Experiences of flexi schooling / part time in reception?

[Whatsdoneisdoneisdone]

My ds will be due to start reception this year. He will only just be four.
I would like him to attend part time - probably mornings only. This is for several reasons.

1. he will be very young for his year group and being a boy will likely be less mature than many of his classmates.
2. he doesn't do well when there isn't much structure and generally there isn't much structure in the afternoons in reception year.
3. he is manic when tired and instead of sitting quietly he will likely just be naughty. Counter productive for him and the school.
4. I would like another year with him myself to continue some of the things he enjoys - forest school, gym, cooking etc

I know he may "cope" in reception as he won't be the only young one but I don't want him to just have to "cope." I want him to enjoy school not be pushed in too early and then give up. His fine motor isn't great but I think that will come with age. He has no interest in drawing or colouring but is starting to write some letters (including his name). I'm not concerned academically, it's more that I think it is a lot if hours and a lot of pressure and knowing my ds as I do I just don't think he's ready. If he is in six months time then all well and good but at the moment I don't think he is.

How open to part time or flexi schooling have people going schools to be? My understanding is that it is very much at the discretion of the school as to whether of not they agree, even though legally he doesn't have to attend until the following September (going straight into year 1).

Found schools to be, not going!

We did 3 afternoons off last term, 2 this. It has worked well. Sometimes forest school and other nice activities at school in aftetnoon .
G

Sorry meant , good luck, I posted too early.

You are right that some schools are not very flexible when it comes to part time even when the children are not yet at starting school age. They may have their own system but you are perfectly within your rights to request your child is part time if you want them to be. I think it would be better to choose a school that has a more flexible approach but even if they don't you can still do it. It is up to you as you are sending your child to school voluntary until the term after he is 5. You don't have to send him at all if you don't want to, you could delay starting school until later in reception which would be deferring entry or you could start him the year after either in Yr 1 or it is possible to go into reception and be one of the oldest. The other option is for you to wait until you think he's ready for school and home educate until then. I am doing this for my daughter, she is bright, i know she would not like school at the moment, she didn't like preschool at all so i took her out. She can learn all the things they do at school and more but like you say there's more freedom and no pressure and we have lots of fun so i wouldn't it to stop.

My DD was born end of August. I had similar worries. I did ask around at her school when DD was in nursery but no-one had ever done this. I didn't ask the head or teachers, I decided that I'd see how she went. If she was getting really tired then I would see then.

Anyway, she loves school and copes fabulously. She was a little tired first half term, but soon adjusted. She is really happy at school and has lots of friends. I worried that if I'd sent her part-time (if I was allowed!) or deferred then she'd have missed out on a lot including missing out on friendships.

I'd be worried sending her straight into Year1 when all the other kids have already made friends. Actually I think if she went part-time she'd be shouting at me that she wants to go in.

I do feel sad that if she'd been born just a week later I'd have her home with me doing the lovely things you describe though. I didn't think she was ready for school but I was very wrong!! She even asks in the holidays and counts the sleeps until she goes back. She sees it as playing with her friends with a bit of learning thrown in :)

Thank you.

I am happy to give ds a try and see how he goes but I feel I would like to know the school's stance on flexi schooling once I know for definite where he has got in. None of the school that are near to us seemed that keen on flexi schooling tbh. But I'm not sure really because I didn't push it much at the time.
Ds hates preschool. He cries every morning before he goes and asks how many sleeps it is until he has to go again. I don't want to force him into school too early and make him miserable. Four years old is very young to be miserable. Academically ds will be ok I think. It's the exhaustion and pressure that may be too much. In some ways he is quite immature for his age.

My ds is also August born and I have a group of friends I met post-natally whose dc are all July or August babies. We all ended up at different schools. I was very lucky in that ds's school were extremely flexible about part-time schooling for 4yos and were happy for them to do five mornings (as minimum) or full time or anywhere in between. All the other schools demanded full time or nothing, which lead to many of my friends deferring entry for their dc until January or April.

However, several people have since told me that from this academic year all schools are obliged to allow 4yos to attend part-time. I don't know how true this is but I've heard it from several sources so may be worth looking into before speaking to the school.

My ds did just mornings to start with but built up quite quickly as he was very keen to stay for lunch with his friends. He was definitely not ready for school when he started - however, his reception class was very gentle. They split the year in half by age so he was with the younger children and they also mixed with the pre-school class a lot. He left reception unable to read more than simple 3 letter words and still struggling to write, but is now in Y2 and reading/writing fine. He was just very young and not ready and I'm very grateful that he wasn't pushed.

