How is school in England?

[Littleen]

Just wondering if anyone can explain to me how school work in England - they start at 4? Do they have homework and lots of learning, or is it more focused on play? Does schools in general have a focus on intelligent children, so they don't get bored?

They start school full time in the september following their 4th birthday (reception class) but they do not have to legally attend school full time until they are 5 years old (year 1) .

Every school is different on how they teach.

In my childrens school it was very much play based for the whole of reception, painting, sticking, playing with water/sand, drawing, colouring, music etc which suited my son but my daughter was bright and craved information. She got bored as she wasnt given any particular work to do and was very withdrawn by the start of year 1.

They did not have homework until the summer term of reception which was basic reading and maths to get them used to structured working.

You will need to speak to your chosen primary school to find out what they offer to reception age children. My friends children at a different school learnt to read and write during reception and also basic maths which my children did not.

I hope thats helpful.

Reception year is based around learning through play. Social interaction and so on.

Saying that, dd learned to read and write while playing, and ds1 (who was reading well before he started reception) was given excellent differentiated work and individual targets to aspire to - went from being very pen-averse to writing fairly well, was reading with kids a couple of year groups above him and so on. So while it is play-focussed at that age, the child's all have individual targets and their progress should be monitored.

A lot depends upon the school. Our school isn't amazing in terms of differentiation, but ds1 has had a good experience so far (now going into year 3).

All children in state schools in reception year will be following the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, they will start learning to read, write and do maths but the focus will be on learning through play with plenty of chances to play outside and to choose the activities they want to do (from those set out by the teacher each day). They will start school in the September before they are 5yo.

School differentiate their teaching so that each child is working at the correct level for the individual child - so you'll see lots of working in smaller groups, all covering the same topic but with different objectives for each group.

That's really helpful, thanks :)

Ds2 will start when he is 5 and a week - 1st September birthday. Ds1 started on his 5th birthday (first week of September). Dd was born in july but started at 4.5 because her school ran September and January intakes.

Lots of play - but sandpits, water wheels, construction toys that form patterns, board/counting games = communication, problem solving, science and maths! Phonics taught from the beginning with 'tricky words' and reading books sent home after a few weeks of settling in. The first term is very tiring especially when they go full-time - no need for the stress of 'homework' on top of six hours of active learning and interacting with 30 other children, getting used to taking turns and listening to the teacher. Schools do expect parents to spend 10 minutes a day after school helping them to read, although in some schools there are lots of parent volunteers (the teacher will also hear each child reading at least once a week).

Year 1 starts off pretty much the same but becomes a little more formal towards the end and most children really take off with independent reading.

Do you literally mean England? are you from overseas? if you mean Britain then you'll find there are differences in the systems in different parts of the UK. Scotland has the most differences re school joining age and curriculum.