Probably the wrong forum but it’s a question about when a child starts reception class

[Grmumpy]

I thought if a child was four in November this year, they would start reception class after Christmas, do two terms and start primary school the following September 2024 having done two terms in reception.Apparently they will start reception next September. That seems wrong to me. We are in London. What do the wise mumsnetters know…?

They start school the September after they turn four.

Reception is primary school, in England you start in the September (or sometimes late August) after your forth birthday.

It's the September after turning 4. So they will begin next year, September 2024.

Children don't just drop into their first year of primary school at random parts of the school year (unless they move of course).

They start the September after they turn 4. DS was 4 last November, he started this week. They do a whole year in reception. Otherwise it would be a nightmare with children starting every 3 months and everyone being at different stages

September next year. Reception is the first year of primary school. Are you Confused between reception and nursery?

A child starts school (reception) the next September following their 4th birthday. So if 4 in November this year they start sept 24’

I wondered this, but if a child is already 4 surely they'll already be in some form of nursery, not about to start

It's always the September, they don't have intakes at any other time of year.

You might be thinking of nursery, which is the term after they turn 3, so if they turned 3 in November they could go in January but it doesn't work like that for school.

That would be crazy - you'd have only a third of the class in September, another third in December and another third starting in April!

No, it was like that when I was at school in the 80s, but it's not like that any more. It's always the September after they turn 4 now.

When I was a child there was an intake each term so as a summer born I started after Easter. Nowadays the whole cohort starts in the September after they turn 4. They could turn 5 on September 1st before starting, or have to wait till 31st august for their 5th birthday.
Do you mind me asking if you have always lived in the uk because it seems odd you don’t know this?

Tbf when I was at primary school there were intakes after Christmas and Easter for the first infants class so if this is OPs first child they may have thought it was still the same. But yes, as everyone has already said, now it is just one intake, the September after they turn 4.

Almost all children start school in the September of the school year in which they turn 5.

Lots of schools have attached nurseries which take them from rising four from the previous year though, either for half days or full days. It's a different application process though, usually directly to the school.

You'll need to apply for their place in order of preference this autumn (can't remember the exact window) through your local council. They will then notify you of the place allocated in spring next year (mid-April?).

Put your catchment school on the list. There will be priority of places allocated along the lines of Child Looked After, EHCP, sibling priority, catchment, out of catchment. Look into how popular schools are and your chance of getting in. If you're out of catchment for popular schools and don't add your catchment school, you risk being allocated a random school that has capacity which may not be convenient or appropriate.
The exact details will vary from council to council so look it up on their website.

This applies to state funded schools including academies and religious. If you're looking at a school in a different council, you still put that on your application to your council and they deal with it.

Are you Scottish? That sounds more like the Scottish system.

@YomAsalYomBasal Same for me, but it was still the school year after I had turned 4, not like OP has thought.
I started Reception in January 1989, but didn't turn 5 until May 89.

Reception is “proper school”. Children spend three terms in reception, starting in September. My DD was September-born and started reception in September just before she turned five.

Yes, it’s the September after their 4th birthday. My DD turned 4 at the end of July and started reception this week.

It used to be like that many moons ago. Not now. September after 4th birthday and the depending on the school a staggered start over 1 or 2 weeks with a home visit

If the child turns 5 before the cut off date in September then they will bypass reception and go straight into year 1

No it doesn't. In Scotland if you are 4 by the end of Feb you would start school in the August. Plus we don't have reception; we have primary 1

Nowadays it's one intake in the September.

When my eldest 2 started reception ( 27 and 23) they'd just dropped to 2 intakes, September and January.
My next 2 (16 & 19), just the September intake.

Lol this is how it always was, just a year later.

Only changed in my area in 2006!

Just to add though, you don’t have to start your child until the term after they turn 5. So if you have a November baby, you could send them in January, or for a Jan baby you could send them after Easter. People generally don’t for those intakes as they’d miss a portion of reception, which isn’t ideal. That said, this is how summer born children occasionally start at just turned 5 rather than just turned 4. The term is ‘compulsory school age’ which is different to the usual entry point.

I started school in 1995 and it was the same then as it is now, different areas. Pretty sure it was the same when my parents started school in the 60s…