Working Mum - A hard choice
Working Mum
Sunday, June 12, 2016
There are pros and cons to a school nursery, but having both daughters in the same place just swung it for Working Mum
As a working mum, do you accept the much sought-after maintained nursery place that you’ve been allocated, or put off juggling school hours for another year and turn it down? It’s a dilemma that I faced with my eldest daughter three years ago.
Moving from a private day nursery where the hours are fixed around the needs of working parents to short school days and long holidays is tough. Even with frequent talk of wraparound care, schools simply do not seem geared up to it when it comes to early years children. Many, certainly where I live, have tight restrictions on the number of children they care for aged under five years old, or do not admit them.
My friends who do not work are concerned about how to get their pre-school children – especially the summer-born ones – to drop their nap or become toilet trained by September. The working ones are turning to spreadsheets to work out logistics, calling in favours, employing nannies and childminders or negotiating to work compressed hours.
To confuse issues, two of the schools near us ask for parents to accept a place before then allocating whether it will be full- or part-time. How can a working parent do that? My friends are guiltily accepting places in the hope that they are lucky and get full-time.
BETTER EDUCATION?
After much angst I opted to keep Dear Daughter 1 (DD1) in the day nursery where she was settled. Her younger sister was due to start there so it meant that they had a year together in the same setting and I bought some extra time before being split between two locations.
Unfortunately, there does seem to be the common concern among mums that their children will be behind educationally if they don’t attend a school nursery. Despite the restrictive hours, they are generally regarded as better than private nurseries.
Parents I’ve spoken to think that they’ll get a better educational grounding and, although admission regulations state it’s not the case, they hold out hope that it’ll give them an added advantage when applying for a school place. A mum on Facebook said that she wanted her child to go to nursery school so that he could get familiar with the school environment and ‘timetable’ before he started in Reception.
THE DILEMMA
One mum told me she felt guilty that she had turned down the maintained nursery place because she went to work. Another working mum is worried that in September her daughter will be the oldest in the day nursery because her peers look set to be moving to nursery school.
Turning down the school nursery place made my life easier for a year and thankfully I had no regrets. DD1 made the transition to school without any problems. The majority of children in her class had moved from the attached nursery school, but this did not bother her.
Two years on and it’s a big relief that I’m not faced with the same dilemma. I was thrilled to recently accept the offer of a full-time nursery place for DD2 at her big sister’s school. Surely the pain of arranging holiday care for an additional child will be far outweighed by having them both in the same place again? DD2 is excited and can’t wait to have a book bag like her sister. Roll on September…
A WORD OF ADVICE
Schools can be more responsive to working parents but need better support, says Adam Butler of the Family and Childcare Trust
Historically, local authorities invested in early years provision in schools to help improve outcomes for children who were more likely to fall behind their peers. It made sense for nursery classes to provide sessional care because this model allowed them to offer more places and only a minority of the parents affected were in work. Private and voluntary early years provision evolved around sessional nursery classes, with the upshot that working parents now have access to a choice of providers, but rarely an integrated package of care.
The barriers to offering full-time early years care for schools can be formidable. Schools rarely have access to extra physical space, and early years staff in schools work term-time only.
However, many schools are developing partnerships with private and voluntary nurseries, which often even drop off and pick up children. Some schools are also working with networks of childminders to offer a similar package of ‘blended care’. Finally, many academy schools are delivering early years provision.
Parents should bear in mind that the quality of early years provision depends on many factors, and particularly the experience, values and training of staff. Parents should read Ofsted judgements, ask other parents about their experience and talk to the setting staff before making decisions. A high-quality private or voluntary nursery can support children’s development just as well as a high-quality school.
The 30-hour offer means schools that do not offer flexible care risk being marginalised. Early years providers don’t have to wait for schools to start the conversation and should be proactive in reaching out to head teachers and LAs to develop partnerships. The Family and Childcare Trust has encouraged the Government to use learning from the 30-hour trials to direct funding to support providers of all types in order to improve access to integrated, flexible care for families.