ADVICE PLEASE! My DD misses this years school start by one day - can I do anything about it?

[rorytiger]

Hello there,
My DD with be 4 on september 2nd so I (foolishly) thought she's be starting school this year. Having rang our local council to check it seems the school start cut off day is august 31st therefore she will not be able to start school until september 2008!!!!! (Aparently they no longer do a secondry intake at easter its just sept to sept.) It there anything I can do about this or are the rules set in stone? My dd is ready for school now let alone in over a years time. I just will feel very sorry for her when all her friends leave nursery and she will be the only one nor going . This is the first time I've had to deal with anything schooly so not sure what I should do next - any advice would be great. Thanks!

I was offered a c-section on 30 August for ds but I refused and insisted on 1 september - much better developmentally for older children at school.

My DD1 is also old for her school year and was very very bored during her last year at her montessori nursery. In retrospect I wished I'd started her at a private school which takes them from 2.

Agree that it's better for them to be older. My ds1 is 4 in Oct and so won't start until next year but he's nowhere near ready and has only just started pre-school. Dd has her birthday in Feb and so it was much easier for her, I felt sorry for some of the really young ones that started at just turned 4 years as they seemed to find it much harder to settle in and be happy there.

I have a different angle on this. My child will be 4 and 1 month when she starts school, so one of the youngest, but she already can read and write all the letters, spell words out loud and read some words including days of the week and months of the year, so I an worried she will be a bit bored too. Would still rather she was starting school in Sept 2008 though. 4 seems so young.

NAB I doubt she will be bored....going to a class of 30 kids with one teacher, and all the expectations of independence that entails, is usually enough to keep reception kids busy....they'll be focussing on social skills for the first term in a more in depth way than she will ever have had in pre-school.

And from what I see in ds class, they do seperate out well; the kids who can read or write are dealt with on one table, then the kids who are still learning their letters on another, etc....work is targetted pretty much so your dd should be fine.

oh and meant to say she won't be alone...I'd say about half the kids in ds class can read and write to a greater or lesser degree. And anyway, once she gets there she won't have time to think about letters, she'll be too busy talking about who is going to who's party and who can come to HER party, and where her party will be......believe me

My son is a August child and is in year2 (aged 6) He is doing well at school and he is above the class average. He has thrived since september due to the teacher. I don't think it did him any harm when started reception class at 4 years 1 month.

My daughter will be slightly older when she starts, as her birthday is January. She starts nursery in September and I think she is ready fot it. She tries to do thing her brother does when it comes to school work, but obviously unable to do it.

I don't think you can do anything about it, but it won't harm the child to do extra stuff at home to make sure they arn't a year behind their friends.

Even a mid year birthday can be a problem DD has a March birthday and her school splits the two classes on a Sept-Feb and March-Aug basis and you can see the differences in the two groups throughout the school especially as they will all be taking SATS at same time and then moving to secondary at same time. Although slowly getting better where a child has left the school and the new child fills the vacancy and doesn't depend on birthday.

They are phasing it out now annoying as DS is a September birthday and in year 1 with many children almost a year younger than him (somehow seems to be a lot of July/August birthdays in his year) but would be better suited in the year above so he is sitting through the jolly phonics sessions with his copy of harry potter under the desk

both my children and I are september babes(11th,13th and 18th)

Son on 13th is 2nd oldest, but daughter on 18th is the 6th oldest in her class. They both went to an excellent preschool, but daughter could easily have handled school at the previous entry (christmas at 4 and 3 months). They are both happy at school and doing really well,so being the oldest hasn't done them ant harm.

Much better for them to start older rather than younger.

In my kids I've had 3 April birthdays and 1 July; the July one managed OK at school, but his mates with Sept/Oct birthdays were so much more able and confident - given a choice between Aug 31 and Sep 1 I would definitely cross my legs and hang on