Staying at playgroup until primary school?

[car1sberg]

Hello,

Am after some opinions/advice please!

I have a son aged 3.5, he goes to a lovely local playgroup, 3 mornings. He is settled there now and everything is great. He will start primary school in Sep 2016 as is an October baby.

I am wondering whether to move him to a school nursery in September, so he can do a year there before starting primary school? Is it appropriate to stay at a playgroup right up until starting school at age 4.5, and skip school nursery, or will he have outgrown it by then and it may hold him back?

An important point I think, is that he won't be attending the primary school the nursery is attached to anyway, as we will be relocating in summer 2016 before he starts school, so he will be starting school in a new area (well old actually, as we're returning to our hometown after 2 years away). If he was I think I'd probably make the move to school nursery this September without second thought.

I'm really not sure what to do for the best? On one hand I want him to stay where he's happy and thriving, he has friends and loves it there, and he won't be going to school here anyway with the children from school nursery.. On the other hand I don't want him to be the oldest there, surrounded by 2-3 year olds and majorly out of his depth when he starts school?

Help! Thanks :)

It will depend very much on the culture of that particular Playgroup. Where I live, in some playgroups almost all the dc move for their Nursery year, so a)They won't have any peers, and will be considerably older than the other children and b) The staff won't be used to having to cater for a 4 yr old and he might get bored. OTOH, in other areas of the City, there are few school Nursery classes / Stand alone Nursery schools, and it's very normal for dc to stay on until they start school.

So I can't generalise. I would ask the staff at the playgroup how many dc usually stay with them.

As said, it's fine, as long as he's not the only one left behind.

I agree with backforgood have a long hard think about the play group - does it provide experiences like - having your own peg and keeping coat/bag etc on it, being 'helper of the day' at lunchtime/snack time, time for free play but also some basic structure like a circle time for 30 mins, do they have to participate in tidying up? You may well feel that it does offer some of these learning opportunities, but if not he might benefit from some school nursery time.