If it was up to you..what age would you want your child(ren) to start school?

[emkana]

Following on from my other thread here
I would be interested to hear opinions when children should ideally start school.
I would say five would be a good age. I think four is still too young, but six or even seven, which it often is in Germany, seems quite old, looking at my dd1 who is nearly four and already seems so keen to learn about letters and numbers.
What does everybody here think?

[SPARKLER1]

DD2 (3) wants to go now. She isn't due to start until September 2006. November birthday so she will be one of the eldest in her year. Her big sister is in year 1 and she wants to be like her. She does two and a half days at pre-school at the moment and is fine going there.
She even told her pre-school teacher the other day that she was going to big school and was leaving them.
I would send her in September if I had the choice.

[ghosty]

I went to pre school in Holland ... started when I was 4 and wasn't due to start school until I was 7. I didn't learn any letters or numbers, but did lots of activities that prepared me for learning (as someone said below) ...
When I was 6 and a half my family moved to the UK and I had to start school. The teachers were horrified at the fact that I had not learned to read yet ... all my classmates had been 'reading' for 2 years. So I had all these extra lessons to learn to read. And I learned in less than a term ... By the time I was 7 I was one of the better readers and spellers in the class. I feel that waiting until I was 'ripe' was the best thing that happened for me.
In NZ the system is great. Pre-school at 3.5 starting with 3 afternoons a week and moving on to 5 mornings a week at just over 4. No reading or maths but lots of free play, stories, imaginative stuff, etc etc. The BANG full time school starts the DAY the child turns 5.
DS started school ON his 5th birthday ... 3 weeks before the end of the school year. He had a taster, then a 6 week holiday ... then into Year 1 and he has taken to it like a duck to water.
I think 5 is the perfect age. DS has been interested in letters and numbers since he was 2 but personally I think an easy settlement into school life has nothing to do with ability and everything to do with maturity ....

[zebraX]

3-3.5 for preschool. 5 for 1/2 days (reception). Probably 6 for full days. That's just based on how my children are.

[roisin]

5 or 5.5 for half-days formal school education.
7 for full days

[crazyandconfused]

7 I was brough up in Italy and I started at 6 I was one of the younger I was definatly more confident when I came to Britain and was put in the same class though I was 1 year older than the others

[beatie]

Some Reception Classes do put a lot of emphasis on learning through play. A gentler introduction into school would be preferable. At the age of 4/5, some children are just so exhausted from following a school routine for 5 full days.

[wordsmith]

About the age they do now (rising 5) - but then it depends on the type of school they go to. My DS is in reception and it's very play-based, he responds really well. But he has friends in reception at other schools and it's all sitting at desks and 'proper learning', which tbh I don't think is appropriate, for boys at least, until about 6 or 7.

[firestorm]

reception year is like nursery really isnt it? they are getting themselves ready for when they start proper learing in year one.
i personally feel that a child should be able to start school in the september before or after the one they are actually due to start iyswim. for example my nephew has a sept 1st birthday (lucky for him he wasnt born a few hours earlier or he would of sunk without trace in the current system) other children born the same day may be perfectly capable of starting school the year before, but the law says they cant.
another example, my year one dd was born at the end of april & although way ahead in her work, lacks social skills & could of done with the option of starting school in the following school year instead of at 4 & 4 months. my other dd (feb birthday) who starts reception in september, has been desperate to start school for over a year & would quite happily of started last september.
they should also be grouped according to ability & not age as soon as individual needs are identified.

[Caligula]

Oh God, not the special voice!

My DS's school are quite good about accepting that kids are individuals, but I think I'm quite lucky because it's a very small school and they have enough time, resources etc., to be able to deal with that.

[bambi06]

5 for nursery type education and then reception should be for 6 yr olds like in other countries..our kids spend more time in school and from an earlier age than most countries

[binkie]

Caligula:

Problem is that they're at the same school, which thinks sun shines out of dd but has developed a special voice for phoning me up about ds. Is your ds's school understanding?

