Confused about pre-schools and private daycare

[mummypigoink]

My dd goes to a private day nursery as I work. my friend's dd goes to a nursery attached to a school. as there is a teacher in the class, they are allowed to teach children to read and write etc, which is not allowed at my nursery as there is not a teacher. another parent recently told me that a child who left the nursery was the only child in her reception class who could not write (tbh i doubt this given the area!).

Surely i'm not the only person in the world who has had this issue? any help or opinions?

obviously we do educational things with dd but its not the same as a teacher.

[Skribble]

The difference is the teacher really, its not that other types of child care are not allowed to teach language and number skills its perhaps not done as formally as a pre school "class" which is not so much about providing childcare as providing education.

Of course both types of nursery provide education, care and play, and my explanation is rather crude.

Nursery classes are often about 2 and half hour sessions 5 days a week where day nurseries can provide child care from 8-6pm. Some private day nurseries also run pre-school classes within the nursery run by teachers for shorter periods throughout the day and children attending the day care might spend time in the preschool class too. This means they can claim funding from the goverment for the pre-school class part of the day, (this might just be Scotland, so I will shut up now)

[CristinaTheAstonishing]

Nothing to do with being allowed or not to teach reading. Are your children of similar ages? Day nurseries can take children from 3 months old, whereas nurseries attached to schools from 3 years old (at least state ones, I don't know about pre-preps), so the children may be more ready to learn to read & write.

[Azure]

When DS1 was 3.5 we moved him mid-year from his day nursery (full-time) to the pre-school attached to his school (term-time only, school hours) because we were concerned that he would be behind once he started Reception, plus he has the disadvantage of being an August boy. The day nursery was fine for looking after him but poor at performing a pre-school function, e.g. learning letters etc. Moving him meant we had to get an after-school nanny and the childcare problems that happen when children start school happened a little earlier. BTW once he started school he knew his letters but couldn't write more than his name - in any case children learn at their own pace.

[Acinonyx]

Skribble - I think it's the same in the UK. My dd's day-care (from 3 months up) also has preschool funding. Jill

[LIZS]

They should all follow the same Foundation Stage Curriculum, applicable from aged 3 to the end of Reception, which does not specifically require formal teaching of academics but rather focusses on key areas of learning and personal development through play. The level at which they transfer to school is variable whereever they have previously been(or not). Check you are happy that yours are working towards these goals, you may find your dd is being "taught" without realising anyway.

[slayerette]

We moved ds from private nursery to pre-school attached to his primary school in January ready for a Sept start in Reception. He has done more formal learning since he moved but he was doing basic letter sounds/counting/shapes/colours etc at his private day nursery too. As LIZS said, he was following the Foundation Years thingy there. We moved him mainly to familiarise him with the school and help him make friends before starting full time.

[aintnomountainhighenough]

My experience is that this depends on the pre-school/nursery. When my daughter was at private nursery they had started doing phonic sounds with them and encouraged them to right. We moved her to pre-school last year and they don't seem to do anything like this with them. The do follow the foundation stages however my understanding was that phonic sounds etc don't start until reception.

When you say write what do you mean? For example my DD can right her name and all the letters if I help her but frankly I wouldn't say to people she can write! Besides it can be dangerous teaching them to write so young because different schools teach different methods.