Leaving nursery this summer? Save all your photos now

It's the summer of leaving dos and "last day" photos at the gate. Lots of little ones are moving on to school in September, and the nursery app is full of memories from the last couple of years. Here's the catch most parents don't see coming: once they leave, your account is usually downgraded, and those photos get much harder to reach.

So before the holidays swallow you whole, here's what to sort now.

Check how long you've actually got

Your full access to ParentZone, Famly or Bright Horizons FamilyApp is tied to your child being on the nursery's register. Once they leave, your account is usually downgraded: things like messages and group photos can disappear, and what's left is hard to get to. Sometimes it's the same week. Sometimes you get a courtesy month.

Don't try to guess. Assume you have less time than you think and act this week.

If you can, ask a member of staff how they handle leavers' accounts. Some will tell you the exact date. Either way, treat any remaining full access as borrowed time.

Save all the photos at full size

This is the bit people regret missing. Saving photos one at a time to your phone usually grabs a shrunk, compressed copy, fine on a screen, not great if you ever want a print or a canvas.

A few things worth doing:

• Save the originals, not the thumbnails. Look for the full file size where you can.
• Get the lot, not just the cute ones. It's much harder to go back for them later.
• If you're on a laptop or desktop, NurseryDownloader is the quick way to do this. It's a Chrome extension that pulls every full-size original straight to your computer in one go, rather than tapping through hundreds by hand. It works with ParentZone, Famly, Famly.de and Bright Horizons FamilyApp, nothing gets uploaded anywhere, and the free trial covers 20 downloads so you can check the quality first.

Back them up, then grab any documents

Once the photos are on your computer, copy them somewhere safe. A cloud account and an external drive, ideally both. One copy in one place isn't a backup.

While you're in the app, have a quick look for anything else worth keeping:

• Learning journeys or observation summaries
• Any reports or "all about me" pages
• Messages with photos tucked inside them

Save those too while you still have full access.

Don't leave it for "later"

The honest truth is that "I'll do it after the holidays" is exactly how people lose two years of photos. Full access feels permanent right up until the morning it isn't.

Give it half an hour this week. Future you, sitting down to make a school-starter photo book in the autumn, will be very glad you did.