Age for Pre-school in UK

Hi, I was just wondering what is the age they enroll for preschool in England?  And what are the average costs. Thanks

I started one of my sons when he was 2.5 and toilet trained. My other son will start next Sept. He is 3. There is no charge for pre-school at my sons' school but when we first moved here there was a £1 a week charge. Yes just £1!
They start "reception" (kindergarten) when they are 4.

Wow, Thanks Pebbles.  I am a first time mom and I can't believe that they can start pre-school at 2.5! And 1£ a week is great!  There seems to be a charge for almost everything in Europe so that's why I wasn't sure about Pre-school.  Thanks!

Is it really that cheap for pre-schools there? I have a friend that lives in the UK with her 3.4 year old and she constantly complains at how expensive pre-schools are. Have I misunderstood her?

Is it really that cheap for pre-schools there? I have a friend that lives in the UK with her 3.4 year old and she constantly complains at how expensive pre-schools are. Have I misunderstood her?

Maybe she is talking about a daycare? My son goes to pre-school at the same primary school his older brothers go to. Its for 3 hours a day and its funded by the government. I believe most the primary in our area have a pre-school. Ours actually has a waiting list but I recently go lucky because someone moved at the last minute.
Day care centres are very expensive!

Private nursery/pre-school can be very expensive. 

Yes, Childcare/Daycare is very expensive in the UK!!!  I have a friend in Berkshire where I'll be living she just finished all her childminder reqs and is willing to watch my child for a 50% discount and it's STILL EXPENSIVE!  I dont know how people afford to pay so much.  I only pay $135usd per week full time for my daughter in Houston at a very decent local daycare, and it's like triple if not 4x that amount in UK.  I will most likely be a stay at home Mom. lol

All children over the age of 3 should have access to 2.5 hours a day of publicly funded pre-school for 33 weeks of the year.  Depending on where you live this could be in a school, a public (State) nursery school or a local playgroup.  A private nursery/daycare should be able to reclaim the government grant for this amount of time and deduct it from your bill. 

The minimum age used to be 'the term after the 3rd birthday'.  I think it has been reduced recently but my kids are beyond that stage now so I'm not certain.

When my son started he was just 2.5 but now they did change it to 3.