January or September start, summerborns - which choice do I make?

[sleepingbunny]

Hi. Wondered if anyone had any thoughts. My dd is in a school nursery, and has a January birthday. They're already asking us whether we would want her to start Reception Sept or January and have sent a fairly pressurey letter indicating that they want all summerborns to start in Jan (not that we're even sure we've got the place yet, but they still seem to want to know NOW)
I've no problem with that (dd is mid-July, so certainly not on the cusp) except that I'm pretty sure most people will want their children to start Sept, and I don't want dd to feel she is strange and 'on her own', when she does start.Nor do I want her to feel she is always bottom of the class because she started later.
I should stress that she's pretty articulate (but don't we all think that about our kids?) knows her phonic sounds, can read a few CVC words, and can dress and undress herself, go to the loo etc without any problems. Has settled fine and most of her friends are older and will go up with first intake. We've no axe to grind about her starting Jan (in fact it would be more convenient to leave her in the school nursery until then from a childcare point of view) but some people suggest she will never catch up if we wait. The school also has a one and a half class intake, so i don't want her to automatically end up in a 'bottom' class just because she has a january start. Any thoughts appreciated.

My Oct born DS started in Sep, my Aug born DD in Jan. Having more to cram into 2 terms rather than 3 has proved beneficial to DD, they work at a faster pace. DS was bored.

Oh and our school has a 45 intake, and is streamed from Y1. DS is now a Y2 in a Y2/3 split, with 8 children being from Y2. 3 of the 8 are summer born, from the Jan Reception intake.

thanks. Lots to think about!

dd has a late Aug birthday. She was also in many ways quite young for her age. She started in September and settled into a friendship which 3 years later is still going strong. For her, as she is quite shy, there is no way she could have gone into a class where there were established friendship groups and made her mark.

She has always held her own in terms of attainment and indeed, I think she might have felt bad starting where others were already ahead of her and in her head she would have struggled with this.

I'd ask for a September place and if she struggles then I'd take her out and start again in January.

My DD is late July birthday - we weren't given a choice, all teh children started in September. She was totally ready for school and thoroughly enjoyed it from day one. I think it does depend alot on the child, but I think it might be hard if only a few started in january and had to mix with an established group of children

If the OP's school has a 45 intake ( 1 and a half classes per year ) like ours, there is no issue with Jan intake and established groups of friends in the Sept intake, as the Sept intake is a different class of 22/23 children, and the Jan intake another class of 22/23. They mix up when they get into Y1, so some children will still be with their good friends and others won't, irrespective of which Reception class they were in.

......so in other words, DD is in a Jan intake and is in a class of 22 children who all started in Jan, so there were no established groups of friends in her class

thanks again for more thoughts. The trouble is, of course, that there probably won't be 22 children in the january intake - most parents, when given the choice are likely to choose the Sept (especially those with kids in a private nursery rather than state preschool) for cost reasons, or because of fears that their kids will be left behind - no matter the school's prompting. I fear this may end up being no choice at all.

Taffetacat - that was not the case in DD2's school. There were more younger than older children that year, so only 15 started in September. So when the remaining 30 joined, 7 joined the class woth the older children, and the remaining 23 were in a second class.

In yr1, the original 15 were in a yr1 / 2 split class, and the remainder of the year in a yr1 only class.

makes no difference in terms of ability etc when they start. Friendship groups shift a lot in the first few terms. My DS is a July baby, started this Jan in Reception. Was right for him and for us too. IMO, the longer we can postpone formal schooling the better!

My daughter is an august Birthday, she was in the Januay intake, we had n choice. She is my third child. I have noticed a difference in all my children's classes between the children who started in September and the ones who started in January. In general the ones in the September intake were the confident ones in the class, the ones who got selected by the teachers for speaking roles and the higher achieving. I don't think this is just that they are older, I think that the dynamics of the classroom have a big effect. When the January intake start the older children are already settled and confident and the younger children assume a more subservient role in the clasroom, in general. I'm really against two intakes a year. My daughter is in year 3 now she sits on the top table with the older kids, but is only now gaining confidence.

My late July born DS started at Easter, we didn't have a choice then. I would recommend starting in September - girls are normally more developmentally advanced and 'school ready' and, as others say, if you find it's a mistake she doesn't actually have to be in school until September 2012.

Independent schools normally start the whole year cohort in September.

My daughter has a july birthday and was only given the option of starting in September.

For the first term you could pick out the kids who started in January as the Sept kids had really bonded and seemed just that little bit more confident. But by the end of reception the new intake had completely blended in. Workwise they had caught up with what the September intake had done. My daughter was in a reading group with children who were 5 and a half when she wasn't even 5 yet.