Local school/children's centre opening up for 2 year olds this September.

[catswhiskers]

Anyone else had experience of this lately?

I run a local toddler group and found out recently a couple of them had received a place at a local school/children's centre which will be taking on the 2 year old funding from September.

Then one of my parents told me last week they had been offered a 4 day place at the same place for their child. He's 2.5 and been with me for a year (only last week I spent a while on his 2 year progress check).

I asked Dad this morning if they were planning to send him and he more or less said yes. When I asked about school holidays he replied it ran 49 weeks a year.

It's a state school with nursery classes starting at the usual 3 years then Reception, Year 1 etc. which all run term time only.

I did see some adverts on the school website looking for staff for a new 2 year old provision a while ago but have lost track of stuff recently after losing my Mum, Dad and father-in-law but have now been trying to keep on top of things.

[loocyloo]

Not locally, but I have heard of a school in Selby ( south of York ) that is opening a 2yr old classroom in September.

[JCrakers]

So sad if childminders are going to be losing children because of these provisions.

Wonder where they are going to get the 'love and cuddles' from ?

[Wiggle Wiggle]

Catswhiskers - Yes, a Children's Centre close to me has changed to a 2 year old nursery offering the 15 hours to parents undertaking courses such as ESOL and computers classes and further training courses in general. This is at present although I do wonder what will happen in the future as the centre has had a change of use and is attached to a school. It is interesting to note this is not the only place and it is happening countrywide as I have also noticed this happening to in other locations.

In addition, with the proposed change to the 30 hours free funding, the impact of this is something to consider as capacity will be stretched for smaller settings that operate like a pre-school e.g. 3 hours per day. I am in an area where competition is tight so trying to watch this as it evolves.

Also sad to hear this will be impacting on your business. It is hard to keep on top of everything today, with so much change.

[Simona]

Not sure about what has been referred to in the OP.. terminology wise...are we talking about state schools or CCentres??

There are many schools opening classrooms for 2 year olds...it has been DfE and Ofsted backed practice.
Maybe cms have forgotten the 39 schools that Truss announced funding for to open their doors to 2 year olds?
They also received a huge grant to do so.

This was followed by Ofsted and DfE announcing a 'school led EY sector'...anyone remember Sam Gyimah's message?
I think many believed it would not happen ...all we have to do is follow the govt agenda.

[catswhiskers]

Yes I did mention it was a state school with a children's centre attached to it. I think the 2 year old bit is going to be in the children's centre. I think I will phone the school soon to get more info.

What I meant to say too was that I know parents get the 15 hours free for 2 year olds but when I spoke to Mum about them getting 4 full days she said something about "topping it up" to get the full day. Also it seems like it will be run like a private nursery e.g. open 49 weeks of the year.

Sorry I don't remember anything about 39 schools getting grants to open up to 2 year olds. As I said I've had so much on the past year or so but trying to catch up now.

[TinyTinker]

not heard of any schools doing that yet, but I know the pre-schools that used to only take 3-4 year olds suddenly opened their doors to 2 year olds!:rolleyes:

There is a nursery year at my local school but they start there when they are 3, and they say they have to attend 3 hours every day - parents don't get the option to send only 2 or 3 mornings! so they make sure all their funding goes to them! lol

there is already a vast number or childcare providers in my local area, so competition is hard going as it is!

[FloraDora]

A while ago I was asked to complete an audit of places I offer / are available/ max I would be prepared to take, whether I had considered an assistant. It was my LEA's way of finding out just what places were available for 2 year olds in the county and where they were.
Afterwards I got an email saying if we hadn't done so please complete audit as it would affect the area placements, if no childcare was available in an area or not enough they were using the audit to consider their next steps in ensuring there was enough places available for entitled 2 year olds.

Several schools in our town have adjusted and opened an early years provision for 2 year olds, but some are not running on full capacity and I read recently that our County have a huge amount of non take ups for 2 year olds ....it looks like the parents could be making the decision not to send their children to these new provisions. Most CM appear to be full too.