Summer born twins - school part time?

[LilMagpie]

My twins are July babies but were due at the end of August. They are due to start reception in September. Everything in my gut is screaming at me that they’re not ready. They still have huge tantrums/meltdowns when they’re tired, twin 2 has accidents nearly every day. They are generally very “babyish” compared to other children their age. At pre-school they don’t actively join in on activities. I’m told they “observe”.
They’re extremely quiet, introverted kids who pretty much blank anyone who is new to them and haven’t really made any friends, although they do talk about other children at preschool. They only go in 3 days a week, but they are completely exhausted by this to the point weekends are quite often a write off.
I blame myself for this a bit… we couldn’t afford childcare for them until we had funded hours at age 3, so the preschool setting is still relatively new to them and there is a huge gulf of difference between them and other summer born kids who have been going since age 2 or before.

At home, they are quite academic in some ways. Twin 2 just did a brand new 59 piece puzzle on his own. Twin 1 can do basic multiplication and subtraction. Both have a keen interest in books, although they’re not remotely interested learning to read/write themselves.

My worry is that they won’t have the stamina for school. I’m worried they simply will not be capable of sitting at a table for long periods and learning, which will then mean they are incorrectly labelled as kids who don’t listen and that this impact their self esteem. I’ve read research on the impact of being a summer born kid and it’s sobering.

We’ve weighed up a few options, including deferring a year, starting in the Winter or Summer term or going in part time for the first term or two. I think we’ve ruled out the former options - they already have other kids they are familiar with starting in September so socially I think it would benefit them to start at the same time. We are considering sending them in 4 days a week (assuming the school allow this?). We think an extra day of rest a week at home will help them get the most out of the days they are there.

Has anyone done this and been happy with this decision? Or maybe regretted it? Or regretted not doing it?

I’d appreciate your thoughts!

Thank you ☺️

Thanks, I’ll double check this. But from what I remember when we looked into this earlier this year, the advice was to secure a school place for this year and then go through a process to defer it once the place was confirmed

My daughter is starting school in September aged 4y3w. I would have sent her at Christmas if I could! She skipped a room at nursery when she was 2 and from 2.5 she did the odd afternoon during school holidays when there were fewer kids in (probably 3 times in total) in the preschool room and the staff said she would have been happy there full time.

I have absolutely no concerns about her starting school. If my daughter was struggling like you described I would be deferring her entry. Either keeping them in nursery preschool or finding a more structured preschool

I think deferring makes more sense than part time. Part time will be tricky.

As a former EYFS teacher don't send them part time, it's the worst of all the options. Defer them until next year.

I totally agree that they may just be 3. It's just one to have on your radar and it sounds like you do.

FWIW it was more the combination of meltdowns + "observer" behaviour + the academic skills (being able to multiply numbers at 3 while being socially behind) not just the meltdowns when tired. But you'll be well equipped to spot signs as you're autistic yourself.

Ring council admissions unit on Tuesday and the pre school and see where you are. You really do need to know what's actually feasible/possible here (especially with two places in the same institution/class) before putting a lot more thought and effort in. There's only a couple more months to get decisions given the fast approaching summer break.

I just realised I meant to write addition, not multiplication 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣. They are pretty smart with maths, but not doing multiplication yet haha.

😂

I was very impressed!

Thanks. I will do.
Funnily enough I wrote a similar post on a Facebook group last September, and got a load of comments saying I should wait and see where they were at when we got our school place confirmed. Now that we’ve waiting it suddenly feels like there’s a chance it might be too late 😫

This is not correct. You can still apply to send them to reception at 5 now. The request cannot be denied just on the basis of not making the request the year before, the law is clear about this. The thing is usually the time for requests is over the first autumn term, I think you're unlikely to get approvals now before then because it's nearly the summer holidays and in some places it can take months to get the request agreed in writing. It depends where you live how quick/easy the process will be.

Sorry @LilMagpie , I meant the post you were responding to was incorrect! For some reason it didn't come through when I quoted.

You can't 'hold on' to a place and defer that to next year though. You have to reapply for the year that you want them to go, but you need written agreement first that they will go into reception before you apply.