uk -age child starts school-could we find a better way?

[mam29]

Wondered with so many posts about

advantages being oldest
disadvantages being youngest
scottish system being different so same arguments but different months of the year.
other countries not starting formal schooling until age 6/7
4does seem young and most las have one intake

why do we start so early?

I have a feb child whos middle i guess.
my middle dd is september and just missed a school year.
Another mum today asked me ohh you going to get her into school year early I said its near impossible.

system allows kids to defer but not move forward a year.
dh is 31st august and feels it was harder.
Im july and not sure had any bearing on how I did.

Also in dds class some of the youngest doing better academically than the middle age group in class.

I wish we had something like the Scottish system, with the ability to defer, based on dates. Having experienced both systems, as a pupil in GCSE/Higher years, I truly believe that the ability to defer is an excellent one. It also allows for DC's with SN's to repeat the year before their Highers, or even the first year of their Highers, as they can go down to the year below.

That extra year's maturity really helped some students. I think it is just a superior system!

In the far east and europe children in many countries do not start their formal education until age 6 or 7 years. The children from these countries do not lag behind but quickly catch up and overtake.

Also there was a huge educational review commissioned I think by the previous government, where the boffins very strongly advised postponing UK start age to 6 years - this didnt fit with the governments plans so they completely ignored the experts whose advice they had sought!!!

Have you noticed that as the UK school starting age becomes lower, so do the overall educational standards in the country?

I think they could make school starting age the same, but it should be more nursery style for the whole of Reception and possibly Year 1. I agree that maturity changes a lot between 4 and 6.

We should have a stage, not age, approach to education and class sizes shoukd not be decided by the max number an army officer can control!

When my dc started (age 6 and 7) they all ad to do a test to see if they were ready for scool, just a simple little developmental test. Can thy recognise certsin pictures, balance on 1 leg, etc.

Also the parents had the option to defer or ever put child in early if they considered dc ready. Much better approach.

A fixed date is unfair and not all all in the interests of the chid imo

Stage not age is good in theory but where do you draw the line?
Early in my career I taught in a school that organised by vertical grouping so there were 4-11 year olds in the reception class which did no one any good.

There are many many advantages to starting formal education when a child is 6-7, they do far better and have a lot less testing at a young age.

Why can't we just have nursery play school until 6-7 in England, just like kindergarden in Europe

We do have learning through play until age 6 (and beyond) in England

Yeah, but why do the learning bit, that could wait until 6. The kids are geared to learn themselves at their own rate before then.

because to prevent a child from learning you would have to shut them in a dark empty cupboard and never speak to them

and even then they would learn because they are predisposed to do just that.

come off it mrz you know fine well what is being said, there is no need to put children as young as 4 at a table and tell them to listen carefully, all do the same thing at the same time, all do letter a at the same time on the same day.
children will learn whatever you do, but why oh why do you the teacher have to be the one saying what will be learnt today.

Our early years are mostly playing anyway so i don't see the issue.

In some other countries where apparently the children starts older, they are actually in kindergarten or equivalent and are learning sounds etc the same children in England do in reception.

bebanjo actually it's a very long time since I have seen young sitting at tables all doing the same thing at the same time (certainly not in this century)

That's what i was thinking mrz.

PooPooOnMars,
I think what is up for discussion is our attitude towards 4-6 year olds. Should they have more freedom than in Reception class? Is there any need for them to learn phonics, to learn to write letters, to try to go through some of these hurdles that some of them are not suited to at this young age. Would they be better off outside for more of the day, with higher ratios of staff to children?

I much prefer the Scottish system. The youngest a child can start school here is 4 years 6 months. A parent can chose if a child has a Jan or Feb birthday to defer them and have another year at nursery. Many parents chose this.

DD1 is a July birthday so went to school at 5.1 years and struggled a bit with the whole school set up, I am so thankful we moved to Scotland as how she would have coped a year earlier I don't know. DD2 went at 4.7 years but she was more than ready, DD3 will go at 5.1 years next year, DS will be 5.3 years.

Tgger. Some might not be suited to learning to write yet but some are not suited to running around outside loads either. My own dc is happiest sat drawing and writing.

So's mine, but why shouldn't you have the choice?

Tgger what is your experience of reception?

Neither me nor ds noticed much difference between nursery and reception. He struggled much more with the transition to yr1.

I think its very balanced actually. They are not sitting at a desk all day. I don't know where that idea comes from. They spend the majority of their day in reception playing, painting, running around. There is choice.

DS was in Reception last year, I went in as a parent helper on occasion. Mostly I think it's fab. I just felt sorry for some of the younger boys in particular who were struggling to behave as expected, when if they had been in a setting with a higher staff to child ratio and expectations had been different then they wouldn't have struggled.

so there is no list of things children need to know, there is no lesson planning, sorry for the misunderstanding i was under the impression that most of our teachers spent a lot of time planning there lessons, having a learning objective and some teachers keeping children in at break to finish work.
are you saying this is not so?

Why do children have to learn to read at such a young age? Phonics, letters etc? Some of them in England are barely 4myears old when they start with that. Here in Switzerland people are usually shocked at the idea of trying to teach such a young child to read, and say 'don't you think young children should play?' they find the British system almost cruel to the children!