Starting School at 5 Years

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Janepig wrote: »

It really does vary from school to school - in my LEA there are some that do full-time at 3, only one intake in September, there are others that do part time, staggered intakes, etc... There are some with nursery units, and others that only start with reception. The LEA tried to force DD and DS's school to do a full-time/part-time staggered entry mix for the nursery class afew years ago and you'd have had to have been a Californian lawyer to work out who was starting when and what hours!! Parents were up in arms and the LEA backed off.

Jxx

Ah thank you! Yes i re-read and i was right for our area, it must be a nightmare for the teachers :eek: In our LEA kiddies turning 5 between 1st sept and dec(i think) start full days straight away, those turning 5 between xmas and easter start at half day for 1st term only and then full days as of 2nd term. And easter-end aug birthdays do first two terms half day then last (summer) term as full day. Very confusing! Will be a nightmare for me as when she starts i'll have a newborn and have to take bus to get to DD's school....never mind, we'll cross that bridge when it comes i suppose

Maybe the OP should check what the potential school themselves do It might help a bit in deciding!

tsstss7

liney wrote: »

He will have to break into friendship groups instead of being allowed to naturally mix and be part of a group that forms. If he starts later than the other children he will be the "New boy" and automatically the odd one out.

In the mean time the children he goes to Nursery with will leave, meaning he has to make new friends there who he'll be split up from again when they go to Reception and he goes to year one.

All Mothers have to let go of their children eventually - we do it a little tiny bit at a time, and this is one of those times.

This may well work in his favour though as he will also be "new" and therefore more interesting.

We moved house part way through reception year for my ds1 and he was fine - made friends within days - it really does depend on the child.

My advice would be to wait until the time is nearer to make your decision, you may find that he is more than ready to go to school. If not you can then consider your options at the time - my ds2 is a 2012 intake too and I wouldn't hesitate to home school for a while if I thought he needed it. DS is a nov baby though so will be one of the oldest in the year so it is unlikely to be an issue for us I think.

squashy wrote: »

At our school we would not hold a place. All the reception places would be allocated accordingly to those starting at that time (we only have one intake, in September, for children aged 4). Anyone wanting to join this cohort the following year would have to take their chances and hope that a place was available in the Y1 class, which may only happen if someone leaves the school/class in the summer.

Different schools may vary but I would be surprised if many would hold a place for very long as the school would lose out on funding.[/QUOTE]

Having read a few threads on the subject here I always thought that once you were awarded a place you could then defer and they were obliged to keep your place open. i have a friend who did this and had no problems at all.

mrcow

tsstss7 wrote: »

Having read a few threads on the subject here I always thought that once you were awarded a place you could then defer and they were obliged to keep your place open. i have a friend who did this and had no problems at all.

Not at all.

A school may agree to keep a place open for a certain period of time. But that would be up to the school.

They are under no obligation to do so.

SingleSue

For my children, they started full time in the term they were 5.

So my two older children were 5 in the October, so started full time in the September when they were 4 years and 11 months. My youngest is an end of March child and he was supposed to go full time from the Jan at age 4 years and 10 months (well 4 years 9 and half months) but due to his disabilities and a move of school for the Area Support class, he didn't actually go full time until he was nearly 9!

He started High school recently (after only being full time for just over 2 years) and is top of the year for maths, art and science.

For me, we only had the one intake in September...I was a late April child, so was not even 4 and a half when I started full time. Despite being one of the youngest, I was one of the brightest and was very much ready for school (think annoying and blooming hard work and you have me when I was 4!).

Christie_L

I think from what everyone has said I will send him when he is four - as another poster pointed out I think I would be limited in what I could offer him at home compared to a school environment, as he's a very bright, confident child.

Also he would have none of his friends to play with during the day as most of them would be at school! I don't want him to miss out on his place at my preferred school either, in that in this authority they are at 'primary' school from ages 4-11 years.

That way I could send his sister to the private day nursery when she is three, and try to re-enter the workplace at that stage, which won't be easy considering that by then I'll have been 'unemployed' for 5.5 years! :eek:

Thanks again for all your advice.

Nicky xx

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Christie_L wrote: »

That way I could send his sister to the private day nursery when she is three, and try to re-enter the workplace at that stage, which won't be easy considering that by then I'll have been 'unemployed' for 5.5 years! :eek:

I know, it'll be the same for me :eek: Scary isn't it!!!! I don't think as myself as unemployed, even though technically i am, i call myself a SAHM. But potential employers will see it that way and i'm hoping it won't be too tough to get back into my field of work!

LJM

my 2nd lo was 4 and 4months when she started reception and my eldest was 9 weeks off being 5,both were totally ready for school and both learnt very quickly made good friendship groups and settled in with no problems.i have a friend whose lo was only just 4 when she started and she was worried that her daughter may be at a disadvantage being younger.yet after a while it showed in her work just how quickly she picked things up and her work was at the same level as the other childrens. i did have a funny 5 mins where i wasnt going to send my youngest until later but im glad i didnt. as i said she picked the work up very fast her reading is amazing and her writing,she has grown in confidence and it is lovely to see.i think if id have held her back i would have felt guilty from taking her out of the friendships she had made as her nursery class friends all went up together

Janepig

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle wrote: »

Ah thank you! Yes i re-read and i was right for our area, it must be a nightmare for the teachers :eek: In our LEA kiddies turning 5 between 1st sept and dec(i think) start full days straight away, those turning 5 between xmas and easter start at half day for 1st term only and then full days as of 2nd term. And easter-end aug birthdays do first two terms half day then last (summer) term as full day. Very confusing! Will be a nightmare for me as when she starts i'll have a newborn and have to take bus to get to DD's school....never mind, we'll cross that bridge when it comes i suppose

Maybe the OP should check what the potential school themselves do It might help a bit in deciding!

Sounds very similar to what the LEA tried to get our primary to do, but there was also swapping from mornings to afternoons, etc... depending on when the child's birthday fell. I couldn't follow it. The main objections were the fact that it's a welsh medium school, they only work in welsh and so for alot of the children who go there it's their only chance to hear welsh used all the time (if their parents don't speak it). The other objection was that by the time they were all full time, the younger children in the year would have had alot less schooling than the older children and could possibly be at a disadvantage because of it. Anyway, it matters not, the LEA thought better of it when all the parents objected.

Jxx