This topic is a topic I go back and forth with numerous times a week.
When children turn three they get fifteen free hours from the government to go to a nursery, play scheme or child minder. However the way it works is that it's the term after you turn three unless you have circumstantial reasons for your child to go sooner.
Child’s birthday | When you can claim |
1 January to 31 March | the beginning of term on or after 1 April |
1 April to 31 August | the beginning of term on or after 1 September |
1 September to 31 December | the beginning of term on or after 1 January |
This means that Lily will be a little over 3 and 2 months when she gets her free hours which I'll be honest feels like a long time to wait when I feel like she's ready now. We could of course pay nursery fees until January, and this is something we might still do, but nursery fees are expensive and I have my own reasons for wanting Lily in a Primary School based nursery and they generally don't accept children before they turn three.
Last night I sat down and made a list of all the reasons for and against having Lily go to nursery now.