My dd is approaching a year old (eeeek!) & friends with babies the same age are putting their names down for nursery to start next year. I'm really confused about all the different choices & the vast difference in prices.
Just wondering what everyone else has done. Is 2 too young to start nursery? How much do the vouchers cover when they get to 3?
Nursery or playgroup? Montessori or normal place? Help!
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My 3 year old has been going since he was 2 and a bit. My 5 year old went from being 3 until last Sept, when he was 5. As I live in a rural area, we have little choice but I managed to find a playgroup which is essentially, the same as nursery, these days. And although we live 2 villages away, we managed to get him into a brilliant church school as a result of it, as all the kids from that playgroup automatically got into the church school - so if you have a really good school with a nursery/playgroup attached or a feeder nursery, I'd recommend that highly!
As a former teacher, I'd JUMP at the chance of Montessori, if my kids had had that choice! It's more learning through play. Playgroups and nurseries are now OFSTEDed, so if you check out OFSTED's website, and type in your area, you can compare what the inspectors think about your possible nurseries. Preschool provision is now also subject to the government's National Curriculum, and preschoolers learn at Foundation level, so you can probably find a govt website to check that out, too. I'm not sure if private and Montessori are in the system there - probably not.
My older sons also went to nurseries when they could - usually part time.
For my 3 year old, I still have to pay something. He goes 5 mornings a week and Mondays is the only day he does a full day. He loves it, loves it, loves it! As did his big brothers! The beauty of going to the nursery attached to the school you hope to send them to is that they then go to school with a lot of readymade friends. My 5 year old started reception last year and is in a tiny village school of 12 kids in reception. He knew all but one of them as he'd been playing with them daily at nursery for 2 and a half years! It meant he had a very, very easy intro to school.
I used to teach Juniors and even with 7 or 8 year olds - I could spot which ones had been to nursery/had preschool experience. The benefits last! So go for it!
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Thanks for that! Just what I needed. We have quite a lot of choice where we are, ranging from a £60 a day nursery to a cheap playschool. I'm really keen on my dd going to a montessori, you've made it sound a good idea.
You're not in Surrey are you? I'm in quite a rurual area too so I'm pleased we've got places to go that are within walking distance.
Thanks for your help.
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We're paying about £80 a half term for Alfi - he goes 5 mornings a week and is only full day on a Monday. We're in North Yorkshire. The fees are reduced a bit because as it's a playgroup, not a nursery, there's a rota for parents to go in and help - which keeps costs down. So twice every half term DH or I go in for half a day as 'mummy' or 'daddy helper'. Playgroups used to be the poor relations of nurseries but now have exactly the same curriculum, and level of staff training - so they can work out cheaper. The nursery in the nearest village to us was full, (mainly of outsiders' kids!) so although we lived here we couldn't get my sons in. Now, we're really glad we went to another village as the playgroup is better anyway, and as a result my two youngest will both be going to one of the top primary schools in the county - just because of the happy accident of our own one being full! (The school they would have gone to from there has 30 kids in a class and a high staff turnover, now my Reception son is in a class of 12!) So Montessori's great but also bear in mind where most of those kdis will go to school after, as it's a disadvantage starting off alone again, surrounded by strangers in Reception, if you can possibly go to school with all your friends!
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Glad I'm not the only one! It just seemed like this was something I SHOULD KNOW. Don't think she'll be going to the montessori, it's £42 a day if they go less than 5 days a week! Bit beyond our budget.
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Playgroups are cheaper than nurseries - but some schools have attached nurseries and they can be free. As I said above, we pay between £60-80 a half term for Alfi, which isn't too bad.
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Pollysis~ thanks for the link to Surestart, it helped a lot.
There are a few playgroups here, I'm going to see one next week & I'm trying to find the numbers of a couple more.
All the time I was ttc & pg I forgot that my baby would grow up, all this planning for the future stuff has come as a bit of a shock!lol
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Nursery schools/playgroups 
