Children start school at 5, oh no they don't

Also in Ireland they finish at like 12 or 2 for the first few years of school.

If the child is born April-August you don’t have to send them. My daughter (in England) is July born. I didn’t send her until she was 5.
She started reception year (some people think they then have to miss out a year which isn’t true). You have to be specific and state on the school application form that you’re applying for reception year, otherwise they be allocated a year 1 space.
I wasn’t going to miss out on a year’s free nursery and sent my child so young. Especially as she missed a lot of nursery due to covid lockdowns at the time.

I’m from Scotland and was 5.5 when I started school, so felt just turned 4 was very young. The law is it’s compulsory to be in education the term after turning 5 so that’s what I did.

Mine went to school in the US.
They did PreK 4 for 2.5 hour sessions four days a week, beginning in the August after they turned four, and started kindergarten the August after they turned five. Kindergarten was again 2.5 hours a day, but for five days a week.

They started 1st grade at age 6 and turned 7 in the school year. This was their first year of full day school, from 8 to 3, five days a week.

I think it was an ideal start to their school lives.

I’ve never heard anyone say that they start school at 5. They start school at 4, I’ve only ever heard it described as starting at 4 in any chat I’ve ever had on the subject. And many are more than ready and raring to go at that point. I absolutely see the benefit of longer in preschool, longer at home, and of home education. But in my actual parenting experience my DC were ready to be off to school a good year before they could go and that year was really challenging to keep them entertained and stimulated while constantly explaining to them why they couldn’t go to school. It was an expensive and draining slog of a year each time and they skipped in on their first days (and I was very glad to see them go)

All those worried that their child is too young for school -stand your ground. The subject will come up again when they go to high school or university. They will be that much younger than most and a year or so can make a.big difference.

Mine just started year 2 (age 6-7 in England/Wales). He recently told me that he dislikes school as it “just gets worse every year” and that there are fewer toys and less playtime each year. This is true I suppose. I’ve never said anything myself to influence this kind of response from him, and I find it a bit sad that he’s picked up on this from his grand experience of life as a 6 year old. I think in general we penalise playtime too much in the U.K. FYI he started full-time school at 4.

I now worry for my 2nd who is a summer baby and so will probably feel this even more.

Wow – that’s quite an assumption you’ve made there.

My eldest DD struggled with starting at 4, so we ended up home educating her after the first 8 months. As later DC came along, we didn't even consider starting them in school - I agree that 4 is really not for every child.

We live in a very home ed-friendly place though - our route is not an easy option for everyone.

It's very easy for people to say "keep them back a year" but that means either starting them in year 1 where they will have missed out on a lot of learning and might struggle to settle in with the class, or you defer them and have them out of their age group which they may resent you for in their teens.

Yes they start at 4, I have three summer born kids and one born in March, they were at varying degrees of readiness when they started school and one took until about year 4 to catch up with her year group. I don't necessarily think starting school is the problem, I think it's the expectations of young children, one of mine was said to not have met the early learning goals at the end of Reception, when I asked what they were one of them was to write a sentence independently, she was still 4 when she finished reception in July, how (and why) are we expecting 4 year olds to be doing that?!

My son is 3.5. Just started a primary nursery so basically in with reception half the time. He still has milk bottles. It’s a hill he’s willing to die on and the dentist say his teeth are fine. So it’s not a hill I am dieing on.

He also still struggles with poos so is in nappy sometimes. He is on Movicol because he withholds and gets constipation otherwise.

Loads of his peer group are similar with the potty training. You are right most are off bottles.

I was worried he wasn’t ready but he’s done so well and taken to it like a duck to water.

And no he doesn’t have SEN; or atleast nothing to indicate it so far.

My dd is an August born so I kept her back for a year. She started reception age 5 and I have never regretted it

YAB... Ambiguous because it depends on the child and on the parents' choices.
Don't worry too much though, reception is really very much like a nursery preschool setting, just with a bit more phonics.

Yes because kids are born throughout the year so ages are: 4/5, 5/6, 6/7 and so on. I have a late July child and my stepson was born in August. Both started shortly after they turned 4. They were ready.

Yep. I don't think there's a big difference between Reception and a large nursery. Not at our local primary school, anyway. The transition between Reception and Year 1 seems to be a bigger jump.

I was assuming based on him only just being potty trained and off bottles at 3.5. That indicates he's quite far behind other 3.5 yos. If there's other reasons why he was delayed in potty training and weaning off bottles like trauma or a medical issue then it's possible he doesn't have SEN, but he's still not at a typical level for that age. Most 4 yos are ready for a Reception classroom but it sounds like OPs child is quite far behind the average and might not be.

On what basis are you suggesting he's going to need support for SEN?. There's nothing to suggest that in the OP.

Look into your options - start with reading up about your local council and their stance on children starting school at compulsory school age. For me in Hertfordshire there was no fuss about my child starting at 5 in reception, quite rightly.

People should consider whether their child really would be missing reception (unlikely) when they consider 'holding their child back'.

I had February and April babies and they both started at 5 and a half after two years of preschool. So glad I waited.

Reception is play based, very easy going. Ours has free flow to the outdoors and the kids generally have options/ different things set up relevant to the subject they're learning.
I think mine would've struggled going from nursery straight into year 1. Reception has been a nice midway and they've learnt the school routine and some older kids.
The school day is actually shorter than a lot of private nursery hours too.

Reception is pretty much the same as nursery. They are still on the early years foundation stage. Proper school curriculum starts in Year 1 when all children are 5 years old.

The national curriculum doesn’t start until year one. Reception is still early years.

You are not holding your child back if you start them in Reception at CSA. If you send your child to school at age 4 you are sending them EARLY. They don't need to be in school that young. CSA in England is start of term following 5th birthday, which is still early for most European countries.

Reception is pretty relaxed and play based.

Most children seem to be stuck in a nursery so not sure reception is all that different

I felt exactly the same as you, completely understand OP. My DD was due to start school this September but I’ve chosen for her to join a Waldorf school (also look up Steiner) they stay in kindergarten until the September after they turn 6, and it’s just absolutely magical. If you have one near you I’d highly recommend going to an open day. We travel 30 mins but know other families there do travel further & it is so worth it x