Starting Primary school - late June birthday

Mojisola

NAR wrote: »

If parents develop their children as they are growing up; teaching them words, reading to them, nursery rhymes, colouring in etc etc there is no reason why a child should be disadvantaged by being 6 or 9 months younger over the period of Primary School.

Any child will do better with parents who do these things but it's important not to get hung up on achievement and push the younger children beyond their developmental abilities. Trying to force a 4 year old to perform as well as a 5 year old can be detrimental. A year at this stage is a big proportion of their lives.

We're unusual in the country for starting formal education so young. Research from other countries shows that their children do just as well - or even better than ours - even though they start later. It's important to spot a child's readiness for learning different things. When they're ready, they'll pick things up very quickly.

jellynose

Mojisola wrote: »

Any child will do better with parents who do these things but it's important not to get hung up on achievement and push the younger children beyond their developmental abilities. Trying to force a 4 year old to perform as well as a 5 year old can be detrimental. A year at this stage is a big proportion of their lives.

We're unusual in the country for starting formal education so young. Research from other countries shows that their children do just as well - or even better than ours - even though they start later. It's important to spot a child's readiness for learning different things. When they're ready, they'll pick things up very quickly.

I completely agree and I am talking from experience. My birthday is 24 June, and started P1 at age 4 (many years ago ) I was kept back a year to redo P1 because I just wasn’t ready but they don’t do that anymore.

My son who is 14 now was born on 3 June and started P1 at 4 years old and he did struggle in primary school up until around P4. The teachers admitted that children who are 4 are at a disadvantage compared to the 5 years olds and they said that boys do take a while academically to reach the same standard as females. BUT all children are expected to perform at the same rate as their peers regardless of age .

My son is fine now with a lot of work and input from my husband and I to get him there. However, I believe that the extra year and starting him when he was 5 would have made all the difference.

Mojisola

Discussing this now on Radio 5.

NAR

Mojisola wrote: »

Any child will do better with parents who do these things but it's important not to get hung up on achievement and push the younger children beyond their developmental abilities.

I agree about not pushing children beyond ability, rather I am advocating stimulating young children's imagination and brains (which are like sponges from a young age).

Mojisola

NAR wrote: »

I agree about not pushing children beyond ability, rather I am advocating stimulating young children's imagination and brains (which are like sponges from a young age).

Agreed! And lots of fun things which encourage physical skills, social development and language progression. Get the groundwork right and they'll just fly when presented with formal learning.