Starting school in September.....is your child going full or part time??

[icarriedawatermelon2]

I am really split about what to do. DS currently does 2 full days and 1 half day (Mon-Wed) as I work. He will cope well with 3 full days I am sure, but by the Thursday he is so tired.

Was thinking of all day Mon-Wed, home Thursday, school Friday......maybe.

Clearly have to go with what school suggest. Any thoughts about what you might do??

Really? Are you saying you have the option to go part time in reception - and pick the p/t hours? I haven't heard of this before.

Mine went mornings for 8 weeks in Scotland

Both mine went full time from day 1 in reception, but there wasn't any choice involved.

In my opinion 5 half days or 4 full consecutive days and miss Friday would be more logical than 3 full days, day off then full day.

Before you agonise on it I'd ask the school what their policy is.

Certainly ime I think they'll be expected to go all mornings. You may, in some schools, be able to choose that they do no afternoons or some afternoons-but you may not have a choice as to which ones they do. Some schools won't give you a choice at all.

You've also got the issue whether you're happy for them to be the only one going part time. I chose not to put ds on part time because he'd have been the only one. For some children/classes it won't be an issue, but I know my dsis' class the children who were kept part time for longer than the others were looked down as being "babies" most of the way through primary.

you have a choice then? we didnt. my DS1 started part time for two weeks then it was into full days. The part time stuff was a bit of a nightmare wrt working but my employers were sympathetic.

Full time from the start for ds same as it was for dd. He currently does tue, wed and thurs full days at pre-school and he is tired by the end of the week but not too bad. Starting school is exhorting for them, even part time hours regardless of how much nursery/pre-school they have done, school is just different, have known many a child who had done long full days at nursery five days a week from being a baby who were wiped out starting school. They do get used to it quite quickly and by first half term they will be taking things much more in their stride.

Some schools have staggered starts that build up the time they are at school and others, like our school find that it is just as effective and less disruptive to everyone to have them all start full days from the outset.
Most schools would be happy if a child was very tired for them to have to odd Friday off in the first half term but the kind of hours you talk about wouldn't go down well, it would be very disruptive to the whole class for children to be doing this kind of thing, can you imagine if all the children did different pattens of attendance, how would they ever get any full class learning done?
School is not like nursery where you can pick and choose the hours your child attends. You need to talk to the school about what their induction process entails and if it is more full on then you think your child can cope with you may want to consider doing mornings only for a few weeks or the first half term (most learning is done in the mornings) or even delaying your child starting school.
The best advice that can be given is to talk to the school and find out what works best, remember they have started many, many children at school and know what works and what doesn't.

I think we'll be offered a choice, too. I expect DS will be up to FT, I will drop an afternoon or two if he seems to be struggling.

No choice here, full time from day 1. Yes they're tired to start with, but make sure you go armed with snacks at pick up time and have early bedtimes for a few weeks and it will work itself out eventually.

Full time from day 2. I'm not too worried. She will be tired, I remember dd1 at this stage. But she'll get used to it and if she's really tired, I'll tell them she's sick and give her a duvet day. By Christmas she'll have got into the swing of things.
Me, on the other hand, absolute wreck, my baby is going to school. Trying to persuade dh we need another baby, he's not convinced.

FT from the start, I don't really agree with the part time starts especially if it is staggered due to age as I know friends that have experienced problems with their DC not making friends as easy as those who have started straight away in September and also they get upset having to go home at lunch time when others are staying in their class.

Yes, they are open to discussion about hours for the 1st term!

I'd just see how it goes. We didn't have any choice, but if Ds1 was particularly tired we just kept him off.
Ds2 is darting September and will do the same if he's too tired.