Pre-school nursery education

Free nursery places

All children are eligible for a free part-time place. This place can be taken at a local authority nursery class or in a partner provider centre. A pre-school education place is usually five sessions per week, each session lasting two and a half hours, for 38 weeks of the year. The total number of pre-school hours is 475 per year.  Occasionally nurseries can offer a combination of sessions, dependent on availability.Your child's eligibility for pre-school education depends on their birthday:

• If your child turns three between 1 March and 31 August they will be entitled to pre-school education from Term 1 (August)
• If your child turns three between 1 September and 31 December they will be entitled to pre-school education from Term 2 (January)
• If your child turns three between 1 January and the last day in February they will be entitled to pre-school education from Term 3 (April)

Find out how to apply for a nursery place.

There are no catchment area restrictions for nurseries. This means that you can send your child to any nursery in the city, if a place is available. 

Provision of a nursery place in a particular school does not influence the availability of a place in that school at Primary 1 entry time.

Partner Provider Centres are not run by the Council but have been commissioned by us to provide pre-school education. They include community day nurseries, private day nurseries, college/university nurseries, voluntary playgroups and nurseries attached to independent schools. Find out more about the types of nursery.

If you take a place at a partner provider centre, you will be able to receive a contribution towards your fees depending upon the number of sessions your child attends. Funding for the place is provided by the Scottish Government and is paid directly by the Council to the partner provider on a termly basis. The partner provider will explain this in more detail.

Additional support needs

All council nurseries, child and family centres and many partner providers have places for children with additional support needs.  If your child has additional support needs, you should discuss the level and nature of these needs with the head teacher or centre manager, to ensure that your child receives the support required to make the most of their time in nursery.