Stargrower Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Our local primary school is offering full time nursery places next term. Is this normal? I thought children at nursery in schools still only got 15 hours free each week? Quote
Stargrower Posted March 23, 2015 Author Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) No! In fact, it's 32.5 hours as they're offering 8.45 - 3.15! Edited March 23, 2015 by Stargrower Quote
diesel10 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 That can't be right. Are you sure they aren't doing 2 1/2 days. Most of the school nurseries round us do that now. Quote
thumperrabbit Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 Posted many a time about our local school nurseries, they do offer all sorts of things to get the children in - they are fighting too to get their places filled Quote
Melba Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 My hubby suggests that the school will get a much higher rate of funding and manage on much less staff than a nursery would. So probably well worth it to them. Quote
apple Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 The school could be charging 'top up' fees if they are not full and not all their children already on role fulfil the criteria for a full time place. We did this last year when we had a few spare places. It made sense too as so many parents want a full-time place although we could not offer lots due to already being nearly full... hope that makes sense. Quote
Guest Posted March 23, 2015 Posted March 23, 2015 The school nursery my daughter will attend from September offer full days, but charge for the hours over the 15 free. They didn't do this when my son attended, it was mornings or afternoons only. My daughter will only be doing mornings though, as we can't afford the top-up fees! Quote
mundia Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 Where I used to work, it was fairly typical for school nurseries to be full time. In fact I cant recall ever working in any nursery that wasn't. I suppose it might be a shock if it isnt typical in your area. Quote
Stargrower Posted March 24, 2015 Author Posted March 24, 2015 It's not the hours that surprise me, it's how they can offer 32.5 hours free, when we can only offer 15! Quote
Inge Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 Could be because of the way the money is used.. as a pVI we had all the expenses to come out of any income from funding.. insurance, hire fees, national insurance contributions, all resources for everything, from cleaning, large equipment, replacements, daily consumables... you get the picture.. the wages was not the only outgoing... If the school can divert all the income to wages and have a higher ratio / work to the minimums, then chances are the funding would cover this. that said nursery in schools here have always been full time places free... and always caused us to be very empty in Sept where so many moved on to them because of that.. they were always full from September and had no places during the year that is when we picked up a lot of the children they could not take. Quote
Berryred Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 When I lived in Lincolnshire this was common practise, but only for the children born Sept-Dec only! Quote
Stargrower Posted March 24, 2015 Author Posted March 24, 2015 Thanks for all your replies. Luckily we are only losing two, but it is not a good school. Requires Improvement from Ofsted for three inspections in a row, so I am a bit sad that children are being moved from us. But it's parents' choice! Quote
sunnyday Posted March 24, 2015 Posted March 24, 2015 Thanks for all your replies. Luckily we are only losing two, but it is not a good school. Requires Improvement from Ofsted for three inspections in a row, so I am a bit sad that children are being moved from us. But it's parents' choice! Well really pleased to hear that this won't have a 'disastrous' effect on your provision..... 1 Quote
MarshaD Posted March 26, 2015 Posted March 26, 2015 We've just had a parent notify us they are taking up a full time nursery place from September. I was surprised by this as also thought they only did 15 hours. Not sure if school charging though. Will find out. Quote
thumperrabbit Posted March 26, 2015 Posted March 26, 2015 All but 1 of our 5 main feeder schools offer nursery provision full time - it is usually 15 funded hours in a morning and then parents can pay for lunch time and/or afternoon sessions. Lots of parents don't use the afternoon sessions though as they have to pay but then this frees up places for children who have turned 3 after the September intake and we lose a lot of parents to that through out the year. September - December is always a HUGE struggle for us as we have all 2 year olds with all their challenges (bless 'em ) and of course we need all staff for ratio but don't get much money coming in. Quote
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