[Caligula]

Hmm. Sounds like it was a bit of a sudden transition. What I liked about my DS's school, is that they had a policy of letting the kids go half time for up to two terms if they needed to (although no-one ever does, because they're so good at getting them integrated after about a month at the latest - they then screw it all up when the kids go into Year 1 and have a sudden transition from the informal, mainly play-based reception class, but that's another story.)

[suedonim]

Six or seven, I think, though I admit I was very happy to send dd2 to school when she was five and even tried to get her into a year early!

[marialuisa]

I think from experiences within my family and reports from friends that isn't always the case-it may be the aim but it doesn't always turn out that way. For example family in Holland have had a very tricky time, my cousin remarked that their 6 year old is expected to be too grown up, lots of whole classteaching sat at desks in rows, very little "down time" within school, e.g. P.E., art. Also teachers very strict and "hands-off" which was a bit of a shock after a very casual, cuddly pre-school until that point.

[tortoiseshell]

I think 5 or 6, but with very structured state preschool up till then - even doing reading/writing etc, but without the pressure of it being 'school' (also with flexibility of pre-school - i.e. not minding if you take them out for a day or a week holiday - it's got to be good for little ones to be able to go for outings with their mums when the places aren't over-run with older children). Ds will be 4 and 3 months, Dd will be just 4 when she starts, and I do think it's too young. The difference between my ds and some of the children who will be 5 in September is huge!

[Caligula]

Binkie are you me? That's exactly what my kids are like.

[binkie]

it so depends on the child

dd (now 4.5) has been in her element in nursery school/fulltime learning since about 2 and a half - she just adores being in a group, joining in, sharing stuff, the more interaction & stimulation the better - she's a bit exhausting outside that world

ds (just 6) still hasn't got it, despite swanning through the academic stuff. He wants to be off in a corner quietly percolating the concept of friction, not having to sit on a carpet tile and say whether the story was about a lion or a tiger. I don't think he'll really be ready for group learning till he's about 8.

[Gobbledigook]

Hmm, a tough one. I think ds1 who is just 4 is ready for school although I think he'd be quite happy remaining at his sessional pre-school for longer too (9-1pm). He's getting along fine there on numbers and letters but in a more laid back fashion than in other local nurseries, which I prefer.

I agree that about 6ish sounds right for more formal learning, with perhaps some more 'laid back' pre-schooling from 3-4.

I'm quite worried about ds3 who will start school just days after his 4th birthday - he's only 8 months atm so perhaps he'll seem ready but it sounds incredibly young to me.

[Blu]

I understood that although what we call formal ed doesn't start til about 7 in Germany and Scandinavia, there is actually a carefully structured programme, beginnning with co-operative and social skills, imaginative and expressive play, and before they learn to write they are introduced to all the various shapes they will need in order to form letters - circles, straight lines, curves etc etc, as abstract concepts, and they are given confidence with all the motor skills needed before embarking on letters themselves. then they learn in a flash.

[Caligula]

But I think a lot of the informal pre-schooling they do in Europe, prepares the children to be put into a more formal environment at seven, doesn't it ML?

[Hulababy]

I don't think it is DD who isn't ready BTW, just me who isn't ready. I hate the idea of my little one having to go to school so early; it just seems that they are so little. Whether they are ready for formal learning or not I just don't like the idea. I guess I just want her to be my baby for longer!

[marialuisa]

Like HMB's DD, mine was more than ready at 3. It was interesting to see people acknowledging that those countries who start "formal" schooling later actually put 6/7 year olds into a much more rigid system (not quite right phrase) than they endure here in the UK.

[Mud]

school as in structured education around 6 or 7

but actually full time off my hands / out of hair / not in my face - around 3.5 to 4

[happymerryberries]

DD was more than ready at 3, teaching herslf to read and desparate to do more than I could give her (and no she was noy hot housed). On her first half day she wanted to go back ofter lunch and was upset when she couldn't. ds six or so. they are all individuals