help please, re: my son's pre-school!!

[Amanda01]

daniel starts pre-school in september, he turns 3 in august ... i've got his name down to go monday / wednesday / friday mornings, to their 'play session'.

the woman who runs the pre-school just phoned me, she's suggesting i send daniel twice a week to their 'headstart' sessions, which is basically a bit more structured, educational, and more like school. she was thinking tuesday & thursday afternoons ... the problem is, he does get tired bless him!! he probably sleeps every other day, and he can get quite grumpy if he's tired & not slept!! ...

should i send him to the 2 afternoons anyway? i think it would benefit him in the way or preparing him for school, but i'm not sure if it might be a bit too much? i mean, that'd mean him going from never having been to nursery or anything ... to going to pre-school 3 mornings & 2 afternoons every week!!

ugh, i don't know!!!!!!!!!!!

xXx

[Seona1973]

is pre-school the same as the nursery sessions that start when your lo turns 3? My dd turned 3 in November and started nursery 5 mornings a week in January (2.5hrs per day) and has got on great. She had never been to anything prior to that except a toddler group once a week

[McDreamyGonagall]

3 mornings is enough at the moment, he has a whole school year to "prepare" forprimary school, he doesn't need to start it all at once

[orderleysmile]

I am deputy in a Pre school I too agree three mornings is enough to begin with. They do find it very tiring and Pre school is normally slightly longer than school nursery days. good luck

[Amanda01]

thanks girls ... the problem is, the woman who phoned said that the 'headstart' classes were almost full, so i need to say yes now, or we might miss out.

xXx

[sidge]

I wouldn't do the extra afternoons.

I think you'll find the 3 mornings plenty for now. I am sure a place will come up later in the year/next year for the extra sessions if you want them!

[JoMa]

when will he start full school? My ds1 starts school in September 08 and the pre-school don't start the afternoon structured sessions until the summer term. I would say that the afternoons may well be too much if he'll only just be 3.

[CaptainUnderpants]

Stick with 3 mornings , surprised that any decent preschool are trying to push 2 afternoons like this. I think they are thinking about the money not your DC, sorry to have to say that .

[Amanda01]

yeah he'll start the big school summer 08 aswell!!!! yikes!!

here's an idea ...

monday - morning play session
tuesday - afternoon 'headstart' session
wednesday - day off
thursday - afternoon 'headstart' session
friday - morning play session

how does that sound? the more i think about it, i think he would benefit from a bit of a 'headstart' anyway, if it might help him when he goes to proper school its gotta be good. so i could drop the wednesday play session so he can have a rest!!

xxx

[CaptainUnderpants]

He doesn't need anything 'more strcutured ' or 'educational ' he should be learning what he needs to be through play and enjoyment . He is only just 3 yrs old.

[JoMa]

he really doesn't need to start the afternoons until next year. they should not be pushing them on a child that has an entire year of pre-school yet.