Very young DD due to start in September

[blueberryboybait]

My DD1 is 4 3 days before term starts, she is very very academically able and will not have any issues with that but emotionally she is still very much 3, nursery have expressed concerns about her emotional maturity and her ability to cope with reception on that level, saying they thing another year at nursery will do her the world of good and improve her chances on not floundering at school.

Does anyone know what the rules are regarding attending part time until she is 5? There is no way she will cope with 5 full days from the start, We would like her to do either 3 full days or 4 mornings initially increasing again in January and aiming for full time by Easter. I know she will miss out on some school things if she is not full time but I would rather risk that than have her retreat into her shell.

TIA

She only needs (assuming you are in England?) to be in full time school from the term after her fifth birthday - so technically not until year one.

My DD is also a summer born (5 next week) and although socially she has been fine, I was a bit concerned physically. She does a half day on fridays.

My friend has an August born boy whom she kept on half days for the whole of reception.

Have you talked to the school? My DD3 is in a similar situation, and I have discussed this with her reception teacher. We have decided together that DD3 will start school full-time, but we'll see how it goes. The teacher has also said to me that if there are weeks where I feel that DD3 would benefit from going home early on a Friday, for example, just to let her know and that will be fine.

AFAIK, she does not have to attend school at all legally until the term after she turns 5, but she would then go straight into Yr 1 rather than reception.

Just speak to teachers see what they suggest and/or what strateogies they have in place for such situations. As everyone says you can defer til yr 1 if u want but always worth keeping options open and speaking to teachers :)

Yes, we are UK based. School is only just starting contact now, we are meeting the teacher next week for a home visit and I know she met with DD's keyworker this morning so hopefully they would have filled her in on our meeting last week. I just want to be sure we are legally allowed to request it before approaching the school. I know the school used to do 2 intakes and the first half term was half days but now it is full time from day 1.

Skipping reception and starting in year 1 wouldn't be possible as we would need to refuse our reception place and re apply for an in year place for yr 1 the current waiting list for places is 23 children long!

At the school where I teach, we've had a number of children start Reception in January this year instead of September. There are also 5 or 6 children in Y1 who didn't take up their Reception place until July last year... there are lots of options out there. Good luck with the home visit, I'm sure you'll find that part-time attendance will be supported and that the teachers will be able to reassure you that they are completely used to making such arrangements work for the children.