Pre-school in general

The world of education and childcare for the under 5s is a confusing place! There's playgroup, pre-school, nursery, nurseries attached to school - all offering different hours of care. For those who don't know, a pre-school is for children aged from 2, usually taking children up to age 4 before they start school. It is different from a nursery, because usually it offers only short periods of care - usually 2 and a half hour sessions in the morning from 9.30 until 12. There are some pre-schools that offer lunch and afternoon care, but they are few and far between. Pre-schools are usually attended by children who have previously been looked after at ...  Read the complete review

Our experience Our twins began nursery just a few weeks ago, the post Christmas influx and they were 2 of 3 who began in our small local village school nursery. There were two others which were possible, another in our village and one in the next but we chose this one based on the Ofsted report and a visit with the headmistress for the school. Pre-school is the introduction to school, in every way, the foundation steps of education and the school routine. Our twins at 3 were desperate to go since we'd told them about nursery and taken them to visit. Every time we passed since our visit they'd shout as loud as possible 'my nursery!' and it was a countdown ...  Read the complete review

Preschool is arguably the first major stage in a childs race for independence from its parent/s. After enduring the early toddler phases of angry defiance, stroppy tantrums, snatching, throwing things, hitting, and an obsession with the word 'No!', we parents suddenly find that we are the ones now wanting to push out the childs boundaries- social, that is. I know that by the time my daughter was 2 1/2 years old, she was desperate to mix with other kiddies; and since she is an only child as it stands, I was even more keen to help her develop her social skills.Not only that, she had known only the safe cocoon of my home, the love of her Dad and I, and the ...  Read the complete review

My daughter is due to start pre school next September, and I have a feeling she will be a whole different kettle of fish to my son who started big school last September. My review on this will be based on my son’s experiences. You can start attending most pre schools from the age of 2 years although the particular one Daniel went to only took the kids from age 2 and a half. He was 2 in the May and started Pre School in the January following his birthday so he was 2 and 8 months. This tied in very nicely with my giving up work following the birth of my daughter in the November. I had gone back to work following the birth of Daniel so he was quite used to going ...  Read the complete review

Before I start, this is not going to be a review about buying toys for an average child, instead I'm going to offer some (hopefully) helpful advice on selecting and buying toys for a child with special needs, although you may find some useful bits of information regardless. Now there are many sorts of special needs, and I don't have experience of all of them, but from buying toys for my own son who has various special needs I can possibly pass on some information that helped me choose appropriate toys for him. ~~~What makes Michael special~~~ My son Michael, has a condition called Worster-Drought Syndrome, which probably means nothing to ...  Read the complete review