Scottish School - Early Application?

[JacktomyDaniel]

Hi
I’m looking for some advice from people who don’t know me! I am a teacher and when pregnant with my March born son prayed he wouldn’t be February as I didn’t want to have to defer him which I absolutely would have as I think 4 is generally too young for school.
In reality he’s now turning 4 in March, 6 days after school cut off.
He knows all initial letter sounds, letter names and the numbers and number value to 20. His vocabulary is sophisticated. He can write his own name and can paint / draw to an identifiable level.
My dilemma is do I go against my gut and apply to have him go to school early? I’m not concerned about early primary but worry about puberty/exam age in the future.
I really need advice as need to decide in the next week.
If I apply the application has to go to the education board and he’ll then be assessed by an Ed psych before any decision is made.
Thanks for reading!

My oldest has just turned 10 so very young for his year (we are also in Scotland). Although he is very bright and has no issues work wise I definitively think the social side is a far bigger thing to consider.

Some children are nearly a full year older than him and for you it would actually be possible for some to be a full year older. As he gets older he will have to grow up quicker to keep up with his classmates so even things like believing in Santa will end up with a shorter lifespan as the older ones in his class will tell him earlier than he would have known if been in tight year group.

When he is at exam level he will sit exams a whole year earlier than he should which at that age is a huge pressure.

Learning to drive he will be a year behind and even going to uni would go at 17 so it does have a whole life impact.

If I could go back in time now I would defer mine.

My eldest daughter (22) was born at beginning of March so missed the cut off by 6 days!
We had her assessed for early entry, well what an experience that was! She was in a huff that day, when asked to draw a circle she drew a square! Basically everything she was asked to do she did the opposite! When i asked why on the way home, she said she didnt like the lady.
So upshot was that she had to wait another year, well that went well! she was very soon very bored at playgroup, we helped her at home with reading and writing.
Her first day of school could have gone better! She got off the bus, stomped into the house, slammed a book on the table and very grumpily said to us... "where are the words!" it was a very basic picture book!
I had to call the school and ask if she could have a book with words in it! I then got told off by the teacher for helping her to read and write.

Her best chum was born on 26th feb, and his mum had really hoped she could defer him, but wasnt able to.
The boy/girl ready for school thing was very much noticed by us all, his mum included. There were a couple of other lads that were february babies and they all seemed to struggle a wee bit.

My youngest daughter who is a June baby was very different, and i was glad that she had plenty of time before school.

I’m currently in the same boat, in Scotland and DD birthday is 2nd March. Typically she was a planned c section, due to happen 28th February but it fell on a Saturday that year so we had to wait til Monday 2nd.

She’s been at private nursery since she was 10 months old, another one of those been here before kids. She’s very bright and sociable, knows all her shapes, can write her name, mum, dad, some friends names etc. She knows about halves and quarters, can count to 30, write to 20, is very curious about the world and how things work. One thing that amazes me is that she can tell different makes of car, recognises that another Vauxhall is similar to my corsa for example.

Nursery brought it up to me about trying to get her in early way last year, as they were moving her up a class early (March when she turned 3 instead of August as per term time). They said they don’t think she’ll benefit at all being in nursery another year and she’ll be more than ready for school this year instead of next.

I’m not too concerned about later. My sister was late February birthday and didn’t have any trouble at all. Her only moan was being younger than her friends when it came to going to the pub! Obviously if she has issues later we can address it.

I submitted her early admission forms last week, got confirmation yesterday and just waiting her assessment date at our catchment school now.

Could I just say as a reassurance - both my girls were solid readers before they started; they were both put in an advanced reading group, initially with one other person but the groups grew as others caught up. My p4 is still in advanced groups. Good teachers will recognise and work with their abilities.