Starting primary school pre statutory school age?

Bumpmakesfour

Regardless of if the child is or isn't ready the bottom line is the two children won't be able to be in the same year as there is a full year between them and the birthdays fall after the august 31st admissions cut off.Children who reach age 4 between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012 will start school in September 2012,so with the youngest being 4 in october they fall into this and start in 2012.

So with current admissions policy the youngest will start next september in reception and the eldest willl move to year one.The friend needs to apply now for a place for next year for the younger one.

thegirlintheattic

As far as I understand it the dates for starting are guidelines only and there is no law that says that a 4-year old could not start a year early. It depends on if the school and LEA agree and there is space in the class.

neverdespairgirl

It depends, I think. OH, his brother, my sister and I all started primary a year young, and came out a year young at the other end, starting secondary school at 10. My sister and I were at private schools, OH and his brother at state schools.

Bumpmakesfour

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

As far as I understand it the dates for starting are guidelines only and there is no law that says that a 4-year old could not start a year early. It depends on if the school and LEA agree and there is space in the class.

So theoretically "if" they started a year early would they repeat reception year to then slot into the "correct" year?Or go through the whole of their schooling a year ahead/younger than their peers?
The admissions criteria are pretty clear to me and even though my youngest was more than ready to start a year ahead I'd never have even considered trying to get her in a year early.Blimey they're so little when they start at barely 4/5 and have years and years ahead.With my very mature 4 year old we just made sure we did lots of activities on top of her free nursery hours to occupy her till she started school.

msb5262

Hello OP,

Whatever the legal position may be, my instinctive feeling (both as a parent and as a teacher) is that putting a barely 4 year old into the same class as her barely 5 year old sister would be a mistake.

a) my DS 2 has an October birthday - DS1 and DD are both spring/summer born and it's obvious that starting school was much easier for DS2, who was nearly 5 when he joined Reception, than for the other two who were less than four and a half. An October birthday has been a huge advantage to him because he was easily more "ready" for school than the other two.

b) the older sister will - rightly - have her nose put right out of joint by having her little sister joining her class

c) when children start school in the normal way, they have a long run-up which includes home visits and then a gradual buildup from part time school to attending full time.
All the children are new starters and they work with teachers and teaching assistants to develop relationships, systems and routines.
Adding a new child who is only just four, has a sister already in the class and who will have to play catch-up is just going to create difficulties for everyone - both the girls, all the other children in the class and of course teaching staff who would have to work out how to teach a child who is starting weeks after everyone else!
The question is, who would choose for their child to join an already established class well into the school year? It really isn't ideal.

d) What would happen at the end of reception? Would she stay with the "wrong" year or have to repeat reception? Neither is a good option.

e) If your friend's child with an October birthday is admitted, every other family with siblings with autumn birthdays could in theory be knocking on the door...you get my drift.

If your friend's daughter is getting fed up, then there is a huge amount that nursery/parents can do about it. I really feel it would disadvantage both girls to take the "school now" route.

HTH

MsB

valos_mummy

As a child, I started primary as the youngest in my year with an early September birthday. I thought I did well and had quite a lot of friends. But one year I found myself being kept back to become the eldest in the year below instead. Suddenly I became the newbie in a class that had already established friends and ended up with only one friend, as throughout the rest of primary I was very badly bullied.

As a result I feel I've never coped well with going into a large group of people and by the time I feel comfortable enough to talk everyone else has made friends and I end up being ignored . It happened in secondary school, and in university as well.

I would say to your friend, be very careful when considering sending a child to school before they are really ready.

neverdespairgirl

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

So theoretically "if" they started a year early would they repeat reception year to then slot into the "correct" year?Or go through the whole of their schooling a year ahead/younger than their peers?

that's what OH, his brother, my sister and I all did. We stayed a year ahead of ourselves.

OH's birthday is in December, his brother's in January, mine at the end of March, and my sister's is in May. So my sister had just turned 15 when she did her GCSE exams, and was 16 when her A level exams started, and turned 17 in the middle of them.

Spendless

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

that's what OH, his brother, my sister and I all did. We stayed a year ahead of ourselves.

OH's birthday is in December, his brother's in January, mine at the end of March, and my sister's is in May. So my sister had just turned 15 when she did her GCSE exams, and was 16 when her A level exams started, and turned 17 in the middle of them.

What happened when you got to the end of your schooling years?

............................................................................................
Some years ago when I was doing a school place admission for DS who is now 11, there was a criteria about how a very bright child could start early, but I really don't remember if it was for nursery or reception place and the criteria was it had to be supported by 'someone official' (can't remember who) not just at a parents request. Is the 4yo not in nursery? Mine went to a private nursery from age 2. DS because he needed it. I found that beneficial for him.

neverdespairgirl

Spendless wrote: »

What happened when you got to the end of your schooling years?

All of us took a gap year, in effect - I taught English abroad, OH and his brother did various things in India, my sister did a Foundation Arts course. Then we all went to uni at 18.

GlasweJen

One of my friends sat an exam to start school early. She went all through primary with us then the high school refused to take her at just turned 10 years old so she had to repeat primary 7.