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.

I’m in Scotland and I didn’t realise this. (I think here children have to be in school before the age of 6?)

My little one would no way have been ready at 4 1/2, play-based learning or not.

My granddaughter was 4 years and a few days old (birthday at end of August) my daughter is primary carer and gets no maintenance and pretty much zero financial help. So she’s working to pay a mortgage, car, utilities , food, hobbies, clothing etc whilst ex partner lives in a mortgage free house thanks to her paying off a massive chunk, has me spitting feathers but our concern is for granddaughters well being.

I come from mainland Europe where school starts at 7 and my helanda education is jn worlds top 5 every year in maths,science and languages. British kids go to school at 4/5 and leave school without speaking other languages etc- what are they doing there all these years?

Homelands, in*

My dd's school is continuous provision until year 3, so plenty of learning through play etc. It is one of the main reasons I chose the school . Children will have years to sit down - I want them to play!

My just turned 4 year old has just started another year of pre-school as I did not think he was ready for school yet. All set up to start reception next year at just turned five. I thought about his readiness and what would work best for him individually when deciding.

Reception is EYFS, its play based and the learning outcomes are very child development focussed on younger kids - communication, personal development, social skills etc. Learning numbers, letters and sounds etc happens through play, in many schools teachers/TAs don't hear individual child read at all any more, most of the work of actually getting a child reading is done through parents doing the daily reading at home.

I had a v young august birthday who started school having been four for two weeks, was absolutely fine.

I agree. People don’t say theta start at five.

I come from mainland Europe where school starts at 7

Do most children attend preschools/nurseries? In countries like Finland "school" starts at 7 but what children mostly attend before that is very like our EYFS & even year 1 which often still has a lot of play.

British education is typically ranked in the top 10 globally. Many countries with the highest rankings have better average outcomes with a smaller spread between upper and lower ends of the cohort. British education has typically had a broader focus that allows for higher academic attainers to achieve very well indeed, thus leading on to the extremely well regarded university sector with a disproportionate number of globally ranked universities.

In Northern Ireland the cut off is 4 on or before 1 July. So July and August Birthday kids have turned 5 before they start ?

and our kids start in P1 usually not reception?

My 4 children started school at 5y4m, 5y1m, 5y11m, and 5y (days after turning 5). They wouldn't have been ready aged 4. Two were slow to toilet train due to additional needs.

Mine too, and he’s doing well with his phonics etc but the school is pretty strict and I’m not sure he’s ready for the rules 🤣

spend some time looking at schools - mine went to a village school where the nursery and reception classes were mixed (as were yr 1&2). Very play based. Mine were at a different nursery but started doing some days a week at the school in the last term of nursery.

Reception is similar to nursery. He might not appreciate you having held him back when he’s older.

Learning letter sounds doesn’t happen through play, phonics starts formally from the off in reception for the vast majority of schools, starting with 10 minutes per day and building to 45 mins to 1 hour.

Learning letter sounds doesn’t happen through play, phonics starts formally from the off in reception

It is perfectly possible to do phonics in a play based way. There is lots of talk based learning, listening to stories, word games.

A normal four year old should be able to focus/pay attention to a task for ten minutes.

In countries where "school" starts at 6/7, most DC attend preschools which provide similar to EYFS. My BiL is swedish and has commented on this.

My ds turned 4 just over 2 weeks ago. He was technically due in September but was born at the end of august so just made it into reception.

Some of his peers have already turned 5. Tbh I think he was definitely ready for reception and would have been bored in another year of nursery.

I never heard of opting to hold children back when mine were at school. It was more hip hip hooray 😅

Only in mumsnet world ,🙄
3.5 maybe later than average but doesn't indicate special needs.

That’s the way parenting goes, no sooner have you picked a nursery you have to choose a primary school, then in our case a junior school, then secondary, 6th form and university. My DS1 was a May baby, the choice then was to do half days till October half term, which is what I did, but he lost out of forming friendships so I definitely wouldn’t do that. If you feel your child isn’t ready then keep in nursery for another year.

My niece and nephew are Danish. Whilst they may not go to something called 'school' at age 4, they're in full time childcare doing activities that are very similar to reception year in England.

I sometimes wonder if people who whinge about school starting in England at 4/5 have been in a typical modern reception classroom.

At my school (which was one of the top in county for academic outcomes at 11) the reception class spend loads of time in the "outdoor classroom". Both the indoor & outdoor spaces are free flow, there's loads of toys & activities to choose. Duplo is popular. Teacher input is brief and done in an engaging, interactive way. Really it is another nursery year but as part of a school to get used to breaktimes with older kids, and participating in things like singing in assembly, eating together in the school hall.

This sounds a bit melodramatic tbh.

If you don't think he'll be ready then the option is there to hold him back a year if you can afford it.

Nursery may be 'talking about' the place but they can't give it to another child until you give notice...so don't give notice.

Play based learning is what they're doing at nursery in any case

All play is learning, at that age all learning is via play.

At our school we were told that Reception was just to prepare the kids for starting school in year 1, even though they still have to wear uniform and call it school.

Both of mine were summer born and weren't ready so I kept them back a year anyway so they started at 5.