Alternatives to 5 day a week school for a 4 year old

[Firecrest19]

Hello,

my 4 year old is due to start (state) primary in north London this September and my partner and I were wondering if anyone has found any alternative options to the traditional 5 day a week model?

we don’t have much extra money, although she’s a late birthday so we would get her free 30 hours for much of the academic year. She can’t stay at her current nursery though and we don’t want her to defer a year so she’d need somewhere that allowed her to keep up academically.

I only work 2 days a week so in theory could home Ed her, although would need an option for the 2 days I work and enough that is social too.

I don’t want to hold her back, but hate how restrictive the UK education system is and 4 seems so young for 5 days…

if anyone has had similar thoughts I’d love to hear your experiences.

I don't know your child and April born is different from August born I concede. If you're on FB there is a great group called 'flexible admissions for summer borns' I'd have a look at. Also tons of research available on the web about outcomes but academic and mental health related for summer borns who start school at 4. My reception child is June born and doing great, I'm so relieved we sent them at 5 and not 4. They definitely don't stick out as clearly being the eldest, I don't think many of the parents in her class know yet and certainly nobody's ever commented on it. The teacher and TA obviously know and never mentioned it until the recent parents evening in the context that DC is doing really and if anything wanted to reassure us that they don't think the age is an issue as obviously they're very close in age to the autumn born children. They've got plenty of friends which is varied amongst the older and younger children in the class which was the same when they were at nursery. They are quite short so they don't stand out height wise either which really shouldn't matter, but it probably does help things a bit.

You don't get the funded hours once they are enrolled at school

Slightly different and quite a few years ago now, but my eldest niece did 4 days a week in year 1, with Fridays "off", when her mother was on maternity leave. Fridays were used as you suggest, for trips to the zoo or adventure playgrounds or art galleries or whatever. If there was something special going on at school that day she could still go in and not miss out. I think they got the idea from a couple of friends already doing something similar.

It's not easy to make such an arrangement these days once they have turned 5, but for reception it sounds ideal. (My sister wanted to continue the pattern the following year, but a change of head meant all flexi school arrangements were abruptly stopped). I'd suggest working with the school though to determine which pattern would integrate best with their timetabling - Fridays, or Wednesdays, or mornings only, or perhaps full days Mon-Tues then mornings? Lots of possibilities really. Good luck agreeing something that will work for your child and your family.

it’s tricky though! I wish school was a 3 day a week learning / 2 day a week optional.

^ Flexi schooling all through primary is possible. You need to get the school to agree but school doesn't have to be full time.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/flexischoolingfamilies/

Part time in reception until the term after she's 5 is possible, and the best scenario for that would be to drop a couple of afternoons so she keeps up with the numeracy/literacy that tends to be done in the morning, missing whole days each week would be detrimental unless she's at a school that offer and are set up for flexi schooling.

An alternative is a school that offers flexi schooling like my local, all pupils have to attend wed-Thurs with Mon and Fri either in school or home school (as a set arrangement not ad hoc)

I've not rtwt so apologies if this is a repeat of what everyone else has said!

I’ve taught April summerborns who were deferred and they thrived socially and academically. If I had, had that option I definitely would have taken it (mine was a winter baby).

As for part time, yes school have no choice but to accept your decision to do part time before CSA. Very many schools will either not know the law or want to coerce you into sending full time but the law stands. If it is your preference I strongly suggest you send a letter in writing quoting the school admissions code. Any more informal discussion and sadly 90% of headteachers will either give you misinformation or try to persuade you that your child is going to suffer. There is no research to suggest this is the case.

I assumed that when the OP referred to her child's "free 30 hours", she meant using them at an alternative setting instead of school.

You say you're going to move areas in the next year or two anyway, and you aren't mad keen on the usual state school setup for young kids. Maybe home educating until your move would be simpler and less disrupting for your daughter than changing settings several times. Then you'd just have to find childcare for the two days a week when you work, unless your partner can rejig their hours to cover it.

Out of interest, why can't your daughter stay on at her current nursery?

Thank you again everyone for the support and interesting ideas. Flexi schooling sounds ideal for us, or agreeing to dropping a day/ afternoon a week.

