Nursery - Pre - Primary

Zola.

What age does a child go from private nursery into the next phase, pre-pre, is that what people call it....?

Then after that is it the nursery of the primary school for a few hours each day, then p1 at aged 4/5 ?

spo2

Don't know about private nursery, but P1 is the September they are 4/5 (cut off date is start of July)
Nursery is the year before that, however if they are summer birthdays (July/Aug) they can get an extra year at nursery.
(this is our experience of it)

Zola.

My boy is 1 in mid July, just started private nursery.

He's likely to be in private nursery full time then until he's 3.. and then part time at the nursery of his primary school, mixed with private nursery?

dsab

Our daughter is also mid July, and she started Pre-School just after her fourth Birthday, and then went into P1 aged 5.


So on paper your boy will be another 3 years in private Nursery before he is entitled to go to regular "pre-School". As spo2 said there is sometimes a possibility to get July kids a year early into Pre-School, but that's really rare, as it only is possible if they have spare places after their intake is complete. But in our area all the Nurseries are oversubscribed, so there is really only a small outside chance for this to happen.

Zola.

Thanks for the info!

When do you say to the primary school about reserving a place? The area I live in has lots of houses being built

spo2

You apply to the primary school online by the end of the January preceding them starting in September. So for you, you can apply in January 2023.

Mine didn't go to a nursery attached to a particular primary school, just one that acts as a "feeder" for a number of local primaries

Contacting them early won't give you any advantage over other houses in the area. They all have admission criteria to abide by, which you will be judged on along with all the other applicants. You can look this criteria up on the Education Authority website, along with the number of applicants vs places in the past three years, which will give you an indication of how likely you are to get your child in.

Cherryscone

In Northern Ireland children normally start school in the September of the school year after their fourth birthday. If your child's birthday is between 2 July and 31 August, they don't start school until the following September. They must attend school until they reach 16 years old.

guiriman

Zola. wrote: »

My boy is 1 in mid July, just started private nursery.

He's likely to be in private nursery full time then until he's 3.. and then part time at the nursery of his primary school, mixed with private nursery?

Depends on the school, our son's nursery has wrap-around care so he's in nursery 9-11:30 but we can pay for 8-9 and from 11:30-18:00. It's not as structured as nursery (the way a private one would be) but it's a lot handier and cheaper