What is the difference between nursery and nursery school?

When you come to choosing what early years setting is right for your child, it is useful to know what is a nursery school and what is the difference between a nursery and nursery school?

Main differences

Leadership

The key difference is that a nursery school has a trained teacher or headteacher in charge.

Age group

Nurseries can care for children at a much younger age, from six weeks or even from birth up to the age of five years old.

Nursery schools are attended by children aged three to five years old. Some will take children from two and a half. Children usually start in September after their third birthday.

Opening hours

Nursery opening hours support working parents, so are usually between around 7-8am and 6-7pm.

However, nursery school opening hours are usually from 9am until 3.30pm during term time only, but many offer extended hours. This gives parents the opportunity to drop off early or pick up late.

Early years learning

A nursery’s curriculum tends to include lots of physical, social and emotional learning as part of their structure.

Nursery schools provide more structured, educational activities.

However, both types of early years settings follow their country’s national curriculum.

The curriculum followed is:

• In England – Early Years Foundation Stage
• In Scotland – Early years Curriculum for Excellence
• In Wales – Curriculum for Wales – Early Years
• In Northern Ireland – Curricular Guidance for Pre-School Education

What is a nursery school?

Nursery schools place greater importance on educational assessments, such as in literacy, numeracy and expressive art and design.

The aim is to prepare the children for primary school. Learning through play is still present, however.

They have a trained teacher or headteacher with overall responsibility. They are attached to primary schools and follow their country’s national curriculum e.g. England’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.

These early years settings are registered and inspected by Ofsted. They can be part of the free state education system (also known as maintained nursery schools), independent or private with varying fees.

These settings offer full-time and part-time early years education through structured sessions and benefit from having access to the attached school’s resources and facilities.

Some also offer childcare via after school clubs.

What is a state-funded nursery school?

Maintained nursery schools, run and funded by the local authority, are either attached to their respective primary school or in a separate building.

They are only open during school hours during term time, offering childcare and education to children under five.

They were originally set up in deprived areas of the UK to enable all young children access to education. Many of these early years’ settings are located in the most deprived areas in England.

State-funded nursery schools employ a headteacher, professionally qualified teachers and early years staff.

What is a private nursery school?

Private nurseries can either follow the same term time as state-run nursery schools or be open for most of the year.

Privately-run nursery schools must be registered with Ofsted. A private setting may charge fees, be more demanding and have different approaches and philosophies to learning, such as Steiner, compared to a state-run setting.

Generally, these settings are for pre-school children aged three to four. However, some accept children aged two and a half.

What is an independent nursery school?

Some independent schools have nurseries attached to them, where children learn through play in structured environments. Children benefit from the school’s facilities and resources.

For example, the children could get access to the school’s library, sports centre and more to prepare them for the next stage.

What is a pre-school?

Neither a nursery school nor a nursery are the same thing as a pre-school.

Pre-schools can be stand alone, attached to an infant or primary school, or part of a nursery. They are early years settings which provide education for children aged two to five.

Combined with childcare, children going to pre-school will learn and play in a more structured environment to help them with the transition to Reception.

What is the difference between nursery and pre-school?

Nurseries care for children at a much younger age until they are ready to start school. Pre-schools care for children aged two to five years. You can find out more about the differences between the two types of settings here.

How can I find the right nursery for my child?

Now that you know more about the types of nurseries, you may want to know about how much early years fees. If you have questions about funding, you can read about how to get help with childcare costs and 15 and 30 hours funded childcare.

To help you choose the right nursery for your child, you can visit the Finding a nursery page.