Big school or continue with nursery/preschool

[momsthewordd]

Hello, my husband and I are facing a dilemma as to whether to send our son to big school next year or stay in nursery/preschool. For reference, his current nursery/preschool is all play based and the school he will be attending is American system.

We live abroad in the Middle East and are son is attending a lovely nursery/preschool that he has been in for the past year and a half. We have to decide if he will stay with the nursery, but move to their campus for slightly older children, or move on to the youngest year at the big school he will be attending. He will be 3 and turn 4 during the next school year.

Arguments we've heard for keeping him in nursery: if he is somewhere small and caring where he's comfortable, no point in moving him yet. Even if he moves campuses, it will feel the same/have familiar teachers (some teachers he knows are moving there) so he will still be comfortable.

Arguments for school: easier to move him now while he'll be in the youngest class and be "babied" (in a positive way) into big school and the transition. If you're going to move campuses with the nursery, might as well move to big school and go ahead and get settled in.

Any advice would be much appreciated! :)

I would 100% go with the one that is child-led and play-based. I went to American schools my whole life and I don’t think it’s a superior system in any way. It wouldn’t be my first choice for school generally, but definitely not at 3/4. He’s better staying in the most familiar environment (even with a new campus, it will be same kids, similar ethos) and having a play-based approach as long as possible.

Are you likely to be moving to a different country/school system while he's still in education? If so, it's worth thinking about what year he'd go into there.

If he was in England then the earliest he would start reception is the September after he turns 4 (still too young imo).

There is also lots of evidence that the oldest children in a year group do better over lots of metrics and that this effect lasts for the whole of their education (although it does get smaller).

I'd keep him in preschool for another year.

Presumably you mean he'll be in something like pre K but in a large school setting as opposed to a smaller site nursery? He's a long way off formal schooling in the American system so I'm sure it will all still be very play based but probably in a uniform and all in full time. I don't think it really matters which option you go with at that age as long as not everyone leaves the current nursery so he has no peers his own age. There's a huge turnover in schools in the ME so it's not a case of being left out if everyone starts at 3 and DS starts a year later. There will be other people have the same dilemma as you - some will move them and others won't. It can also be the case that an employer will pay for school from 3 but wouldn't pay for nursery despite them basically being the same at that age - that will drive some DC into school.

Thank you all for your advice! It's really helpful. We're going to do a tour of the new preschool campus and a tour of the school next week and see how we're feeling. Right now we're thinking that if the majority of the KG1 class in big school are coming from the preschool class in the school, we'll move him there so he moves up with them. If its a decent mix of kids coming in at that age and having been there already, then we'll keep him in his current preschool.

It's so tough deciding on something like this so much earlier than when it's actually happening! With a toddler, by the time next fall comes around they're like a whole new person, who know's what will be right for him then!

@mindutopia I know what you mean. I went to an American system as well. I love the discipline and community of the British system, but can't wrap my head around the test based focus for older kids.

@GiveMeVodkaPlease we're not planning on moving so this is most likely the school he'd stay in long term.

@kitchenhelprequired that's so true about the turnover. and the price is actually quite different! preschool is significantly less which will probably play a big role in the decision at the end.

I think for me it would depend on whether Arabic needs to be learned in the big school. If yes move them when they’re 3 as they are then more likely to become fluent. If not then it doesn’t matter.