Is there a way to get a child into Reception Year earlier?

[Treadmillmom]

Hello, my daughter has a September birthday is 3 and started pre-school last week. I know she is bright, she has an extensive vocabulary.
My eldest son, Year 4 who has a May birthday is also very bright and is academically 2 years ahead.
My second son, Year 1 is also doing exceptionally well, he looks promising.
Now to daughter, she'll be eligable for nursery this September and not Reception till next year, she would absolutely embrace a school environment and learning, she is so confident, she had no issues walking into pre school the first time last week.
Is there anyway I could get her into reception this year?

Thanks NewYearEverything. Unfortunatley I can't afford that and I couldn't educate him myself I'd be rubbish! :)

Thankyou mummytime. I must seem rather dopey, I'm just genuinely worried x

No there is no way and nor should there be, she is little, let her be like that as there are plenty of years to be in school. If she is as bright as you say it will make no difference to her long term attainment but it might make a difference to her emotionally and psychologically to push her into something when she is still emotionally very very young, tiredness is also a factor for children this young: doesn't matter how gifted you think she is you cannot influence that.

Thanks for that link I will defo have a look :)

brandysoakedbitch I fully understand what you're saying but thing is he's 4 in Sep anyway - his cousin who was born 7 days earlier is starting this year, that's a whole years education for 7 days difference in age. So in that respect I wouldn't feel I was pushing him way earlier than others.

I can't answer your question as to whether it's possible I'm afraid.

But my experience with DD (now 8) may be relevant - she is late August birthday, so only a few weeks older than your DD would be relative to the year group. She's also bright so I was quite happy for her to be young in the year. Overall she's coped well and I am glad she's had the opportunity to learn reading, maths, etc at the ages she has - she was very ready for it and has always been on the top tables, etc.

She has sometimes found things hard socially though - there happened to be a bunch of girls all autumn birthdays in her class and the age gap was/still is noticible - their play is at times more sophisticated than she could really cope with. At first she solved this by playing with the boys instead, but at 8 that's now getting harder. She's struggling a bit at present with them all getting into pop music, etc that she's not really sussed yet. Being bright and quite a strong personality, she wants to be in charge and to decide the rules of the games they play, etc, but doesn't always have the social skills to get the others to do what she wants, so often gets upset.

So definitely a good thing academically, but I'm not so sure socially.

My DD1 has a September birthday and I really wished she could have started school a year early with all her friends. But having said that, it was lovely having her at home for an extra year

As others have said, they are still so little and once they've started, there's no going back.

We did regular trips to the library for new books, my mum got her doing lots of gardening etc so there were lots of hands-on things for her to do and to hold her interest.

Many (many!) years ago when I started school (I was a June baby so one of the youngest in the year) after one term I was put up a year, along with three other children. The daft thing was that later on we had to repeat a year because after a certain age they wouldn't let children be up a year so any that were had to move back down. A strange system!

Children are so different. My son is 9, April born, and in year 5 (like he should).
He is young for his age, and not as "street smart" as the other children in his class. He is slightly behind socially, but academically brilliant. School is difficult to maneuver emotionally when you are struggling socially. I would not deliberately put my child in this position.

DS2 started school at 3yrs 8months. The school he was at took the 7 oldest nursery aged DC and put them in a reception class otherwise they would have had to sack a teacher.

He is very bright and coped really well at school. Infact he was top of the class at reading when he was still not supposed to be at school.

However, we had to move area at the end of his second year at school. He was put in a Yr1/Yr2 mixed class. Again, he did very well, was in the top sets and there didn't seem to be a difference in his social skills either. The problem was that the Junior school he was due to transfer to wouldn't take his a year early so he had to repeat Yr2. He was bored out of his brain TBH, but there was no other way.

Looking back I wish that DH and I had not decided to put DS2 into school when he should have been at playschool. He is still very bright and on the G&T list for Maths and Science but I think he would be now even if he hadn't have gone to school early. Treasure the time with your DD, you'll never get it back!

i was a school year ahead all my life and although I did well academically, had friends etc, it has taken me years to shake of the feeling that i'm always younger and less mature than my contemporaries. I wouldn't recommend it.

For me being accelerated was a truly awful experience that I would never put my child through.
A really good pre-school should be well able to extend your bright little one by making each topic more challenging for her. My DD had maths work books that they created for her that she loved completing. They encouraged her to look in depth at insect life cycles in their minibeasts month.

I've seen quite a few academically able children through my reception class. Without exception their outlook on life has been quite narrow because they have an artificial view about what "learning" is. Children need time to explore, to investigate, to be creative, to ask questions and to find out for themselves. Academically bright children are sometimes inhibited in this type of learning because they have grown to think that reading and maths are somehow superior to design or building. This I think is some of the root of the problem in England. EYFS does not go on long enough. The children's own ideas start to be drummed out of them too early - they want to be given answers rather than working out answers for themselves.

That's really interesting, because it sums me up too! I have a December birthday and was put up a year really early on at school. I continued to be at the top of my new class, but the work was more appropriate than it otherwise would have been. There was no problem about repeating a year at any stage - I stayed a year ahead and left school after my A-levels at 17. (I wouldn't have been able to leave directly after GCSEs apparently, had I wanted to, as I would have been too young).
All through school, and even now (at age 33!), I have felt like the 'little one', being used to being the youngest. It's been a weird experience. I am convinced that academically it was the best for me, but am not sure overall whether it was a good choice.
I now have a DS who is 5 and started reception class back in September. He is significantly ahead of his peers, and we're beginning to wonder what to do for him. The topic of accelerating him has come up - I really don't know if it's a good way to go. I can see only one side, having been through it, but having no idea what it would have been like to be kept back.

'It' being MrsCornish's post... Sorry - new to this!