Council or partnership nursery?
Lots of parents believe their child needs a place at a council or school nursery before starting P1 — and that a private nursery is somehow “less official” or won’t prepare them as well. In Scotland, neither is true. Here’s what’s actually the same, and what a partnership nursery like ours adds.
The same standards — first, the reassurance
We’re what Scotland calls a partnership provider: a private nursery that delivers funded childcare in partnership with the council. That word “partner” matters — it means we’re held to exactly the same national standards as a school nursery.
| What parents ask about | Council or school nursery | Bizzyberry |
|---|---|---|
| Follows the national curriculum | Yes — Curriculum for Excellence | Yes — the very same |
| Care Inspectorate registered & inspected | Yes | Yes |
| 1140 funded hours | Yes | Yes — we’re a council partner provider |
| Typical hours | The school day, term-time | 7.30am – 5.30pm, your choice of pattern |
| Weeks open per year | Around 38 (term-time) | 50 weeks |
| Ages covered | The nursery years | Birth right through to P7 |
| The same familiar staff throughout | Changes at each stage | The same trusted faces, start to finish |
Your funding follows your child
Scotland’s funded childcare works on a simple principle the government calls “funding follows the child”. Your 1140 funded hours can be used at any provider that meets the Scottish Government’s National Standard — not only a council setting. Bizzyberry is a partnership provider with South Lanarkshire Council, so here your funded hours are paid directly by the council, exactly as they would be at a school nursery. Where you use them is your choice.
You’re not “getting them ready” any differently
The worry we hear most is that a child needs a school or council nursery place to be “ready” for P1. They don’t. We follow the very same national guidance every Scottish setting works to — Curriculum for Excellence and Realising the Ambition: Being Me — and we prepare children for school in the same play-led way. Children come to us from birth and leave us ready for P1.
What a partnership nursery adds
Same standards — but built around working families:
- More hours and longer days — we’re open 7.30am to 5.30pm, not just the school day
- More flexibility — choose the pattern of days and hours that fits your work, and change it with notice
- Open 50 weeks a year — not only in term time, so there’s no scramble for holiday cover
- One place, birth to P7 — your baby can start in Jelly Babies and stay with us all the way through to our After School Club
The part that matters most: the same faces
Because we care for every age under one roof, children don’t have to change settings — and start again with new adults — every couple of years. We have children who joined us as babies and are now in our After School Club: the same trusted team who’ve known them, and you, for years. That continuity is something a nursery tied only to the school years simply can’t offer.
Not sure what’s right for your family? Come and see us — no pressure, just a proper look around and honest answers.