Starting school early

[SkedaddIe]

I hope this doesn't come across presumptuous.

We are ttc our 2nd and want a summer child rather than an autumn child so that they start school younger but covid and post pill amenorrhea has really disrupted our plans. We ideally wanted a smaller gap between our children so they could bond and learn from and with each other.

Is it very difficult (in England) to start early for autumn children? And how would we organise it?

Dd 4 loves school and we really appreciated that the professionals are better at educating then we are! For example we felt a little bit bad that dd started reading at 2 by memorising words rather than being taught phonics and blending.

There aren't any good private schools near us but lots of good state primary schools and a very decent spread of grammar schools.

I think that our next child will also very likely be well above average at least and would benefit from the birth date acceleration just as my dd seems to. Plus 1 or 2 years acceleration feels to me like it is a good balance between academic and social development for bright children.

@Bimblybomeyelash

Just because your 4 year old loves school, doesn’t mean that they should have gone at 3.

3 is too young I agree, 4 was perfect, 5 would've been too late.

Many people think it is an advantage to be autumn born, and to among the oldest children of the year group. This can lead to increased confidence and other social skills. No matter how clever people are, these skills can bring great advantages in life.
There would be other bright children in the group too. Probably what matters the most is how well the school teaches them.

It may be that selective private schools are more likely to allow a child to start a year early, but only if they were as able as the rest of the year group (who may be above average in the first place). It is difficult to find scholarships or bursaries for primary schools though.

4 was perfect errr....that is the age most children start school in England. Reception class starts at age 4.
So what do you mean by starting school 'early'.

@Ilovemaisie

4 was perfect errr....that is the age most children start school in England. Reception class starts at age 4. So what do you mean by starting school 'early'.

I believe the concern is over having an extremely able September born child, who will be nearly five rather than just four if they were August born.

OP, on one level, I understand your concern. I have an exceptionally bright dc who happens to have been summer born. There has always been a big gap in ability between dc and her peers, which would have been exacerbated if she had been born slightly later and ended up in the year below.

However, your dc has not even been conceived yet, so you're being ridiculous to even think about this. You have no idea what your child will be like, or if you will even manage to conceive a second one. You're getting way, way ahead of yourselves.

Just chill.

@Liquorishtoffee

Do people really try to plan conception around potential school start dates?

Teacher here, yes absolutely they do. The same people often only give birth to 'gifted' children.

Sadly such dc can read etc early but often arrive at school with limited psed skills and are at a real disadvantage compared to the 'average' children in class.

@Clymene

The g&t topic is the gift that keeps on giving

Definitely!

Your daughter walked at 6 months? As in supported her own weight without anyone or anything holding her hands and propelled herself from one place to another?

Please don't push your child just for your benefit
My G&T DC started school (YR) at 4y10m as she had an early birthday, excelled through primary always at the top of the class, pulled out for special lessons, onto secondary again with special lessons and extension in her learning (all from a regular state school) and ended up with a broad range of A and A GCSEs and then 4 A/A A Levels and a place at a top uni. From here she flunked out after a year as she was totally overwhelmed and just needed to step back and evaluate her life. She is now almost through a much better degree choice with loads of prospects.

Other DS started school at 4y2m as he was a summer baby, was never gifted and talented but worked hard within his peer group throughout school and has still managed to get a Masters degree

Your daughter walked at 6 months? As in supported her own weight without anyone or anything holding her hands and propelled herself from one place to another?

This would be very unusual, but not beyond the realms of possibility. I knew a baby who was already walking well at 7 months. It isn't necessarily a sign of giftedness, though - that particular child turned out to be pretty average academically!

My own (gifted) dd wasn't remotely interested in walking at that age. I think she had only just learnt how to sit up!

There is often an overlap between giftedness and precocious development, but they are not the same thing!

My DD was down as G & T all the way through Primary. She is now Year 10 and fabulously average! (And also still in bed) Children change - don't get too hung up on labels!

I've really enjoyed this thread

Aroundtheworld a September - December born child will be entitled to two extra terms of nursery anyway. They are already getting more than a January- August born baby. If they started reception at 4 and have their birthday almost straight away they will have already been entitled to 5 terms of nursery as all 3 year old are entitled the term after they turn 3.
I am not sure how much more the OP wants.

My first ds has dyslexia. Eventually managed to read somewhat fluently at 8/9 . My first DD is gifted..read at 2. Fluently reading at 4 with no teaching and never learn phonics as was already reading so far ahead she didn't see the point. I never tried to teach her to read . She was just born to read.
Every member of a family is different and we take what we get and work from there.
A bit of maturity stands to a child in school coping with so many new situations...l find as a teacher.
We cannot plan our lives with such precision.

I think this is both presumptuous and unwise given the weather of evidence supporting delayed school starts - no kids in the developed world start full school as early as kids in the uk and our educational attainment is not ahead by any means. In most European countries kids don't start full school til aged 6/7.

