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

[Sadworld23]

We should stop taking about children starting school in the UK at 5.
Whilst that may be the legal age, even Gov.uk says most parents send their child to reception class at 4.

This makes me sad tbh, bc our child is (generally) happy at his nursery, 7m-3y, and I can't see him being ready for school at 4y.
He's barely out of nappies and bottles and I'm already choosing a school for him. And that's without the worries of sorting wrap around childcare to make my work hours work.

I had considered holding him back but nursery are already calculating giving up his place.

YABU children don't really start school til 5y.
YANBU children start school at 4y.

Exactly

My mum used to tell everybody that commented on how small I was that I had an aunty that had to take apart a pinafore that was pleated on the bottom and bring it in and then repleat it and bring in the top and then join them back together. She was doing this with any of my school skirts until I was 7/8 as I really was tiny that even the smallest sizes swamped me

Forgive my ignorance, what does continuous provision mean, is it common?.

Absolutely, I haven't been in a reception class from more years than you've probably been alive.
That's perhaps why this is such a shock to me, but also I see headlines about school starters not being able to do x and y amd panicking bemc he'll be on that list.

I'd love to see a reception class, but i dont think they invite anyone in do they?
I can't even find any open days offered locally

England, but I need to look into that..
Thanks for pointing it out

Yes I wrongly assumed the whole UK was the same. Thanks for calling me out.

So they start school at 4, not 5..
Other notes, its not the length if scool dat that bothers me, more that he's not academially set up for school. His social skills are wobbly, he is already turned off by reading and writing. I don't think we cam turn that round in less than a year.

My DH, child father has serious long term health issues and can't be relied upon for childcare, though he does his best.
So the strategy has to be for me to make it work and him to help when he can..

Thanks to everyone posting, certainly learnt alot already.

I'll try to read/reply to more later. I find it tricky flicking back to the post i just replied to , is there an easier way than noting the time and scrolling back.

OP - a few friends of mine made a point of moving from nursery at the end of the school year in July and using a childminder instead over that summer, it meant that by the time September arrived, their dc was already used to the childminders house/routine.

Do what is best for your babe. Nursery will have its funding disregarding your choice.

One thing is don’t hold him up because you think he is still soooo young…he will adapt quickly. You could do part time nursery part time school? If possible with both…

My Mum decided to wait until I was five.

It was great in terms of learning but horrific in terms of admin. I ended up in Reception then totally missed out Y3 when they decided to adjust the year groups to Sept-Aug.

Ironically mine couldn't start school in September and had to wait until January. Ended up missing a term of schooling basically. I ended up teaching them to read etc but the kids in Reception from Sept knew each other and had their routines.

I think it’s right what you say but every child is individual. My DS is 39 months and started a school nursery this September (the term after he turns 3). I selected it because it has excellent wrap around care for the whole school 8-5:30 and a lot of other pluses. It is a small local school. His class is half nursery and half reception shared. He only potty trained properly in the last few weeks of August (it was a tough process with him really). He is in nursery at the school now for four full days. He is really loving it.

I thought of holding him back at one point and not starting until he was older because he is younger in the school year but he is really thriving. It’s the first experience he has had of formal childcare and he loves it.

It is a really good system that people can pick what best suits their child and their own circumstances. Real school and learning doesn’t start until they are older ie 5. You can only pick what’s best for your circumstances and child.

All the children in my daughter’s class started at 4. Maybe there weren’t any who were slow to develop in the local area.

My daughter started in the September and she just turned 4 in the July before. Reception class is all play based. My daughter when she went into year 1 missed reception as she loved playing. She was quiet and wasn't ready for learning in reception and I did worry for a slight moment. She's done great now and is off to Oxford university in a few weeks.
Don't worry. Kids grasp things when they are ready and pushing it from yourself and comparing them to other children is a recipe for disaster. Don't stress and focus on your child.

Yes, children start school aged 4 in England. September borns turn 5 very quickly but summer borns do all of reception whilst 4.
Reception uses the same curriculum as preschool and involves a lot of play.
I would be extremely surprised if there were not open events for local primary schools. Every school has them near me. You get to walk round and see the school and ask questions.
If you think your child has SEN then I would speak to your nursery about this.
Where I live you can defer a child’s start but then they typically go straight into year 1 which can cause a lot of issues. It sounds like your child is used to long hours at nursery so may cope better than you expect.

My son started half days at age 3 in nursery, I was glad he did as when he began reception he had made friends and was well adjusted.
He is very shy, I think if I'd thrown him in the deep end age 5 he would have found it much harder.

This! We don’t have to wrap them in cotton wool.

If you have any doubts about sending him at 4 wait until he is 5. I wish someone had encouraged us to do this.

I was July born and many moons ago I started school a term later than others. Now at the age of 58 the main thing I still remember from reception class was trying to fit in when everyone else all had established friendship groups. My own July born child did fine starting school at 4yrs and 2 months old.

Don't panic reception year is really heavily play based and the learning they do is paced for the children being a wide range of abilities. They'll spend time learning numbers and phonics but playing and crafting a lot and they'll love it. Stop worrying before you get there!

Northern Ireland here. All children start year 1 the September after their 4th birthday with a cut off point of 30th June. We don't have reception.

There is usually no difference between a nursery and a state school’s Reception Year, except for larger class sizes. Year 1 is when the actual learning starts.

Where are these schools where learning only starts in year 1

Has there been some huge shift in the national curriculum because dc who are now early 20s went to school and it was pretty much full on from day 1

Year 1 when neither could read I was being asked what happens if they can’t read going into year 2 (dd just made it but DS didn’t) Tge teachers were at a loss in what to do with those dc who couldn’t read at the start of year 2
We changed schools in year 3 only to be met with an even more draconian regime and at the end of year 3 myself and all the other parents who had children who still couldn’t read were told that our children were so far behind and would never have the ability to catch up as they were children who would need life long care and were recommended that we should apply to the “special school” as this Ofsted “outstanding” school couldn’t teach them

Not saying there were complaints made to Ofsted but there was a surprise inspection a few weeks into the September term. All teachers and staff walked out and the school was put into special measures. I think it was the HT who decided there was no place for SEN’s pupils in his school and got rid of all SEN help. He didn’t believe in dyslexia, autism, or ADHD so in his mind it didn’t exist and if a child couldn’t do something because of a disability then they shouldn’t be in mainstream schools

Cut off dates are different here 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
They need to be 5 already or be turning 5 by the February.
So my summer born was easy , turned 5 then started .
the other 2 are Spring birthdays so were still in a nursery school setting when aged 5 ..had to wait till the August to start ( this made it very difficult for me to be working as the nursery was only 9ish in the morning till 11.45 am ) they were in another nursery school before that at age 3 , they got 2 mornings a week 9-12

If your kid is still drinking out of a baby bottle at almost 4, that ins entirely on you!