Nursery schools in UK come in generally three categories. There are the state provided ones, maintained by the local authority. They are usually a feeder stage for the local primary school. Nursery schools offer early years education with more emphasis on play and focused developmental activities. The aim is to prepare the young children for entry to primary school. They follow a natonal curriculum – in the majority of cases this will be the Early Years Foundation Stage.
There are many independent, private nursery schools which are owned and run by businesses and charge fees. Very often these nursery schools will be attached to the private sector schooling system that complements the state system. The private nursery schools are often referred to as kindergarten and then pre prep, which is pre preparatory, the first stage of the very established independent schooling system.
All childrenn in UK are entitled to 15 hours of free early education per week for 38 weeks of the year from the term following their third birthday. Some children, mostly from the working class families may be eligible for more hours of free childcare; the local authority decides on the awards on a child by child basis judged on need.