My kids are both fairly bright it would seem. My daughter (second born) has an early September birthday so is pretty much the eldest in her year, she's now in year 1. She joined the school based nursery a year early due to there being a spare spot and so did 2 years there, however there was no question about her going to school a year early and I wouldn't have wanted her to - during that first year in nursery when she was the youngest you could really tell. She was so much smaller for one thing and in terms of emotionally maturity clearly younger. When she was in her second year at nursery the teachers there began to gentle encourage her writing and reading as she was a bit ahead of the other kids, largely due to age. Now she's not streets ahead or anything, probably pretty comfortable slightly ahead of some in the pack and very confident and sure of herself which I think is a really nice place for her to be! I wouldn't want her struggling with older kids.

I think it's unusual for schools to NOT have an exceptional circumstances category what about child disabilities that don't qualify for an EHCP or parent disabilities?

Not particularly - for example, Norfolk community primaries don't.

And yes it probably could be open to abuse but in our experience that would be very difficult as there is a double hurdle and a requirement for independent professional evidence. It would also be pointless as it's a very open secret that the way to abuse the priority system is to just rent a house close to your chosen school

Oh i don't mean open to abuse in the sense that it's easy in - the opposite, in fact. It requires significant, independent evidence that this is the only school that can meet the child's needs. However, decisions made under this criteria can only ever be at least partly subjective. Parents denied under this criteria can be confused as to why, and this leaves the school open to appeals - which won't necessarily be won, but cost the school money and time.

And most authorities are wise to the renting plan these days, especially in areas of high demand!

(and yes, if your application under this criteria is denied, your application is fitted into the next criteria you do fit. So usually distance. When you got your acceptance letter, it will often say which criteria your application was assessed under.)

Speaking purely from the perspective of a parent of an academically gifted child, be very wary of assuming that earlier is better. The child in question was summer born and physically tiny. Being the youngest in their year was never an issue academically. They continued to excel all through primary and secondary school, and now continue to do so at university (objective evidence - 100% in first year maths exam).

However, being the youngest has most definitely been an issue socially. Particularly in the upper years of secondary. And another year's maturity would have been a very good idea when it came to leaving home and coping with all those sorts of pressures.

Not to mention the fact that it turns out their younger sibling isn't wired in the same way at all acadmically speaking. But that really didn't become apparent in the pre school years. If we'd pushed to get her to start school early it would have been an utter disaster. And this only really became evident when she got to mid teens, so please be careful about pushing your infants too hard.

@UhtredRagnarson

from a very early age, are clearly very bright and that parents have questions and concerns about that.

From a very early age? Pre conception is pushing it bit do you not think?

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Be very careful what you wish for op. My middle child is a January birthday and started school a day after turning 4, so 8 months early and an academic year earlier.

He started at a special school and they will take disabled children as they turn four.

I hope you don't have to experience this - i would have given everything I had at that time to have him start at a mainstream school in the following September.

You haven't made your child yet, let alone met them. I sincerely hope they fulfil your expectations but you would be wiser to focus on enjoying your here and now, rather than planning for something which might never happen.

It’s obvious none of you have experience of a truest gifted child. My DS taught himself to read several months before his conception. By 10 DPO he was writing his own poetry.

@PatriciaHolm I understand now. And I think that Norfolk is an example of a LA which are lagging behind in updating their admissions. But I'm not familiar with the area so maybe it is a case of 'isn't broke don't fix it'.

They still allow catchment areas, instead of crow flies, in London that system was abused to exclude council estates but include affluent roads. And they allow nursery priority which creates feeder pathways for parents who can afford to pay. In London that's generally not done except for pupil premium children so that outstanding schools who have a commitment to disadvantaged children can offer continuity of care.

@CarlottaValdez

It’s obvious none of you have experience of a truest gifted child. My DS taught himself to read several months before his conception. By 10 DPO he was writing his own poetry.

Pah!

The only reason why dd hasn't published her unified theory is that there is nobody alive smart enough to review her work.

Hence our rush to create a worthy peer for her.

I’d be surprised if many/any state schools take a child early.

Emotional and practical development is as important as academic.

Instead of advancing them along a fairly narrow school curriculum, why not use the year to broaden their experiential learning?

Question. How would starting early benefit them as an adult? 'Whoop whoop. I started and finished university a year earlier than my peers. Yay. Great.' Then?.... DS is very bright. Feb born so under the school system (non UK) where we live could have started primary school a year early but he's a small build, pretty geeky boy who would have been brilliant academically in the older class but would have forever been the youngest and smallest. He is top of his current year group and quite frankly bored in lessons BUT his confidence is brilliant, homework tasks take him 5 minutes (unlike his classmates who struggle to complete them) leaving him lots of time and energy to explore other interests. Yes he could be pushed more (both at school and home) but speaking from personal experience early academic success (and the pressure which goes with it) doesn't necessarily make for happy and successful adults