DD starts full time school in September....

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

She will only just be four

My baby is growing up!

[NedSchneebly]

My DS will be 4 years and 9 days on his first day...

Scarily grown up!

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

Why do they start so young now? I thought they were in nursery until they were 5?!

[NedSchneebly]

They start in reception the September after they turn 4. For my DS he'll be only just 4, as his birthday is in august, but for those children with september, they could be 5 in
The first week of term... Almost a year older than my little man

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

My dd is 4 in August too.

Doesn't seem right them going now.

[vickibee]

my ds was four in February so middle of the age range. He cant sit still for more than fivr minutes so I am wondering how he is going to manage at school. Not too good at listening either

[hiccymapops]

My ds started when he was just 4 (his birthdays at the end of July) and I hated it too. He's the second youngest in his class, some of them are a year older than him, which seems such a huge difference at that age. When I was younger ( in ye olden days ) I'm sure we didn't start full time until we were 5. I'm sure she'll be fine, Summer babies are unlucky with the school years apparently.

[blackeyedsusan]

dd ws 4 in august. there are 6 august birthdays in her class and another 4 in july. when i took dd and later ds for their school nursery visits, they were both still 2. now that seems extremely strange, taking a 2 year old to school.

[NedSchneebly]

What are experiences of older DCs with summer birthdays? Anything we can do to support younger ones in school?

Do other mums recommend some part time weeks at the start?

[Tarenath]

They don't have to start full time. You can keep them in nursery, or have them start part time until later in the year (until the term after they turn five, but no later than the summer term or you risk losing your allocated place)

[mumblebum]

My DD is a July birthday and is now in yr3. When she started reception she went full time after 2 weeks. She coped much better than I had anticipated and loved it. She did get tired but nothing that earlier bedtimes couldn't help with.

My advice would be to start with the assumption that it will be ok. After all schools are used to dealing with this. I know at our school they give the children time and space to be quiet if they're getting tired in the day. If they really aren't coping then talk to the school. I know at ours there were a few that did half days for a bit longer. I didn't want to do that if it wasn't necessary because it seemed to me that DD would then be missing out on learning and time with friends.

I have to be honest I do think it makes a difference. I think I can still tell a difference between the youngest and oldest. There has to be a cut off somewhere though so I think you do just have to accept that.

[fuzzpigFriday]

DD was 4 on Friday, so she won't be the youngest, but it's still a worry. I've done a few volunteer sessions at her preschool and seeing what a difference there is between her and the autumn-borns was a bit of a shock! I think the differences will be more obvious in school as they are together all the time. Mind you DD is tall and strong, and good socially, so hopefully she will be ok. I am worried about fatigue though. We are given the option of keeping her on half days, but I'm really not sure what's best.

More worried about DS - as it is he's a bit 'behind' (horrible to put it like that, I know it's not a race, but I mean he's not reaching milestones with speech etc) and he has an august 30th birthday

[plonker]

My dd will be 4 next month and will also start school in September.

I thought long and hard about whether to defer till next year once I'd secured her place.

I decided against it in the end - I figured all the friendship groups would have already been formed and all the school rules and routines learned. It doesn't seem fair to disadvantage her further, so I'm going to play it by ear and see how she copes.

It seems so wrong packing them off to school already, but like others have said, there has to be a cut-off somewhere

[goinggetstough]

mumble I would agree with you totally and assume that it will be OK. Yes studies have shown that summer borns sometimes have difficulties and I totally accept that there are differences. However, lots don't. My DD is a late June birthday and started at 4 full time. Yes she was tired but no more so than some of the September birthdays who hadn't been to nursery full time previously. Maturity levels varied too and are affected by their place in the family ie if they have older siblings this too has an effect. My DD is now at a RG university and continues to excel and her birthday has never really been an issue. Maybe we were just lucky....

I think it is an important to have a positive attitude and whatever their maturity, emotional, ability levels, to support them without saying "oh well they can't do that as they are summer born" as it can become a self fulfilling prophecy.

[robino]

Ooh, my DD1 starts too Knickers - not HT by any chance? But shes a January baby. Know how you feel though - even though theres 18 months between DD1 & 2, DD2 will be starting the following September.

[Elibean]

My dd is a December baby, but her best friend is an August girl....they are now in Y2 and its very, very clear to see how the gap has slowly diminished and is now almost gone.

Ditto the other summer-borns in her class.

Won't stop you worrying, but thought I'd tell you anyway...

(dd2 is starting in September too, and even though she's a November girl, and has a nice gradual start, I will still worry!)

[jetgirl]

My DD is late August, she was part time for the first 6 weeks, which quite frankly was a pain as DH had to drop her at nursery in the morning, then collect her at lunchtime to take her to school, then she had to go to after school club. We were all relieved when she went full time at half term!

She is small for her age, and looked so tiny on her first day but she was ready for it. And I think that's the key. If they're ready for school, it's easy, if they're not it's probably more difficult. You need to remember that the teachers are fully aware of how different all these reception children are and will differentiate accordingly. Of course, the first year is learning through play anyway and not as structured as going into year 1.

She will be fine, OP, and more importantly, so will you! I was the one wiping away tears on DD's first day, not her!

[mumoverseas]

DD is starting in reception in September and will be 5 on 1st Octobe. She has been attending foundation stage 1 since last September and is more than ready for it. I'd assumed she'd start school full time when school opens on 5th September but the first week she gets a 20 minute home visit, week 2 is 2 hours a day for a week then finally starts in week 3.

For those of you with summer babies, don't worry. DC1 was a July baby and has just finished his A levels with predictions of A*AAA. He sat several GCSEs at aged 13 and 14 and has never allowed him being the youngest in the class affect him. DC2 is a June baby and although she did struggle initially at school (her best friends birthday was September and at that age, 9 months seems a lot) she soon caught up and is now above average.

Don't worry

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

Didn't have a chance to get her into HT Robino!! She's going to the school in the village I used to live. Not sure when ds starts fulltime. Think he starts nursery in Jan '12.

[NedSchneebly]

We're going full time straight away.

I think [am hoping] my DS will be better off than some, despite 27th August birthday, as he is used to full time nursery, so a full day at school will actually be part time for him! we've got nanny lined up so he hasn't got to use breakfast or after school care.

Also, he's def ready- funny to think that birthday a week later would mean another year in nursery...

Am not planning on making any excuses for him- agree there's got to be a cut off point. Funny thing is, I'm a teacher, and all my colleagues we quick to point out general rubbishness of birthday planning!

[anthonytrollopesrevenge]

My DD started yr r last September and had 3 weeks part time before going full time. She is a June birthday so is one of the younger ones. I don't think she was ready physically, small, clumsy and timid about the bigger faster (in her case this means quite literally all the other children). And she hasn't progressed at all in terms of academic progress. She was coming on nicely in nursery last summer learning letter sounds and telling me what the first letter of a word was. She no longer seems able to do this and has been just so tired and generally exhausted after school we put her to bed at 5:45 after trying to get her to eat tea as she nods off at the table. She enjoyed the part time, it's full time and the play ground at lunch that are the problems, plus being too tired to get much out of the very full yr r day. It's a good school & the teacher is fine, but has recently admitted that perhaps DD is "young for her age" whatever that means. Other DCs, even August birthdays have had fun.

[Haudyerwheesht]

Ds starts school in august (scotland) - he will be one of the youngest as his birthday is late dec, the age cut offs here run march - feb so a lot of kids will be 5 , he will be 4y8m almost. Some kids will even be an entire year older than him if they've been kept back a year which is fairly common up here.