"Nursery"

[Rachel Adams]

Hello

I looked up 'ясли' which stands for 'nursery', but an online dictionary lists all these synonyms for this word: 'creche', 'preprimary school', 'childcare institution', 'day nursery,' 'infant school' and 'day care centre'. As I have found out native speakers don't always use all the words that are listed. Which word is most commonly used in BrE?

 

[emsr2d2]

They're not all synonyms.

A creche is somewhere a working parent can leave a baby/toddler while they go to work. It's usually located at their workplace and is paid for by the employer.
A nursery/nursery school is where children can go from about the age of 2 until they start primary/infant school.
Day care [centre] is a bit like nursery but without much involvement of education. It's literally just somewhere you pay to leave your kids and they keep them safe, fed and watered.
I've only heard pre-primary school used once in my area - a very expensive private school uses the term for its students aged 2-5.
"Childcare institution" is far too broad a term to have one definition.

You won't find much agreement on how people refer to schools for particular ages. When I was a child, you went to nursery (age 2-4), then to first school (age 5-8), then middle school (age 8-12), then secondary/high school (age 12-16), and then optionally on to sixth form [college] (age 16-18) and university (age 18-21/22). I have chosen to leave out the confusing issue of grammar schools and the relevant ages.

The school I attended at the age of 5 was called "Downs First School" when I was there. Now it's called "Downs Infant School", although some people locally refer to it as "Downs Primary School". The school I moved on to at the age of 8 was called "Hertford Road Middle School". Now it's called "Hertford Road Junior School".

 

[Rover_KE]

I know you asked about the BE perspective, but no doubt our American friends will want to mention kindergartens for the sake of completeness.

 

[Rachel Adams]

They're not all synonyms.

A creche is somewhere a working parent can leave a baby/toddler while they go to work. It's usually located at their workplace and is paid for by the employer.
A nursery/nursery school is where children can go from about the age of 2 until they start primary/infant school.
Day care [centre] is a bit like nursery but without much involvement of education. It's literally just somewhere you pay to leave your kids and they keep them safe, fed and watered.
I've only heard pre-primary school used once in my area - a very expensive private school uses the term for its students aged 2-5.
"Childcare institution" is far too broad a term to have one definition.

You won't find much agreement on how people refer to schools for particular ages. When I was a child, you went to nursery (age 2-4), then to first school (age 5-8), then middle school (age 8-12), then secondary/high school (age 12-16), and then optionally on to sixth form [college] (age 16-18) and university (age 18-21/22). I have chosen to leave out the confusing issue of grammar schools and the relevant ages.

The school I attended at the age of 5 was called "Downs First School" when I was there. Now it's called "Downs Infant School", although some people locally refer to it as "Downs Primary School". The school I moved on to at the age of 8 was called "Hertford Road Middle School". Now it's called "Hertford Road Junior School".

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation.

 

[Rachel Adams]

The same problem arises when talking about 'maternity hospital', 'maternity home', and 'lying-in hospital'. They are listed as synonyms. Are all of them usually used by native speakers?

 

[GoesStation]

I know you asked about the BE perspective, but no doubt our American friends will want to mention kindergartens for the sake of completeness.

And pre-K for three-year-olds.

 

[PeterCW]

The same problem arises when talking about 'maternity hospital', 'maternity home', and 'lying-in hospital'. They are listed as synonyms. Are all of them usually used by native speakers?

"Lying-in" is definitely an anachronistic term that has long since gone out of general use. "Maternity home" is a rather more old fashioned name than "maternity hospital" but maternity services in the UK are usually incorporated into general hospitals these days. The only dedicated unit that I can find in my region is called a "midwifery-led unit".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I know you asked about the BE perspective, but no doubt our American friends will want to mention kindergartens for the sake of completeness.

Yes. And preschools, nursery schools, and daycare.

All those are types of schools or pre-schools. But in American English, that's not what a nursery is. It's a bedroom for small children. For instance, Peter Pan visited Wendy and her brothers in their nursery.

So in the US, a nursery and a nursery school are not the same thing.

And in the US, a creche is a model (often life-size) of a manger featuring the baby Jesus and his entourage.

 

[emsr2d2]

I doubt there are any maternity hospitals left in the UK. As PeterCW said, maternity services are usually offered within larger hospitals. At the only hospital I've had the misfortune to visit in recent years, the signs point you to the "Maternity Unit". On that unit, there are several maternity wards.

 

[Tdol]

The same problem arises when talking about 'maternity hospital', 'maternity home', and 'lying-in hospital'. They are listed as synonyms. Are all of them usually used by native speakers?

You'll only find lying-in in old texts now. I haven't heard it for so long that I had forgotten the term.