[UK] Benefits of playgroup for a 2 year old

My son is currently 1 and my wife is really keen on getting him into a playgroup/nursery when he's two.She says that a child's development is really accelerated within the nursery environment and that it would give him a good head-start because she doesn't want him to be behind other children when he starts nursery properly when he's 3.(In the UK you get a certain number of free nursery hours once a child is 3. Because of that I'm assuming that most children start nursery when they're 3).Now the problem is that, where we temporarily live (not uk), nursery costs about £1000 GBP per term ($1300 USD).We can afford it, but...it's a lot of money and to be honest I would never consider paying that much money in a million years if my wife wasn't so adamant about it.Of course though, our child's development comes first assuming that nursery at 2 years old is really as important as my wife says it is....£1000 a term important!Could anyone give any insights on this?How important is nursery for a 2 year old? Am I restricting him or holding him back by not sending him to nursery? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2k2uFjL