I worry that if I defer her by a year she will go through education always feeling like the odd one out as she’d be older? But maybe this worry is unfounded?

I really love the home Ed idea but sadly I don’t think we can afford childcare/ tweak our work to cover it. She’s also very social and I think would really miss other children unless we paid to enroll her in a forest school which again i don’t think we could afford.

Her nursery has been amazing, but it’s tiny and only has two rooms: a baby room and one for the two year olds and up. Most children leave at 3 to attend full time preschool. At the moment, there are only three in her year group there. She has really grown out of this set up already (although it has been amazing until now). If she stayed in nursery we’d definitely have to move her and all the research I’ve done round us has thrown up either young nurseries or full time preschool. We’re in a bit of a weird area - there aren’t many young families about so the options are more limited I think.

Would it be better to start her at school FT and then float PT if she wasn’t coping? To show the school we had tried the FT?

or try and negotiate PT from the start?

Having done the school tours, I strongly got the impression PT would be discouraged.

Personally I wouldn't want to start my child FT if I didn't think that was best and then wait for problems to develop and then reduce the hours. You don't seem sold on FT at 4 and Id listen to your gut on that one. You know your child best. Once issues develop, its harder to fix them than to prevent them in the first place. I'm not saying problems definitely WILL occur obviously but there is tons of research on outcomes for summer borns who start school at 4 that shows poorer outcomes both academically but also in relation to mental health much later down the line etc. This is obviously only statistical information and can't tell you how your individual child will fare but I took the position that if data is showing me a large increased likelihood of negative effects for my DC starting school at 4, well as a parent I want to give them the best possible chances of success (wellbeing related more than anything else) after all.

My child definitely doesnt feel odd in any way being the eldest in the class and likely the year group. Appreciate they are only in reception though. I know a few people locally whose children are in older year groups and absolutely thriving though with no social issues. In fact I'm positive my DC would have had more social problems if I'd sent them to school at 4 as they were not as socially capable or confident as they had become at five. My child was very shy and anxious and I was concerned about them. Now they have been described as a "leader" amongst her friends which is something I'd never expect to hear about my child. They're just completely different to how they would have been at 4. They are only a couple of months older than the next oldest children in the class which doesn't show at all.

I think children are more likely to feel different with PT schooling than starting at 5 although I don't think that alone is a reason not to do it. PT schooling is very obviously different to the rest of the children in the class but being 5 is not, given that some of the children will turn 5 within the first couple of weeks of reception anyway. There is one SEN child in DC's class who does PT schooling and DC noticed this very early on and asked questions about it. It wasn't at all a problem for DC obviously and this child clearly has SEN and I hope the PT schooling works out well for them (they also have a 1:1 so clearly a high degree of need). But I'm just saying the difference was obvious to DC whereas they've never mentioned yet anyone questioning their age. Although I'm sure it will come eventually and tbh difference isn't always a Bad Thing, especially in a good school which celebrates diversity and inclusion, which thankfully their school really does.

You don't have to negotiate or prove anything to the school if you want your child to attend part-time while she is below Compulsory School Age. It is your absolute right. You can look it up in the School Admissions Code. Once she reaches CSA in the term after her fifth birthday, the situation changes, and you can only do it with the agreement of the head. Most heads are not at all keen on it, so I wouldn't rely on being able to continue part-time after she's five.

I really love the home Ed idea but sadly I don’t think we can afford childcare/ tweak our work to cover it. She’s also very social and I think would really miss other children unless we paid to enroll her in a forest school which again i don’t think we could afford.

^ there are lots of home ed groups for parents who are home educating in each region and want to meet up plus sessions that are put on at cost for home ed groups. Home ed in 2024 doesn't have to mean a) social isolation or b) forest school paid for sessions.

That's very true, but it can be hard to get by without the free childcare which school provides, and this is an obstacle for many people.

OP, if your family is on a low income, you can get a subsidy toward the cost of childcare. I know that isn't necessarily enough to make home ed viable.

