Guest Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Does anyone know of a pre-school that has moved on to a school premises that already has an existing nursery? If so how does it work? Does the pre-school only have under three's or do they provide wraparound care for the nursery children? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wolfie Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 I don't have that exact experience but one very similar...and it was a complete nightmare! If it's going to happen, you need to have lots of meetings before hand and constant communication once it's all up and running - very clear boundaries about ages of children, responsibilities of each setting, arrangements and responsibilities for any transitions if children are going to move from one to the other during the day, etc.etc. Have you got any specific concerns or questions that we might be able to help with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 we are based in the community room at an infant school . We have a pre-school playgroup that offers am sessions for 2-3yrs then lunch club and wraparound for the school nursery, we also do before and after school and holiday club. we are small with only 12 per session . we take 3yr old funded but after that school gets them and the parents pay us for the wrap around. like the previous post suggests you need lots of meetings and planning between each party. we have good transition and communication school also promotes us in their prospectus. in our case we compliment each other we worked hard to build this. is there anything I can help you with? sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 At the moment we are based in a church hall, we have two to four year olds in the same room which is a bit of a nightmare. We are open between 8 and 4 and run holiday clubs too. Our numbers are high and we feed to a few different schools. The local first school has very low numbers and has space for us. I am worried I am being tempted by purpose built classroom's rather than thinking things through long term. We would probably lose most of our NEG funding as this would go to the nursery. The school has not mentioned rent as yet as we currently pay only about £6/7,000 a year. If we don't move, a private nursery may move in which may effect us. If we do move in will we be left with just two year olds and would this be sustainable? I will ask for help from psla etc. but what sort of problems and what sort of questions should I be asking? we are based in the community room at an infant school . We have a pre-school playgroup that offers am sessions for 2-3yrs then lunch club and wraparound for the school nursery, we also do before and after school and holiday club. we are small with only 12 per session . we take 3yr old funded but after that school gets them and the parents pay us for the wrap around. like the previous post suggests you need lots of meetings and planning between each party. we have good transition and communication school also promotes us in their prospectus. in our case we compliment each other we worked hard to build this. is there anything I can help you with? sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wolfie Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 You need to ask lots of questions about the rent and what sort od agreement/lease would be drawn uop between you and the school. As you mentioned, you might lose NEG funding for children as they go into the school instead - this is an issue that you would need to clarify with the school, regarding the age at which the school would start claiming the funding. Remember that there are changes afoot concerning the entitlement - an increase in hours from 12.5 to 15 and also funding coming in for younger children - the pilot is already underway in some parts of the country for that. Maybe you need to do a bit of market research about the sustainability issue if you are left with only two year olds - are there enough of them around? Could you attract more with a bit of marketing? You could maybe do a SWOT analysis to help you weigh up the advantages/disadvantages? And make sure you find out exactly what the school stand to gain from the arrangement - they will have done a LOT of thinking before issuing the invitation to "move in"! Has this private nursery actually been identified - or is the general suggestion just being dangled as a vague threat to help you make your mind up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 ask for help from your early years team ours helped us with negotiation and buisness advice. I think our circumstances are different our size is good for us not sure if we were bigger we would be sustainable. I think being attatched to a school brings lots of benifits as you have a good pool of families. I think you need to look at your competition and how big are the new premises will you have to down size will your families follow you. The swot analysis is very good advice again your early years team should be able to help you with this and to knock up a buisness plan. our authority have ready made contracts for schools and private providers with clear guidence on roles and responsabilities perhaps yours has. if you are a member of the PSLA they should also be able to help thats what you pay your membership for. good luck let us know how you are doing. sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Thanks for good advice. At the moment their is no mention of a private company. This is just a worry of mine as it has happened in two other close schools. I need to definitely undertake some market research etc. As maybe our children that currently feed on to a different school would look elsewhere. There is so much to think about. As i say it is all very tempting as at the moment we have restrictions imposed by the church but I know the school will have its own restrictions and rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wolfie Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 That's a good idea of Sue's to contact the local authority and find out whether other groups have got similar arrangements and how that is organised and maintained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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