When would our children start nursery?

[Pottster]

Hi, could anyone tell me when my children would start nursery in ACT? One is 2 in June and the other is 4 in September.

 

Many Thanks

[Quoll]

Dont have nursery in ACT. The year before full time primary school (of which the first year is called kindergarten) is preschool and your 4 year old will be able to start in 2013 at the age of 4 then going on to full time school (kinder) in 2014. Preschool now running at 15 hours per week.

 

Your 2 year old wont be eligible for preschool until after they have turned 4 so will be in preschool in 2015 and full time school in 2016

[claireg]

Hi Pottster, Welcome.

 

As Quoll says your 4 year old will be able to start pre-school in 2013 and is 15 hours per week. They have a cut-off date of 30 April here, so your child must have turned 4 by 30th April. As your 2 year old is born in June, will have to wait to the following year.

 

I have the same with my daughter, her birthday is 11th May and misses the cut-off by 11 days so has to wait another year to start.

 

However, if you are planning on working full-time then pre-school is not really an option as only offers 15 hours per week. If that is the case then you are looking at child care / nurseries.

 

They have a few options here, long day care (child care centres), family day care (cared for in someones home), etc. Have a look at this website. It lists all the child care options www.mychild.gov.au

 

If you are also on a perm visa you can also claim a rebate of 50% towards the costs of child care if you are working.

 

The long day care centres are charging at the moment between $70 - $90 approx daily for care. Most include nappies and food, some just do morning and afternoon snacks and you have to bring the lunch each day. From my experience so far they all have waiting lists in the area I am looking, especially for the under 2's. For the 3-4 year olds the waiting lists are shorter. Some centres will charge you for going on a waiting list but most I have found do not.

 

They also have playschools here too which your child can attend once they are 3. You can choose one or two days a week and the hours are approx 9.30 - 12.30 or 1.30 pm. They cost around $40 - $45 per session and there is no government rebate on these. There is a website listing these but I can't find it at the moment. Anyway you would leave your child in their care also.

 

Here is the ACT Gov schooling info website too http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education

 

When do you arrive?

 

Hope this helps, any questions about long day care (or nursery as I called in the UK) just shout as I am going through the process of finding one for my 2 daughters now.

 

Cheers

Claire

[Guest Bazinga]

I'm lucky enough to have a great childminder here in London for £5 a hour. I am not going to get that lucky in Canberra I'm sure!

[Quoll]

I'm lucky enough to have a great childminder here in London for £5 a hour. I am not going to get that lucky in Canberra I'm sure!

 

LOL, choke! No, you wont!

[Jurls]

VERY hard to get into daycare centres in Canberra, expect several months wait if your child is under 3. Claire and I are going through the process at the moment and I'm getting advised basically to put my name down at every centre and take whatever days are offered just to get in the centre. Unfortunately the vacancies data on the mychild website is rubbish as it doesn't take into account the waiting lists which the centres fill the vacancies from but it's a pretty good starting point to find agencies to ring. It's impossible to tell how long the waits are as people are duplicated on several lists etc so nobody really has an idea, you just register and then sit and wait and ring back every six weeks or so. It's tedious at best.

 

I'll be surprised if I get the two consecutive days I want before my children turn 3 in October. Having said that, as I have twins I require 2 spaces which makes life a little more difficult.