Stay at Pre-School ideas please

[thumperrabbit]

In our area it will be that time soon where all the parents need to make their applications to start school nursery in September 2013.

 

As we all know, this is parental choice but most seem to follow the sheep and once one has made the decision to leave pre-school they all go - what do you do to try and convince them to stay with you?

[Mouseketeer]

That must be difficult as parents will normally want children in the nursery that feeds their chosen school, luckily most of our local primary schools tend not to have their own nurseries (only the private schools really) so we don,t have to contend with this...losing a larger than average group to school last year has left a big dent in income without losing younger ones to a school nursery as well, good luck, hope you can find a way to keep them, how do fees and ratios compare ?

[thumperrabbit]

That must be difficult as parents will normally want children in the nursery that feeds their chosen school, luckily most of our local primary schools tend not to have their own nurseries (only the private schools really) so we don,t have to contend with this...losing a larger than average group to school last year has left a big dent in income without losing younger ones to a school nursery as well, good luck, hope you can find a way to keep them, how do fees and ratios compare ?

Hi mouse, the thing is a big part of me understands if your chosen CATCHMENT school has a nursery why you would go (all our feeder schools which we have 7, have nurseries)

What I don't understand is parents who put their child into a school nursery even when it's not their catchment school, because it their eyes "it might help to get in" - we all know it doesn't and it causes a lot of upset and stress when people don't get into the school Reception class, why do the LEA place them into a non catchment nursery when the chances are so low of getting into reception? because it's funding for the school of course, doesn't matter about us :angry: sorry for the rant!

We are over ratios by 2 staff because of the age range we have to take, which is the moment they turn 2yr with 4 yr olds whose parents have chosen to stay. This of course has a huge implication on costs and we have to fundraise like crazy all year to try and break even, we've not managed it the last 2 yrs and are surviving on reserves built up previously, this will only last for so long.....

[Mouseketeer]

rant on thumperrabbit.....7 feeder schools crikey .....and to think I get annoyed enough with the parents who send their children to other nurseries then want places for the last term 'so they get to know the children they'll go to school with'

[louby loo]

Sorry to hear that. Like mouse none of our feeder schools have nurseries (lucky for us )

 

There was a case in the last few weeks about a child 'holding back ' a year before starting school - I didn't follow it but is there anything in there that may help your case? Drawing attention in a newsletter maybe? Although I haven't a clue as to whether she was at a preschool or actually in a school nursery anyway so it may not be of help. But fantastic if she were in preschool.

 

We actually have a fair few that attend sour setting as they think this will help with school catchment admissions - even thoughni point out it will not. To be honest I,d hate to be a parent now.. ( of a small child that is.... !!!!)

 

Ps sorry about spelling and grammar- I must be the only person on earth whonactually hate iPads!!

Xx

[Guest]

We used to have this too before we sadly had to close, partly due to this kind of action. One local primary has a well respected FSU but strict admissions criteria for the school. Parents often sought places in the nursery with no intention of sending their child to the school as they knew they would not meet the criteria. I suspect some felt they "might" have a better chance if the child attended the nursery (something certainly not encouraged by the head who was always very straight about it), but others thought that what they were doing there was superior to our practice due to being a school. Often within weeks of the child transferring we had parents dropping in to tell us the child really missed our setting, was doing exactly the same kinds of activities, and that they themselves felt squeezed out due to the way the school ran the sessions, ie not really allowing parents to stay as long as they needed to in a morning, staff not being available for a chat after the session, etc. I don't blame the head for taking the children - as you say it comes down to funding for the school and the head was concerned and disappointed that we were closing down, but I wish we could have worked together better to explain the different types of options to parents as I know some children were definitely better suited to being at our setting (higher staff ratios being one reason) and some managed well in the FSU. Sorry I don't have an answer for you though!

[catma]

why do the LEA place them into a non catchment nursery when the chances are so low of getting into reception?

 

As far as my experience tells me LAs don't place children in nursery - parents do via the individual nursery or school application process according to their choice. LAs only have statutory responsibility to manage entry into reception.

 

re children staying in pre-school/nursery, they can, until the term after their 5th birthday, so if their birthday was in the summer term to 31st August they could spend their reception year in nursery. If the parent has applied to the school and has a place they can request that the place is held open and remain attending nursery until they are statutory school age...If they haven't applied and accepted a place they cannot expect there will be a space when they want one, especially if the child is going straight into year 1, as there is no requirement for schools to hold the place after the academic year it was provided in. If they don't intend to send the child to school because they want to home educate that's fine but the child can't stay in nursery after SSA - and would prevent another child from their 15hrs too, I suppose!

 

Cx

[louby loo]

As far as my experience tells me LAs don't place children in nursery - parents do via the individual nursery or school application process according to their choice. LAs only have statutory responsibility to manage entry into reception.

 

re children staying in pre-school/nursery, they can, until the term after their 5th birthday, so if their birthday was in the summer term to 31st August they could spend their reception year in nursery. If the parent has applied to the school and has a place they can request that the place is held open and remain attending nursery until they are statutory school age...If they haven't applied and accepted a place they cannot expect there will be a space when they want one, especially if the child is going straight into year 1, as there is no requirement for schools to hold the place after the academic year it was provided in. If they don't intend to send the child to school because they want to home educate that's fine but the child can't stay in nursery after SSA - and would prevent another child from their 15hrs too, I suppose!

