Starting school at 4 years old

alleycat`

silvercar wrote: »

Round here if you did that your place could be given away to someone who was prepared to use the place.

Tend to concur.

If you are fortunate to get your kids into what are considered the "better" schools you take the place.

If you don't get in at the "ground level", you won't get in as they are always massively oversubscribed.

A lot of the primaries in our area are now running their own "nursery" intake and if you are not in "nursery" you are not likely to move into reception.

Not sure i agree with it but come April/may/June on this very board you'll have a lot of people appealing about school places.

shelby75

Hi

I have a 2010 summer-born and have successfully requested a delay into reception AT compulsory school age, which will be September 2015.

The legal meaning of 'reception class' can be found in section 142 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. - You will see that is primarily defined as a class for 5 year olds.

'relevant age group' in footnote 12 of The School Admissions Code 2012 refers the reader to section 142 of the SSFRA and the legal meaning of reception class. Summer-borns sit firmly within both definitions.

If you would like to 'defer' and start your little one later in the year rather than delay - see section 2.16 of The School Admissions Code.

There is a facebook group, a googlegroup and a blog regarding this issue.

The group has been quite successful todate, the recently published guidance from the DfE on this issue was a collaboration between the founder and another member of the group, BLISS and the DfE. There was also a recent Parliamentary debate regarding this issue. - You can find it in Hansard - Annette Brooke School Starting Age.

As a new user I cannot post links.

Google 'flexible school admissions for summer borns'

susancs

OP, my youngest child whose birthday is the end of July, started reception class in the September after she turned four. I was concerned that she might be too young, especially as she did not attend the school nursery class as we prefered her to do sessions at a smaller pre-school so was not used to the larger school class environment and longer day. However she really liked it and settled in quickly. It is still a play based curriculum in reception and due to being in the smaller group environment with support at home she was already ahead of her classmates with her early reading, writing and maths skills when starting in school so as a shy child this gave her confidence a great boost. The Head teacher had been a previous colleague of mine and I must admit I did make it plain that I would look to reduce her hours in school or opt out until the term after she turned 5 and put her straight into year 1 if I felt she was not coping.

silvercar

shelby75 wrote: »

Hi

I have a 2010 summer-born and have successfully requested a delay into reception AT compulsory school age, which will be September 2015.

The legal meaning of 'reception class' can be found in section 142 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. - You will see that is primarily defined as a class for 5 year olds.

'relevant age group' in footnote 12 of The School Admissions Code 2012 refers the reader to section 142 of the SSFRA and the legal meaning of reception class. Summer-borns sit firmly within both definitions.

If you would like to 'defer' and start your little one later in the year rather than delay - see section 2.16 of The School Admissions Code.

There is a facebook group, a googlegroup and a blog regarding this issue.

The group has been quite successful todate, the recently published guidance from the DfE on this issue was a collaboration between the founder and another member of the group, BLISS and the DfE. There was also a recent Parliamentary debate regarding this issue. - You can find it in Hansard - Annette Brooke School Starting Age.

As a new user I cannot post links.

Google 'flexible school admissions for summer borns'

I was responding to:

But it is your legal right to keep at home until start yr 1 if you so choose.

There is a difference between asking to start part-time/ shorter days/ later in the school year and asking to not take up your place for the whole of reception and expect that place to be held open for you until the start of year 1.

couponqueen123

notanewuser wrote: »

In my area of Wales children have gone to full time nursery at 3 for about 40 years. Not so much a pilot.........

you must live in the sticks where it takes 2 hours to get to school so all day is only option ;)
(slight exaggeration maybe;))
im wishing i lived there now thou lol

shelby75

silvercar wrote: »

I was responding to:



There is a difference between asking to start part-time/ shorter days/ later in the school year and asking to not take up your place for the whole of reception and expect that place to be held open for you until the start of year 1.

I was posting information not directly a response to yourself.

Yes you are correct, there is a difference. But I don't think that particular poster mentioned expecting that place to be held open - did they?, just the fact that a five-year-old CAN start in Y1. Application would then be for Y1.

notanewuser

couponqueen123 wrote: »

you must live in the sticks where it takes 2 hours to get to school so all day is only option ;)
(slight exaggeration maybe;))
im wishing i lived there now thou lol

Erm, no. We're 5 mins from the M4.

I think it's too little. DD will be almost 4 before we try it.

poet123

notanewuser wrote: »

The LEA don't have to agree anything before they turn 5. DD could go to pre-nursery in January (but there aren't any spaces). Had there have been I'd have sent her when I wanted to, not necessarily full time and there's nothing the school nor the LEA could legally do about it.

You can't just choose to send your child to school part time, the school has to have a place available for that set up. Most don't.

tom9980

onlyroz wrote: »

Don't pre-schools and the reception class both follow the Early Years Foundation Stage? So from an academic stand-point it shouldn't matter whether a 4-year-old attends a pre-school or the reception class because they should be learning the same things.

Depends on how good the pre-school setting and the staff are, some are run by parents with minimal training. The one near my wifes school are frankly S***! her baseline assessments of the new reception were not good at all, they had simply ticked all the boxes to say a child had met a goal and provided no dated evidence to back up claims. You can know with some certainty that a school will have properly trained staff.

onlyroz wrote: »

However, I do think it's important for children to be given the opportunity as early as possible to integrate into a school environment. My daughter has just started reception and I think that she spends at least half the day playing, and only a few hours of more academic activities.

Sounds like a nice reception class i wouldn't write off the importance of play as non-educational. Learning through play is the best way to engage children when it is done correctly with proper planning and thought children often thrive and love to go to school.

notanewuser

poet123 wrote: »

You can't just choose to send your child to school part time, the school has to have a place available for that set up. Most don't.

Bull!!!!. DD will be given a full-time nursery place next September. There's nothing legally to stop me from not taking her on Tuesdays or or Fridays or picking her up at lunchtime if I want to. Attendance in non-compulsory education isn't compulsory, and it can't be used as a reason not to give her a reception place. They would still get full funding for her.