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

4 is so young to start school OP. My DS definitely would not have coped and would have been labelled with learning difficulties but by the time he was 6 and started preschool in Finland he was ready to learn.

That's a bit misleading. Everything is set up for your child to start the September after they turn 4. Decades ago, I started school a few days after my 4th birthday, that is still the norm for an August birthday.

My Dsis recently held back my August born nephew until the next year and she was discouraged from doing so by the school; they certainly felt it was unusual and unnecessary. DN also lost funding for his nursery. Sending children at 4, is really not early, the system is set up to make it difficult to do anything else. Children don't legally have to be at school until the term after they're 5, but short of squeezing in a term time holiday without getting fined, it doesn't mean much in reality. The school will still not be happy about it.

Reception is fine for 4YOs IME. The problem comes in year 1 for an only just 5 YO. Year 1 needs a major rethink. My younger DCs both really struggled and were very unhappy in year 1 (and 'failing').

I'm in Finland. Nursery is definitely nothing like year 1. Preschool (the year they turn 6) would be similar to Reception though, as that's when they start learning the alphabet and pre-reading skills, with about one teaching hour (45 minutes) of sit down learning time a day. The later years of nursery have a bit more intentional learning through play so like EYFS I think but no equivalent to phonics, the only literacy is story time (except for children like DS who have Finnish as a second language, he spent a bit of time each day doing work on that)

But they will have been in preschool from the age of two, pre schools that have an almost identical style to Englands reception and KS1. If our daughter did nothing and entered school at six here in Sweden she would be very behind academically.

😂

My chap was is the oldest in his class. He was 5 years 10 months. He did get a concession as he has SEN but its worked out brilliantly for him.

We used to have this in Scotland and funding a deferral would only be considered for children in special circumstances such as SEN or medical trauma etc, but they eliminated that a few years ago and at our school we’ve steadily seen a rise in deferral children coming in and the difference is amazing.

Mine are winter born, but they were definitely ready when they started school aged 4. They mostly just played all day.
Their nursery had already started a bit of phonics with them.

DS is 3.5 and has started at school this Sept. Live in france, school compulsory year they turn three. Can’t speak for all the kids as I don’t know them but DS is ready and enjoying it. There’s one child who is 2 in his class, about to turn 3, I think it’s a bit young for him tbh but I think from 3.5 they can manage quite well. It does mean you have to get them ready earlier, but I get the impression from mn that potty training in England happens later; here they like to begin at 2 sharpish.

We have a different system in Scotland (we don’t do reception year) so depending on your child’s birthday they can essentially start when they’re about to turn 6 (this doesn’t affect their funding) but they can be in alongside children who have yet to turn 5, so there can be huge discrepancies in age which is hard. As an early years teacher of many many years I could not be a bigger advocate of deferral. I’ve never once taught a child who I thought ‘oh you should’ve come to school a year earlier’ but every year I teach many who struggle so much in their first few years, for no other reason than they’re so young and just aren’t ready. It’s so hard for them and their parents when their birth date eliminates an element of choice. Children start school far too young in this country, we need to look more at the Scandinavian country models of education who are doing it so much better than us. Also, nothing makes me 🙄🙄🙄 more than parents saying their 4 year old is ‘bored’ by nursery and ‘needs’ to start school. They’re 4, they really don’t.

Children in England start school the academic year they turn 5. That is a fact.

The school day is shorter than a typical nursery day where babies might be left from 7am until 6pm. How is the school day worse for a 4/5 year old?

Why is it just tour working day that needs to be changed to accommodate a shorter day for the child, and not the child’s father?

I can't see any comments about funding so apologies if I've missed it. In Wales if you're claiming free nursery hours the funding stops once your child is eligible for school. This makes a big difference to many.

At our school we were told that Reception was just to prepare the kids for starting school in year 1, even though they still have to wear uniform and call it school.

Both of mine were summer born and weren't ready so I kept them back a year anyway so they started at 5.

Play based learning is what they're doing at nursery in any case

All play is learning, at that age all learning is via play.

This sounds a bit melodramatic tbh.

If you don't think he'll be ready then the option is there to hold him back a year if you can afford it.

Nursery may be 'talking about' the place but they can't give it to another child until you give notice...so don't give notice.

I sometimes wonder if people who whinge about school starting in England at 4/5 have been in a typical modern reception classroom.

At my school (which was one of the top in county for academic outcomes at 11) the reception class spend loads of time in the "outdoor classroom". Both the indoor & outdoor spaces are free flow, there's loads of toys & activities to choose. Duplo is popular. Teacher input is brief and done in an engaging, interactive way. Really it is another nursery year but as part of a school to get used to breaktimes with older kids, and participating in things like singing in assembly, eating together in the school hall.

My niece and nephew are Danish. Whilst they may not go to something called 'school' at age 4, they're in full time childcare doing activities that are very similar to reception year in England.

That’s the way parenting goes, no sooner have you picked a nursery you have to choose a primary school, then in our case a junior school, then secondary, 6th form and university. My DS1 was a May baby, the choice then was to do half days till October half term, which is what I did, but he lost out of forming friendships so I definitely wouldn’t do that. If you feel your child isn’t ready then keep in nursery for another year.

Only in mumsnet world ,🙄
3.5 maybe later than average but doesn't indicate special needs.

I never heard of opting to hold children back when mine were at school. It was more hip hip hooray 😅

My ds turned 4 just over 2 weeks ago. He was technically due in September but was born at the end of august so just made it into reception.

Some of his peers have already turned 5. Tbh I think he was definitely ready for reception and would have been bored in another year of nursery.

Learning letter sounds doesn’t happen through play, phonics starts formally from the off in reception

It is perfectly possible to do phonics in a play based way. There is lots of talk based learning, listening to stories, word games.

A normal four year old should be able to focus/pay attention to a task for ten minutes.

In countries where "school" starts at 6/7, most DC attend preschools which provide similar to EYFS. My BiL is swedish and has commented on this.

Learning letter sounds doesn’t happen through play, phonics starts formally from the off in reception for the vast majority of schools, starting with 10 minutes per day and building to 45 mins to 1 hour.

Reception is similar to nursery. He might not appreciate you having held him back when he’s older.

spend some time looking at schools - mine went to a village school where the nursery and reception classes were mixed (as were yr 1&2). Very play based. Mine were at a different nursery but started doing some days a week at the school in the last term of nursery.