Guest Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi all Well Notts currently has 3 intakes per year ie Sept, Jan, after Easter. From Sept 2011 it goes to just one ie Sept. Just wondered how you think this will affect our numbers? My pre-school is lucky as we take from 2 years (40 children when full) so will have these to fall back on but I think our numbers will drastically be reduced. We also "share" our children with the nursery attached to the infant school ie children go to them in the morning or afternoon and we collect or take to do the mornings/afternoons should parents wish all day care. I think the one intake per year will also affect nursery too. Just wondered what others have found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Never known more than 1 intake here since the 1980's. Numbers always low in Sept but pick up as the months progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Well we've always had three intakes too, until next September. It is one of the reasons I'm closing - for a small group to lose all its children in one fall swoop it is devastating. Hope you ride the ups and downs successfully as numbers build up as the year progresses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 our area was three then two and from september 2011 just 1....my local school however has been taking one intake for the last three years!!! We have had ups and downs during this time but now that everyone is set we are full and continue to be busy. in fact this year is,so far, going quite well! the problem for us is that we have to fill places and i can't afford to keep any back so now if children do not get a place in september they are not likely to get offered another one until the following september...very tough if you have a summer birthday but worst still if you are a january child we did take a financial knock the first year and have reduced our age intake to 2 years 7 months rather than 2 years 10 as it was....so we still have a bit of leeway on this and can reduce further if we get really stuck....all i can say was it wasn't as bad as i thought it could have been...just had to tighten the purse strings a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 We too always had a once year intake to school- we often had 50 + children leave and only 3 or 4 return... but found that over the holidays the spaces often contacted me or the first week to term.. and gradually increased over the year.. we budgeted so that during the busy summer term we saved enough to cover rent and wages to help cover the first term..and staff were on flexible hours contacts and we all lost hours in Sept adding as the year went on and we were needed, that was the hardest part for he staff to lose hours when they all needed the wage. We found the biggest thing was to ensure we advertised over the summer locally ensuring there was a contact number and the day we were due to open... and we also had the 2 schools we fed to put a piece in their end of year newsletters letting the parents know we had space available.. they were happy to do this for us, I know not all will be though.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperrabbit Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 It's been 1 intake for us for the last 5 years. September always starts with quite low numbers so for instance Sept 2010 I had 12 (this is due to the age of children not the lack of numbers on waiting list) in total on role now I have 29 on role so it does pick up. However, we do struggle as parents don't want to take all 5 sessions until their children are funded (understandably) so money is extremely tight, so much so (and I seem to be saying this a lot just recently) we sometimes feel that fundraising is our main function not childcare! We also struggle with the same issue 'Finlaysmaid' has pointed out, if children don't get a place by September/October then they have no chance for the rest of the year, and that really does cause a lot of angry prospective parents - waiting list is not one of my favourite jobs at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Thanks for that info. We curently have a staff of 20 with some doing only one or two shifts some doing lots more. Going to be hard if we have to reduce staffing to keep that many staff happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Its interesting that in areas like ours where we have had one intake for many many years, we are expecting a few more to stay at their pre schools for longer.. we wont know yet how many have decided they wish to do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mps09 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hi, When our local school first changed to just one intake, we too had fairly small number come back in SEptember, but this would gradually build up over the year..... now we are full, so can't take children until next September and we have pretty much become one intake ourselves! September 2011 we have between 12 - 16 children already booked for each morning and can only have 20 and we have a healthy list for September 2012 as well! I think it just depends on the area and the interest and the population! Hope it all goes well for you! x x x x x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hi Marley, Refresh my memory please - you are a pack-away setting?? Being in an LA very close to you, I appreciate your concerns. We changed to one intake a little while ago, and have certainly noticed a difference. As a private day nursery it doesn't affect us in quite the same way as it has local pre-schools, but it does mean that the age range in the pre-school unit is now wider, starting at 2.6 years. This has huge implications when we plan focus activities, but nothing we can't deal with (as excellent practitioners! ) Our early years advisors have on occasion remarked that in the City in general the number of pre-schools has been dropping steadily for some time now and I believe the remaining ones to have been affected by the change to one-intake. It's a shame, having come from a pre-school background, I have always felt they had an important role, for families as well as children. I know your LA quite well;the pre-school playgroup I used to run is within it. The advisers were always helpful and supportive in my experience. I wish you all well. Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hi Sue My last setting was the pack away one in a small rural village and they are my local pre-school with 24 children. Dont know how it is going to affect them too. The one I am currently at is much larger (40 children per day) based in a secondary school but we take from 2 years up. Thinking we shall have to wait and see. At the moment it has always been ok for sept then quiet after xmas until feb half term and then back up again. This pre-school has good reputation locally and is well supported by the parents so fingers crossed. Other bits of info I have found out though about Notts is that they will be stopping all the free courses to settings ie the TADO. So will lose all safeguarding, first aid, Heath and Safety etc As charity it is going to be expensive to pay for training. Things like training for safeguarding and designated person and SENCO. All to do with the cuts. Hope the city fares better Sue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hmm, Well, our training seems to be OK for the moment, although they have got a bit hot on charging if insufficient notice of cancellations is given! Our advisers are all home-based now, with laptops and the expectation that everything is recorded electronically 'on the hoof', as it were. One way of cutting costs! Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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