Starting at Pre-school
There are numerous benefits for both yourself and your child when it is time to start pre-school education at the age of three.
Children learn best in a safe and nurturing environment alongside their peers, and a pre-school should provide this safe and structured environment to enable your child to learn lots of new skills.
A child’s brain is like a sponge and when they can safely explore the world around them, they question and experiment, feeling secure and confident in the routine and structure of the pre-school day.
The many benefits of pre-school are:
Early literacy skills, accelerated language development, social skills, fine and large motor skills, learning to share and take turns, listening skills, learning from their peers and playing together or independently, the opportunity to make friends, school readiness, and an increase in self-esteem and confidence.
As well as the numerous benefits for your child from attending a pre-school, there are benefits for parents too. It may give you the opportunity to return to work, or have some much needed “me time” whether that be catching up with chores (or friends over coffee), or having a much needed pamper. The time spent apart from your little one will make the time you spend together special, as you are refreshed in your relationship with each other having spent time apart, and can share those memories together.
Every child, from the term after they are three, is entitled to 15 hours of early education funding. Some pre-schools will just offer the funded sessions term time only with a small charge for consumables, whilst Nursery preschools will be open for a full day and mostly all year round so the funded offer will be ‘stretched’ over the year. You may be eligible to get 30 hours of early education funding a week as long as you and your partner earn at least the national living wage and your earnings are below £100k. Speak to your child care setting to get further information on their Early education Funded sessions and how they charge for them.
Parents/carers can get more help with childcare costs through Tax-Free Childcare, Tax Credits or Universal Credit. For more information on help towards your childcare costs visit: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/