rules on acceptance age

[sarahsyrup]

Called village pre-school to ask when ds1 could begin. They take children the term after their second birthday, pre-school manager said. Fine. He is 2 during the easter holidays. April 12th.

She said, well it's a bit of a funny one isn't it. I said 'I don't know is it?' ie: you can either take him or not. Then she said, no you'll have to wait till September. But to me the term after you are two, would be the summer term? I just said fine and left it. They have plenty of space, as it's a very under subscribed rural community. So it's not a question of not being able to squeeze him in.

Now I'm wondering if I can question her decision - in a nice way? Just because I know how much he'd love it, I'd love to get him going a couple of mornings a week.

I've looked online but cannot find much information on the hard and fast 'laws'. Who makes up the rules, is it just at the schools discretion.

Anyone have any experience of this, views/advice please.

Thanks,
Syrup

maybe bedause he'd only have a few weekd and then it'd be the summer holidays so might be harder for him to settle???

tenuous, i admit, but the only thing i can think of

I guess they're following the dates laid down for government funding (even though that doesn't start till 3), as shown here. According to these dates, if a child's birthday is on or after the 1st April then they don't qualify for funding till the autumn term. (DD was born on the 2nd April...)

However, as your DS is well below the cut-off for funding, I would imagine its the school's discretion. I'd ask them. They may be flexible but even if they're not at least you'll know.

I'd agree that they are using Jan 1, Apr 1, Sep 1 as cutoff points rather than when the term actually is (the summer term being dependent on Easter which moves every year).

My friend's DD has a birthday on April 1st and encountered the same issues.

Most pre-schools won't take children till 2.5 or 3 so I suspect the manager is not keen to take a child that is going to be that much younger for just a term.

My DS is starting pre-school when he turns 2 in April (unless I've misunderstood - I might ring to double-check), so some are more flexible than others I think.

thanks everyone. I'll call them and double check. But like you say, there isn't funded places till over 3 anyway, so it's probably somewhat discretionary.

Mmmm. Don't push it. He'd be the youngest in the 'class' - which might turn a positive starting attitude into bewilderment and frustration if he struggles to 'get it' and keep up/comply with expectations.

I see little to gain and much to lose.

Take him to a good toddler group where they do activities etc while you're just vaguely 'around' - so he gets used to following instructions, gets new skills etc. Given that it's spring, lots of nice things you can do outdoor too,