When your child turns 3 or shortly after you may receive an offer of a place from other nursery within a school. We all start to talk about school at this age and other parents start talking about this so you begin to question…. Should I move my child? It is always a hard choice and always a parents decision, we understand it is a dilemma; but we have always been here to offer advice and to support you so we offer our opinion and the facts surrounding this! Many children (most) begin the Autumn term after they turn 4. Some schools even offer pre-school education and may suggest you move your child there before you make your school application. But we ask you to consider all of your options before moving your child.

 

Reasons to stay:

 

1. Your child has made friends, lots of them and they worked hard to do this.

2.  The setting is a Privately run, owned and managed by a family and we recruit passionate and devoted staff. We have extremely high standards. As a result ‘Children are extremely happy and demonstrate an immensely strong sense of belonging in the nursery environment’

3. Your child love the staff and we love them.

4. You can be confident; as you have always been that your child is happy and safe.

5. We prepare children in an outstanding way for school…. As Ofsted say on our most recent report:

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‘Children are well prepared for moving on to school, particularly in relation to developing the skills to manage their own personal care, such as toileting, blowing their noses and putting on coats. Their confidence in asking staff questions and to experiment without fear of failure is immensely inspiring. Children develop good pencil control and apply mathematical skills. They learn to link letters to sounds and, if ready, are taught how to blend these together to work out simple words. Most children develop rapid communication and language skills’

 

 

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There's more.... 

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1. Sunny Days has  extremely devoted staff, this is led by a Graduate with significant Experience in Early years care & Education. Clare takes pride in her continuous development and has significant experience and devotion to her SENCO role. This means that all children have excellent and inspiring learning activities where they learn and develop regardless of abilities

2. Funding, availability and flexibility. Most pre/nursery schools attached to schools offer morning or afternoon sessions or have limited availability for full time places for children in receipt of 30 hours. At Sunny Days we offer a flexible approach to our delivery of sessions which meet your families needs as a whole.

3. Moving a child when they have settled can be a stressful time for a child and a parent. You have successfully done this when you let us take care and settle your child in so why put yourself and your child through another unnecessary move when you do not need to! Why move them to a school based pre-school, then move them again only a year later?

4. We offer flexibility with the delivery of our hours to suit you!

5. We will let you think of your reasons to stay !

 

The Big Question? Is there a difference between Sunny Days a privately owned setting and a school based pre school?

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• Both follow the Early years Foundation Stage, Sunny Days has the advantage of a manager who is specifically trained holding a Degree in teaching children in the early age group.

• Our ratio’s are 1 : 8, so for every 8 children 1 member of staff is always available. School based pre schools are only required to have a ratio of 1:13 or in some cases of independent schools 1:30. Imagine the loss to your child’s learning and development with 2 adults to 26 children! That is nearly half the amount of time and adult interaction they get. We give a personalised and nurturing experience. In most circumstances we have a higher ratio than the minimum requirements which is even better for your child.

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Myths we commonly hear from parents

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• ‘My child may not get a place at the school if I don’t move them to the attached pre-school’

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This is completely false and you should never be given this impression. The School does not make the decision who is admitted into their reception year the LEA does. Attending the pre-school makes no difference to your child’s admission. We often hear of a parent moving their child because of pressure from school based pre-schools and from other parents, this saddens us because this is not true. And in some instances after a child has been moved to the pre-school they do not get place at the school!

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• ‘It will help my child as they will get a key person within the school which will make the transition easier’

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Unlike Private nurseries, not all pre-schools attached to schools have a key person Scheme. At Sunny Days we make sure each child has a key person who they are comfortable with and who they naturally connect with. When your child first started you would have noticed they are not given a permanent key person; this is decided within the first few weeks as we observe who your child bonds best with.

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• ‘The school said it will be easier if they move because they will make friends before they start reception year’

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Your child has friend’s, they made them when they started, they have an innate ability to make friends and new friends. Children are resilient. At Sunny Days we pride ourselves on developing confidence and independence. Your child has made friends once they will do it again!

 

 

We appreciate that if your child has siblings at the local school it can be more convenient to move them and we understand this, but we also understand the importance of high quality education.

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We may seem bias as we probably are, but for good reason…. We are exceptional at what we do and if there is anything we need to improve we do it; without hesitation. We receive excellent feedback from parents and the community and Ofsted also recognised this. Ofsted recognised that in particular children who stay with us for that extra year are exceptionally prepared for school.

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Best of all we recognise all of your child’s achievements in the July before they go to nursery. All children, parents and families are invited to our graduation ceremony which is extremely touching to see and it is an amazing reward for us to see your child’s journey end with us at the natural stage of progression to ‘Big School’. Children show you the confidence they have developed as they walk onto the stage in the Graduation Gowns and always bring their parents to tears.

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As a reminder we encourage parents to look at our website to see our photos and what we offer, look at our testimonials and see what other people think and refresh yourself with our Ofsted report. We work exceptionally hard with your children from the age of 2 and we like to see our children growing us with all the time we can have.

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To end we would just like to say …. You should make the decision based on what is best for your child and your family, not on anything else. Listen to your heart and your instincts. We can only hope that this choice naturally leads to your child remaining with us.