Originally Posted by
bunyip
We've had the usual steady flow of enquiries for the most part. We've turned a lot away, as we're close to being as full as we'd like to be. Been a bit caught out this summer, though. Last year we had some leaving to start school, and we recruited quite a few little ones. The whole feel of the setting changed from an older to a younger child profile IYSWIM. We weren't expecting many changes this year apart from fitting in a younger sibling at the close of mum's maternity leave and the usual odd change to some parents' jobs. We were therefore caught on the hop to receive requests for changed days/hours from about 75% of families. There has been a definite trend for them to put lo's into preschool very early. One has given notice to start at a preschool nursery, and another 4 are all starting preschool whilst still coming here, though this means some have cut their hours here. None of these have yet reached their third birthday. :eek: But the recent enquiries have gone well and we've filled the gaps left by those who are leaving or reducing hours, including one who'll take up the slack in the morning when children are at preschool. They're starting between October and June, so a bit of a time lag, but good to have the changes spread out IMO. I daresay other changes will take place in that time, but that's the nature of the job. In any case, we rarely max out to our regulatory ratios, preferring to stick with what feels comfortable and still leave space for emergencies or the occasional swapped days, etc. We hadn't had a loony enquiry for a while, but sure enough one came along just last week. Had a call from a mum who wants the full week of school runs. I explained we can't do it, and I provided contact details for other local settings. In any case, I'm not keen on taking on schoolies outside those I've had in the EY stage, and heard on the grapevine this mum had given notice at two other perfectly good settings in the past 6 months. I can do without them being around for a term then flitting and leaving all the other children upset by the disruption. She laughed when I told her we walk to school, so I knew it'd be a non-starter even if we wanted the business. It would be a complete waste of time to arrange a visit, especially as I've only one free evening at home before the end of the holidays, so I declined to offer an appointment. She's now called again, claiming she's spoken to the LA and been told I must give her a visit/interview or I'm not giving her child a chance and could be discriminating against her. She seems to think I'm going to give notice to another family so I can fit her child in, whilst threatening all sorts of "action" through the LA (she hasn't mentioned Ofsted, probably because she doesn't know the first thing.) I told her to get on with it. I'm absolutely aching for the LA to dare call and ask me about this, so I can find out what they think they have the right to say to a parent about perfectly sensible choices I make. :mad: