To move my daughter early?

[SinkingSwim]

DD will be 2 in a couple of months. She's very forward and clever, more like a 3 year old in terms of intelligence and her speech is fantastic for her age.
Due to the way her birthday falls she's been moved to the toddler room in nursery been there for a few months, her friends from that room have now moved up to the next room as they'll be a school year above her and that's how they work it.
I can move her up with them now or keep her where she is until next year but if she stays where she is she'll now be with children almost a year younger than her and nowhere near where she is in terms of development so my fear is she wont develop as much as she could be and she'll get bored. But if she moves up she'll be in that room for close to two years, meaning she may get bored. I'm just unsure on what to do and what's best for her!!!
Just wanted any opinions from people who may have been in the same situation or similar! X

I would move her as the younger ones will join her in the preschool room long before the older ones start school and will be more mature and have caught up with her.

Based on the nursery, they'll stretch and challenge her, it's best to stay in the same room, if she moves up the problem will still happen at some point and she'll not move into school with friends she'll start to build. I've no doubt she'll keep up academically, but when the younger child she'll struggle with sporting and other extra curricular stuff, all which matter

But I expect the team in that room are pretty used to that, and if it becomes a problem you can move her later...and they will tell you then, but its harder to move her back and I think it will be harder to keep her stimulated in the older room for longer.

As the most advanced a younger room they can easily give her extra tasks to "help" them out. I think that's harder in an older room.

But also depending on your situation think about who she will be starting school with. If there is any chance of 1 or more of these kids going to the same school then keep them together. But even if not she is going to have to fit in with other kids the same age.

Leave her - she won't get bored; there will be lots to play with in a nursery setting.

There is more to these room moves than intellect alone - her emotional development is equally important. She is very very small to be starting worrying about these things. As she moves on through life she will mix with all sorts, and her development will plateau.

I'd keep her with her friends. My daughter's September born and moved into the preschool room as soon as she hit 3. Her best friend went to school the year before her, and that was a bit difficult for her, but it was a commuter nursery so they would have never gone to the same school anyway.

2 years later and they're still best friends, so I'm glad we didn't discourage their friendship just because of academic years.

Also if she does end up bored you can deal with it then. For my daughter's second preschool year we got a space for 2 days at a local Forest School, so she did 2 days at her old nursery and 2 days at Forest School. It was a nice mix of the familiar and the new 🙂

@SinkingSwim
i would get/keep her in the room wit the other 2026 school starters, especially if they'll be likely to go to the same school.

it matters less now, developmentally, that's she's with children who aren't as developed as she is. Children have a habit of 'levelling up' and it won't be long before the smaller ones have caught up. Better to be a little bit bored/under stimulated now, than when she's a bit older! You want her to be excited to go to 'Big School' not bored of it by then!

I had one of mine move up from 2-3's to preschool (3-5's) 4 months early as they had the ratio for him and he was incredibly advanced at that age. As an October baby, he was one of the oldest and by the time he was at school age, he'd been in that room for nearly 2.5 years so he was bored and destructive, in a throwing things out of windows and on the roof kind of way. Sweetest, calmest, most chilled out boy normally, just wasn't being challenged and had done the same things on a loop for too long. I also worked in EY so it was a mortifying few months of handovers. I'd never do it again if I had the choice!!

I would keep her in the room with children she will go to school with, my Son is an August baby so started pre-school at school 2 weeks after his 3rd Birthday and started reception 2 weeks after his 4th birthday, we could have kept him in preschool another year but chose not too because he'd made friends and he too is bright, some children that joined reception with him from other outside preschools were 15 mths older , he's significantly younger then most

I would leave her in her school cohort. Even if she is is very clever, can count, write her name etc. There are other aspects including age appropriate social and emotional skills that she will be learning alongside her peers. These things are so important. If you move her early, eventually all her friends will move off to school and she will be left behind to make a whole new group of friends and have to repeat all the activities she has already done. She will be bored.

I’d say on balance keep her with her peer group for the pre-school class and go with the 2-3 room for 2years. Mine was a summer baby but she has some good friends at nursery who were September/October babies. They found it really hard when their group of older buddies left for school and they didn’t but I don’t think that would feel as hard at 3 as it would at 4.

The gap does feel very big at the younger ages. She’d probably get more from being with other 2yos than just turned 1 year olds for now.

Do it. DS was moved up to the toddler room at 14 months and preschool at 24 months because of his size (he was the tallest child in both as nursery had a lot of premies in his birth year) and because he was a good and early talker and so naturally gravitated to older kids. A good nursery will still provide opportunities for your DD to play with their peers.

I move my little girl up before she was 2 and she moved into the preschool room a few months early too. Her best friends were 3 months older and she was more upset at leaving them. She’s done just fine. I would move her up

You’re overthinking it. She’s 2. When my eldest daughter was about 18 months old, she could sing the Thomas The Tank Engine theme tune all the way through, whilst the 2 year olds around her could barely talk. The most important thing for me was that she was with the kids she was going to school with and that she felt safe and comfortable, not that she was being mentally challenged.
Take a breath and let her be a child and start forming bonds with the kids she will spend her formative years with.
My eldest is 18 now and is still best friends with 2 of her preschool buddies.

This.
We moved my son up early and now all his friends are leaving to start school and he's so upset.

What makes you think she will be bored ?
Just because the other kids are not as 'clever' or cant talk as much as your daughter do you think that she wont learn anything from them, or them from her or learn other stuff from the adults in the room. She is not even 2 yet a good nursery will provide activities and opportunities for everyone in the room to their ability , nursery time is so much more than being 'clever' at stuff
Its friendships, sharing, co-operation, turn taking etc

Leave her
my little girl got moved up early because they were closing rooms and she’s ended up doing the same stuff twice.

I’m still confused! Surely she’ll move up to the 2-3 year olds room in September anyway, so a matter of months and then next September she’ll move to the 3-4 year olds room? So it’s only a few weeks early and she’ll be in the 3-4 year olds rooms for 2 years anyway as she’s a September birthday so will spend longer in nursery than someone who is say summer born.

Hi everyone

Thank you for all your replies it's been really helpful to read through them!
So she went in yesterday as usual, walked into her room and was completely fine... 20 minutes later apparently started to cry hysterically and was asking for her friends and couldn't be calmed down. They then took her into the bigger room where all of her friends have moved to and she immediately calmed down and began to play, stayed there for the rest of the day and absolutely loved it... so it seems DD has made her own decision 😂 I'm happy to let her stay in the big room if it's where she's happy, we'll deal with any future 'boredom' if it arises but she's happy for now, the others moving up is still a year away.

Glad it worked out

By moving her into the next room at this stage you may be seeing her up for disappointment when her friends leave and she doesn’t leave with them. At 2 years old she just wants to play she’s not bothered about whether the other children can count to 2 or 10. In actual fact you might find that by being the oldest she becomes a bit of a leader and that will benefit her when she starts school rather than being the youngest in the other group and possibly becoming more of a follower.

I wouldn't be impressed at the way that nursery handled that to be honest, what happens when her friends all leave the nursery? It would have been much kinder to her in the long run to let her make friends with peers who will be in her room until she leaves.

She's not even 2 yet, she would have forgotten about the other children pretty quickly if they hadn't put her in the other room.

You're overthinking it. Ask the nursery what they think but I'd personally much rather she had friends going up to school by staying in the room she is meant to be in, than see all her friends leave and go to school and be left behind. Not sure why anyone would choose that tbh, this situation will happen a lot the nursery staff will make sure she doesn't get 'bored' with the younger kids I'm sure.

Totally agree with yournamegoeshere, what a weird thing for the nursery to do.