Grandson given LONG phased timetable for starting Reception

[Serialthriller71]

Grandma posting here.
3 kids of my own 30, 28 & 14.
My grandson (of my 30yr old) single Mum does not have a diagnosis. He's met all his milestones to date.
When he started pre school within a few days that said he had some sensory issues, mostly didn't want to sit on the rug and was struggling to swap tasks. They have my daughter and appointment with the SEN lead and reduced his hours from October to December. He's been doing his 15 hours per week since with NOTHING mentioned.
Background - due to various housing issues he had never been to a baby/toddler group so only really mixed with adults.
She's been called to a meeting today and they've laid out a plan for moving up to reception, same school, same kids, same building, different door.
The plan is to have him in part time for 7 weeks. And then reassess before the October holidays.
We do think he's somewhere on the spectrum but it's MILD and mainly not wanting to conform, at times, NOT all the time. He hasn't been diagnosed with anything, he was referred to Paeds and it was declined so a HV came to see him and just said he was scoring high but didn't say in what!
They think he will struggle with the length of the day, the transition itself and school dinners.
Whilst I don't necessarily disagree with that I just feel 7 weeks is a really long time without even attempting to at least try him.
They said in the morning session he seems to be done about 30 minutes before he ends (first time they've mentioned it).
My daughter feels excluded and she feels like friendship groups are formed and he has to come in after everyone else so doesn't even get to experience any of it with his peers who might also be feeling anxious. He will need to experience going in on his own, going to lunch for the first time, on his own.
Lunchtime for example, yes it's overwhelming for any 4 year old but doing it with other kids who are feeling the same way is surely a benefit? They will all be used to it and he'll have to do it from scratch.
I know the school are doing what's right for him but as I said I think 7 weeks is a really long time with no firm plan at the end of it that he'll be in all day. They've got him finishing 30 minutes before everyone else.
Thoughts?

It would make more sense to start him on the half days and see how he gets on, with the view to increase to full time asap. When’s his birthday?

There are two approaches here. He has a right to a full time education from the September after his 4th birthday. So unless they are going to officially exclude him, you can say 'That doesn't work for us. We expect him to be in full time from September 2nd (or whenever).

However, schools don't usually take these steps for no reason. So you might want to say that you're happy to give it a little while, but you'd like an earlier review date, say 2 weeks in, and to have fortnightly plan revisions.

Overall we are not adverse to the phased start but as said above I think more frequent reviews would be more beneficial. He was 4 in April so still definitely one of the youngest but a similar age to my 14 year old when he started and he knew no one and was Very shy.
They've got him going in the first week for less hours than he's doing now at pre school. 2 hours where he's doing 3 hours at the moment.
I would says he's intellectually very bright but emotionally immature.
The one thing they've pulled her up on is not being able to write his name 😐 he can write the first letter but struggles and gets easily frustrated and gives up.
Now I had this with my son. They said he was behind on make marking skills and then it was reading when he started school.
He's now 14 and in a cohort at school for the brightest children. He's on track to do very well in his exams so I'm taking that part with a pinch of salt tbh.

I'm getting mixed messages from your posts. One one hand you are saying that the Nursery haven't said anything to his Mum before, but on the other you are saying
When he started pre school within a few days that said he had some sensory issues, mostly didn't want to sit on the rug and was struggling to swap tasks. They have my daughter and appointment with the SEN lead and reduced his hours from October to December
and
he was referred to Paeds and it was declined so a HV came to see him and just said he was scoring high

It seems really, really strange that your dd hasn't had any reviews, meetings, parents evenings, or conversations with the Nursery staff all year !?! I would have expected the Nursery to have arranged them, but if they hadn't, why hasn't your dd asked about his progress, particularly after the issues mentioned at the start, and the referrals made ?

It isn't unreasonable to start a child who has struggles with 3 hours a day, at two hours a day, as not only will everything be new, but the ratio of children to adults will be much higher, so he will get less attention / time, and of course the staff won't just be working with his needs. It is generally a much more positive things to start small and increase, than to throw in at the deep end and have to cut his hours.

But equally, it is not at all unreasonable to ask for a meeting or meetings to review progress much sooner than 7 weeks.

I would also want to see what SEN plan they have in place, and to know how they are supporting him to make progress, and what targets they are looking for him to achieve. I would also want to know if they are using any systems that you could also use at home for consistency.

She did have a parents evening and by all accounts nothing of major note was said but she has not had another meeting and another meeting with the SEN since the very first meeting in September 2025.
She's a first time Mum and a bit drama adverse because I think she's finding the whole situation very stressful so not really asking the right questions but I also think part of that stems from they've not actually said ANYTHING to her either.
From what she has told me today that haven't said what they are doing to support his needs.
I've told her I need to come to the next meeting. She's a very non confrontational person and seems to be struggling asking the right questions so please don't judge her for that. I think she was of the opinion no news was good news. She's never been pulled up at pick up time since January.
She picks him up and he comes out happy and smiling and he's very happy to go every day.
She has no other real issues with him at home, he's toilet trained day and night, sleeps through the night. The only thing is he can go from zero to 100 very easily and that can be with any emotion but I don't find that super uncommon and it usually evolves around not getting his own way.
I don't have that problem and I look after him every Saturday for around 10 hours while she works but my parenting style is different. I'm a 90's Mum.
Hopefully I can convince her to go back and ask for an earlier update.