Just remember that if you don't send your child every day, it's unfair on the teacher and other children in the class who will need to constantly repeat things to ensure they don't miss out, potentially putting the whole class behind. In complete honesty I think you either should send to school or defer, not a half way measure

Also remember that in reception they tend to do the work in the morning in my experience, afternoon is more playtime

"it’s tricky though! I wish school was a 3 day a week learning / 2 day a week optional. I teach secondary now and I think my teenagers would do better on this too."

familylearningschool.com/

www.thefledglings.co.uk/

It does exist, just not many and probably all a fee paying (though maybe not astronomical)

This is exactly what my now 15 yo DS did. School were not happy about it, but as he was doing so well they couldn’t argue. He could read before he started school - we are not sure how as we hadn’t worked on it with him, he just seemed to pick it up from us reading to him! He didn’t go to Nursery as we had childcare provided by my parents.

Thank you for all of this.

so we have found out our school place and are 99% decided on doing PT - full days Monday-Thursday with Friday at home.

we thought long and hard about deferring, but in the end decided against it as we realised that as she is an April birthday she would end up with a whole term later down the line when she as 16 and summer borns were 14/ she was 18/ vs 16 and this worried us.

We thought mornings only at school would be disruptive for her and the other children as she would very obviously be leaving school on her own. Plus as our main worry is titedness following sensory/ social overload that 5 mornings may as well be 5 full days.

As a teacher myself I am confident we can keep her up academically. And obviously if issues arise, we can address these as we go. Similarly, as a teacher I can firmly say that it is rare I have a day where one or more pupils aren’t absent for some reason, and I’d rather teach a happy, engaged child PT than the same child dragging their heels FT if there is another good alternative being suggested.

Does anyone have any tips on this kind of arrangement or approaching a school with it?

thanks !

I can only tell you my experience (with a very hostile headteacher). I just wrote to tell her our child was looking forward to starting at the school. That we were taking up our legal right to send our child part time. I quoted the admissions code and also the fact that code X should be used to denote that my child was not expected in school, which would ensure their absence rates wouldn’t be effected. I thanked her for her co-operation and CC’d the class teacher and the local authority admissions team.

Thanks so much. That’s a really great outline to have heard. I think we’ll follow your example. The head seems good but officious and when I floated part time during our tour she was very disapproving.

if you don’t mind me asking, how did your child find PT? And you as a family too?

My child really benefitted academically and emotionally and we also saw much more of the wider family.

For posters who quote other countries like Sweden etc that start school at a later age, those children are in some form of nursery before school age. Parents are actively encouraged to put children in nursery and there are high employment rates amongst parents eg think it is 80% in Finland

Before you decide what days you're going to do/not do, why don't you find out what the weekly timetable is for the class your child will be in? If Friday is the day they do PE or Forest School or something, your child may feel that they are missing out. It will almost certainly be the day they do any little celebrations like "star of the week" or get given the class teddy or whatever and so your child will never get to participate in that.
Also, most reception classes are structured with phonics & maths in the morning. I realise you'll be doing this at home but, by missing one full day of school each week, they will miss 20% of this. If you did a lunchtime pick up twice a week, then you'll still have her at home and she'd get all of the class based learning. It also might be more helpful for your child if they have a couple of chilled afternoons away from the chaos of a reception class rather than have to manage four full days and then just have an extended weekend.
FWIW, I started summer born DC2 on a flexi timetable. To fit around my work, he was going to have Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at home. Tuesday got scratched as soon as I realised their Forest School sessions were then as I knew he'd love those. We did Thursdays for a few weeks but he just didn't want to come home. On the day when he cried both before school and when I went to collect him, I gave up. He just enjoyed being at school and hated missing out on a playtime with his friends!

Children start formal education way too early in this country - this is not just my opinion, check out the evidence:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence

My summer-born DS attended a Reggio Emilia 'Small School' for 3 years from reception age. He started at his current, more traditional school in year 3. He is now in year 5 and doing very well. He is not "behind" because he was totally ready to learn by the time he started more formal education. I am completely opposed to the school curriculum in this country, which starts too early and is narrow and boring. It's no wonder we have a nation of anxious, stressed and miserable teenagers.