 

Cx

 

I think thumperrabbit means ideas for keeping children at pre-school rather than nursery - I may have confused the issue by mentioning the child holding back........... but I meant they may highlight some good points about not rushing in school based settings. :rolleyes:

[thumperrabbit]

 

 

I think thumperrabbit means ideas for keeping children at pre-school rather than nursery - I may have confused the issue by mentioning the child holding back........... but I meant they may highlight some good points about not rushing in school based settings. :rolleyes:

Yes, sorry it is about keeping at Pre-school

 

 

As far as my experience tells me LAs don't place children in nursery - parents do via the individual nursery or school application process according to their choice. LAs only have statutory responsibility to manage entry into reception.

 

Cx

 

I didn't realise this Catma, about 7 years ago I applied (but didn't take up!) a place for my daughter to go to our school nursery. I did this with our schools admission team and they allocated the place .... Are you saying that its actually the school who allocate nursery places?

[Madmum]

I work in a maintained nursery and the school does it's own admissions for nursery - the LA have no role in it at all. There isn't a nursery admissions policy but I think if we were over subscribed we would follow the criteria for school admissions.

 

We are perhaps unusual in that there is no pre school in our village or the next one which are both within school catchment. There was one until a few years ago, but they moved further afield to be able to offer more daycare etc around the preschool. This means that most of our children come to 'school' nursery with no preschool experience at all, especially from families wiht low income and no transport! We do have children who come from further away, often because they want to come to the shcool although it has no bearing on school place allocation.. We have also had 4 children join us recently as they live within our school cathcment but have been at other nurseries/preschools and parents want them to get to know the children they will go to school with.

 

Personally I think that in the past parents believed a school nursery offered things that a pre school didn't. Our nursery used to do lots of formal sitting down-reading and writing type things whereas preschool was more child led and play based.. I would suggest that to keep children in a preschool I would want to show that it offered everything and more that a nursery does, we are after all following the same EYFS! Read their OFSTED and see if you can spot anything that would help you!!

[catma]

Yes, sorry it is about keeping at Pre-school

 

I didn't realise this Catma, about 7 years ago I applied (but didn't take up!) a place for my daughter to go to our school nursery. I did this with our schools admission team and they allocated the place .... Are you saying that its actually the school who allocate nursery places?

 

Well that's the case in my LA definitely and in the ones around us...we only manage admissions to reception centrally.

[Rea]

Thumperrabbit, I'd put together a newsletter informing parents of the dates they need to now and also a small screenshot of each nursery then highlight how you do the same things maybe throw in a small line or two from your last Ofsed report. Remind the parents how settled the children are and ask them, would you change a secondary school child three times in their first two years? No-one does or would, they dont want to mess about with friendships, routines and a feeling of belonging so why would we do it to a 3 or 4 year old?

I hope you manage to keep some, we're fairly lucky with just 3 main feeder schools, only one has its own nursery so our children tend to stay unless they are already crossing boundaries to come to us in which case its sometimes better for them to go.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Rea

[Guest]

Just as Rea said, highlighting what the benefits are for stayng on at your setting. Find out what the school nurseries offer that you dont...and what you offer that they dont etc.

[finleysmaid]

find your usp's (unique selling points!!) what can you offer...car parking/outings/ratios/knowledge of the family/ different times/ experience....what ever it is just push it! We regularly have children stay with us rather than go into reception...and we consistently have children who are able to go to one local school's nursery who stay with us instead. Get the parents to push the idea to others (word of mouth the best seller) try posting on netmums too! Find all your local listings when you google and post really positive reviews on them!!

[lynned55]

We're lucky in that we really only have one feeder school and they dont have a nursery so 99.9% of ours stay until school. However I think the unique selling point of groups like ours is our ratios. As a parent I would always want my 3 year old in a ratio of 1:5 rather than the school nursery of 1:13. that I think is our biggest advantage. Plus as others have said stability, why would you want to keep changing 3/4 year olds around.

[Guest]

We have had this problem in the past, but to be fair, many parents did not realise that there child could stay on at our private setting (which they had previously been attending for 2 years) and stay for up to 15 hours a week during term time for free! Many thought they would move their child to the school nursery as it is free. Once I have explained they can do this at our setting, plus there is the option to add sessions during the holidays too (paid for) and that attending the school nursery does not guarantee them a space in the school reception class AND reminded them of the progress their child has already made AND how settled they are with the staff and children, I nearly always win and the child stays on! We have had situations in the past when children have left to go to school nursery and then returned, as they wouldn't settle, or the parent was not as happy there! Informing parents of these situations also helps retain the children! I now have a newsletter detailing all this information that I send to the parents before the term after their child's third birthday,and so far it seems to be working. On the flip side though, we do also gain a LOT of children who cannot get into the local school nursery as they recommend us to the parents, so we are very lucky that we have relatively good relationships with them! I hope this is of some help to you - at the end of the day, there will always be some parents who wont listen, it is suprising how many parents disregard how settled and happy their child already is and moves them either for their own convenience or to help with their school application! Good Luck.