days of an important new stage in their lives. Your son is being potentially socially disadvantaged by not being with the others who have moved up, I understand the nursery's dilemma in this, but you are presumably paying a lot of money for something in which your son is not fully able to take part in, if indeed (and you need to clarify this) there is not going to be any separate provision in the 'younger' room for the activities for the pre schoolers to take place despite them not moving up with the others.

I also am quite puzzled as to why this situation has arisen in the first place, if your son has been in this nursery for a long time, why is it that there has not been proper planning on the part of the nursery to ensure that all the children have places for the older room when the time comes for them to move up, and if not, surely children who have attended the nursery for the longest ought to be given priority over those who joined later, could it be that they have taken in too many children for the younger stage and are thinking of their future profits over the welfare and development of the children, after all, once the preschoolers are in school in only a few months, their parents won't be paying any more, and perhaps they are concentrating their staffing levels on the younger year groups because they will make more money for longer out of them, this may of course not be the case, but just a thought.

Regardless of the fact that he is still 3, he will still be expected to move on to school in September, and the fact of the change in intake for the local school (and they would have been aware of this beforehand) should have been factored into planning for the pre school room numbers, they can't just change the goalposts to say 4+ only without consulting and informing the parents in advance, and making clear the changes that would be made to ensure that those under 4 are not disadvantaged.

I would get all the facts from the nursery first, then if you are still not happy, write a letter outlining your concerns, and that you are not happy with the way this has been handled.

Given that you have paid expensive nursery fees for quite some time, you are perfectly entitled to ask for an explanation and to complain if you feel that your son is losing out on the same opportunities given to other pre school children. At this stage, ask for a copy of their complaints policy (this needs to be in place and provided to parents by law)

Its not about academic progress at this stage of your son's life, but social interaction and making the transition to school as easy as possible for the children, your son may not seem upset, but it could have an impact socially at least and is certainly not giving him the best chance of having an easy and seamless transition into school unless the nursery make extra provision for the four children who have been impacted by their sudden change in policy.

Don't let this go until you have all the answers to all your questions and are happy that your son's needs have been catered for.

One thing I have learned in getting five children through education
(almost there now ) is to ask questions, expect answers, ask for what you would like to happen (you won't always get it, but your views count), and speak up if something is wrong, that is the only way. If you're not happy, don't give up trying to be heard and stick to your guns if what you are asking is reasonable and fair.

Best of luck, and I wish your little boy a happy transition to his school in September.

atolaas

jp1964 I think you've summed things up very well

georgie262

jp1964 wrote: »

I think you are right to be concerned, if there are 4 other children in the same situation as your son, then the nursery ought to be ensuring that the pre school children who cannot move up to the pre school room are still accessing the same activities that are provided for those in the preschool room, not kept down with much younger children who have different needs and at a different stage, and then left to get on with it.

You need some clarification from the nursery as to what steps they will take to ensure that those children have access to the same as the other preschoolers, and what their policy is on preparing pre schoolers for their move to a school environment.

All children attending any form of childcare provision including nursery are supposed to be treated equally according to their needs/age/stage of development, if the nursery exclude four children for their own i.e space reasons from accessing the same activities as those in the 'older' room then they are not meeting those children's needs.

I also agree that socially, being with other children who were in nursery with them, at least initially when they start school, does help to ease the transition in the first days of an important new stage in their lives. Your son is being potentially socially disadvantaged by not being with the others who have moved up, I understand the nursery's dilemma in this, but you are presumably paying a lot of money for something in which your son is not fully able to take part in, if indeed (and you need to clarify this) there is not going to be any separate provision in the 'younger' room for the activities for the pre schoolers to take place despite them not moving up with the others.

I also am quite puzzled as to why this situation has arisen in the first place, if your son has been in this nursery for a long time, why is it that there has not been proper planning on the part of the nursery to ensure that all the children have places for the older room when the time comes for them to move up, and if not, surely children who have attended the nursery for the longest ought to be given priority over those who joined later, could it be that they have taken in too many children for the younger stage and are thinking of their future profits over the welfare and development of the children, after all, once the preschoolers are in school in only a few months, their parents won't be paying any more, and perhaps they are concentrating their staffing levels on the younger year groups because they will make more money for longer out of them, this may of course not be the case, but just a thought.

Regardless of the fact that he is still 3, he will still be expected to move on to school in September, and the fact of the change in intake for the local school (and they would have been aware of this beforehand) should have been factored into planning for the pre school room numbers, they can't just change the goalposts to say 4+ only without consulting and informing the parents in advance, and making clear the changes that would be made to ensure that those under 4 are not disadvantaged.

I would get all the facts from the nursery first, then if you are still not happy, write a letter outlining your concerns, and that you are not happy with the way this has been handled.

Given that you have paid expensive nursery fees for quite some time, you are perfectly entitled to ask for an explanation and to complain if you feel that your son is losing out on the same opportunities given to other pre school children. At this stage, ask for a copy of their complaints policy (this needs to be in place and provided to parents by law)

Its not about academic progress at this stage of your son's life, but social interaction and making the transition to school as easy as possible for the children, your son may not seem upset, but it could have an impact socially at least and is certainly not giving him the best chance of having an easy and seamless transition into school unless the nursery make extra provision for the four children who have been impacted by their sudden change in policy.

Don't let this go until you have all the answers to all your questions and are happy that your son's needs have been catered for.

One thing I have learned in getting five children through education
(almost there now ) is to ask questions, expect answers, ask for what you would like to happen (you won't always get it, but your views count), and speak up if something is wrong, that is the only way. If you're not happy, don't give up trying to be heard and stick to your guns if what you are asking is reasonable and fair.

Best of luck, and I wish your little boy a happy transition to his school in September.

Thank you so much for your detailed response - I really appreciate it. The manager has since left it as 'I'll look at the numbers, speak to the owners and get back to you' I think I'll write a letter as the manager, although nice, is very feisty and when we speak about it I feel like things are getting heated. I hope you dont mind if I borrow some of your wording? Thanks again

jp1964

Go ahead, help yourself to any of my wording! hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction, let me know how you get on or if I can help further.

DevilsAdvocate1

georgie262 wrote: »

The nursery Manager has said that he would have been moved up but there is no room in the pre-school class to do this and she has to think of all the children not just my son. I get that.

The pre-school room used to be just that by January/February time all children who would be starting school in September would be in the pre-school room and starting prep for school. I worry that he will start school and be behind his peers as he had missed out on being in the older age group room.
I really dont know if it will be beneficial to move him to the school nursery - I think it would be a shame I would like him to move up with the children he has been with and they do a little graduation at his nursery in the summer which I would love him to attend.

He has a very close friend in the pre-school/4+ room and she is the daughter of my best friend but he's not distressed at being in a different room.

I dont know if its best to just relax and think if he is behind he can catch up in reception class.

I don't think he'll be behind at all. None of my children did the full 5 sessions at nursery as there were other things I wanted to do with them before they started school and had to go to nursery. They are all doing really well at school. And my eldest's GCSE results last summer were amazing.

I have a friend who is a reception school teacher and she said she prefers if the children have learnt to dress themselves rather than doing phonics and trying to write. She has to start them all off at the same place anyway. Plus around here, two different types of learning to read are used, so the nursery might use a different method to the school.

At this age I think its more important that he's happy.