What's the difference between Reception and Nursery?

[Prettybird]

This might be a stupid question - or just ignorant (in the true sense of the word) because the system is different in Scotland - but what is the difference between nursery and reception? I find it very confusing when people talk about the things that their children are expected to do in reception and difficult to relate it to where ds is.

In Scotland children have the right to a place in a nursery school in the term following their 3rd birthday. There is only one intake for Primary School - in mid-August - and the cut-off date is April - so that could in theory be as young as 4 years and 5 months when they start.

So for example, ds, who was 4 on Friday, started nursery last Monday (only because I didn't get my act together to enrol him early enough to get in last January - but I could have put him into a private nursery). He will start in Primary 1 next August - just before his 5th birthday. He will be in the "middle" of the age group for his year.

[jampot]

Nursery intake tends to be the September following the child's 3rd birthday, reception intake is the following year so a child could begin reception class (full school day) a couple of days after their 4th birthday. A nursery session is usually deemed to be 2.5 hours and this is provided by the Government. Reception is a full school day and is attendance is compulsory. Nursery isn't (as far as I know). Together they are grouped as the Foundation Key Stage and learning is largely play based.

[Prettybird]

But I though that schooling was only "compulsory" from 5? So in England children "have" to go to school full time from just after 4? What happens if they are not ready then?

Nursery in Scotland is also only for 2.5 hours/day (at least, the "paid-for" sessions).

I'm not sure about elsewhere in Scoltand, but in Glasgow even when they start Primary 1, it is just for have days until the October Week (half term) - so even the youngest kids would be 4.5 before they start full time. And the oldest kids will 5.5 (or older, if their parents had held them back, as the youngest ones COULD have had their entry deferred until the follwoing year, once they are actually 5).

[coppertop]

Just to add to the confusion, I don't think Reception is technically compulsory. It depends on when a child's birthday is. My ds1 was 4 in June and started Reception last week. Legally he doesn't have to be in full-time education until next September. If I had let him start next year instead he would go straight into Yr1 rather than Reception.

The full-time education policy is causing a bit of a problem for us at the moment. The Head is keen for him to stay part-time all year. Strangely enough she doesn't have the same idea about the other summer-born children in his class. Nothing at all to do with the fact that he has SN and it costs more money for him to go full-time.....

[Prettybird]

I really should preview - I meant "HALF days until the October Week".

While ds is at nursery, I feel no guilt at "taking him out" if we are going on holiday - for exapmple we might be going to SOuth Africa in October for a fortnight (although will overlap with the October, when they will be shut anyway) and a week in January to go skiing.

Once he is in Primary School, then we are in to "compulsory attendance"

[foxinsocks]

prettybird, each local education authority has a different policy (and church schools often do it differently as well). Where we are, children start the nursery year (in a primary school) in the academic year (1 sept to 31 Aug) that they turn 4. In our LEA, if you are born between Sep 1 and March 31, you start in September otherwise you start in the following January. Nursery in a state school is normally 2 and half hours (and can be a morning or afternoon session).

Reception is the academic year when they turn 5 (1 Sept to 31 Aug). In our LEA, those who turn 5 before March 31 start in September and again the young ones start in January. No-one does a full day until the term they turn 5.

The academic years are the same for the whole of England (i.e. Reception the year that you turn 5) but every LEA has a different policy as to when you do a full day.

[Easy]

Prettybird,

school attendance in england is compulsory from 5, and that is usuall based on a child's 5th birthday falling btween 1st Sept and 31st August. ds's birthday is on 1st of september, and he has just started reception. I would have liked him to start after last easter, but school wouldn't take him.

But some schools take children in at each new Term (autumn, spring, and summer), whereas others only take children in at the beginning of the school year in autumn. In that case, a child born near the end of august will join reception just after their 4th birthday (too young for some children, see this thread ). I do wonder whether that would be considered compulsory tho'.

[Prettybird]

So Reception is the eqivalent of the Scottish Prumary 1? And once a child is in Reception, they are into compulsory attendance?

[jampot]

I didnt realise they didn;t have to attend before teh age of 5. so if a child has been offered a place at an oversubscribed school and you don;t choose to send him/her until say after Whitsun of that academic year, are they obliged to keep your place?

[Easy]

Don't know for certain jampot, but I would guess not, if you choose not to take the place they offer when they offer it, I guess they can withdraw the offer

[LIZS]

Jampot,

I think that is where they have you over a barrel. If you decline the place offered they are not obliged to hold it open until the following year. It could then be far more difficult to get a Year 1 place if they fill that Reception space. However if you ask to defer to say January/Easter then the response might be different, especially if you had a strong reason supported by Health Visitor, Doctor and so on. Not all schools officially offer entry other than in September but it could be worth a try. They must be in FT education by the term AFTER they turn 5.

[linnet]

Prettybird, I'm also in Scotland and I also get confused when I hear people talking about reception classes.

I don't mean to hijack your thread but I was going to post something similar myself. I don't understand why people talk about their children starting school in January, why don't they all start in September together? or an intake at every term? is that because of their birthdays? Isn't it confusing for children to go into a class half full of children who have been there since September and all know each other and have been learning together?