AmyLR I don't think it's an option for an August born to start a year later and go into reception as one of the oldest, not in England anyway? I think it's a good option to do mornings only from Sept for a just-4 year old rather than starting after Christmas or Easter. In our area, we only moved to one Sept intake a couple of years ago. My elder DS therefore only started after Easter (now Y4). It was such a short time in Reception before he went to year one (especially once you include the first 4 weeks of the summer term where he only did part-days) That was more upsetting somehow than the idea of his younger brother starting YR when he's 4.1 this Sept.

Should add that my elder DS is a June birthday so went to school 2 months before he turned 5 (after Easter).

It is an option in England, just schools don't tell anyone this, most do not want it to happen but if a parent requests it some will allow it. Local Authorities are a bit trickier though, even when a school is happy about it they can make it very hard for parents but some have still done it. Not sure if i post the link to the group on here but google flexible admissions summer born and you will find it, there are some success stories on there. I think schools are going to have to start being much more flexible, there are so many parents now requesting it and not just accepting what the schools say goes that they are going to have to be. Schools are already obliged to allow part time for 4yo if the parent insists they have to let them but that doesn't meant they will say it when a parent first asks, some schools will do what they can not to and some parents just accept that. These schools are not honest and they look after themselves first, not the children.

Amy, as i said on another thrad, a few parents have managed to engineer this for particular children - often SEN - in particular schools - often undersubscribed ones. However, my understanding is that it is not something that schools are obliged by law to do, nor that a parent can force a school or LEA to do.

Schools ARE obliged to offer part time for 4 YOs - that is the law.

My understanding is that they are not obliged to allow summer born children to start in Reception in the September after their 5th birthday - it may occasionally happen (I have taught a very SEN, statemented child out of year) but it is not the law that it must be allowed.

I was hoping they would let him attend mornings only for the first term and then maybe two full days and three mornings, working up to full time. I really cannot see what he will get out of the afternoons as I know he will be shattered and then naughty and miserable. He is also easily disheartened and lacks confidence. I'm worried if too much pressure is put on him he will just give up.
Academically he has quite a few of the skills he would learn in reception already - but he does lack the independence and social skills. He seems much younger than my best friend's October born girl. Not as independent, not as robust, not as confident.

I would rather send him part time than defer him but I will consider deferring until January if the school really dig their heels in over part time.

teacher are they definitely obliged to offer part time? The advice on the Internet is very mixed.

And as a teacher, I would say that despite the worries some parents may have about their summer-born children:

• Much of the historical disadvantage of being summer born was based on staggered entry. So at the end of Reception, the autumn-born children had had 3 terms in school - and were assessed somewhat higher on average than summer borns - who had had 1 term in school. The length of time in school probably had much more of an impact that the actual age of the child.

• As children progress through school, the difference in age becomes less marked very, very fast. In my Year 3 class, I could not have told you who was summer-born, and all ability groups had the full range of birthdays.

• Other variations between children - in terms of aptitudes, learning needs, parental support - have at least as much, if not much more, impact on their learning and progress than their month of birth.

At the moment ds does not have great fine motor. He has no interest in drawing although is attempting to write and can write his own name. He can't get himself dressed and sits and cries if pushed. If he wasn't starting until he was four and a half I wouldn't be concerned but he will only just be four.
He is fussy in the extreme to the point of being phobic about food and gets very easily frustrated. Noise and chaotic situations overwhelm him. I do wonder if he is the high functioning end of the autistic spectrum.

Academically he can add and takeaway to 10 using a number line, count and order numbers to 20, recognise numbers to 100, knows shapes etc. he has all his letter sounds and names and can read CVC words by blending.

Whatisdone,

Tbh, you could almost be describing my DS (though he started school at 4 years 9 months).

For DS, he was - and remains - at the high functioning end of the autistic spectrum. His difficulties were not a function of age, nor a symptom of 'non school readiness', in fact intellectually he was extremely ready for school (could read fluently).

You have me doubting myself about part time attendance until the age of 5 now..... I have not worked in a school where it has not been possible to attend part time IYSWIM (though the children who took this up did very quickly choose to become full time) but I am having moments of doubt about the legal position. Apologies if I have misinformed you - will go off and look it up!

Example of a page stating that parents have a right to request part-time until the child turns 5:

www.norfolk.gov.uk/Childrens_services/Schools/School_admissions/Admission_to_reception_classes/index.htm

Some of the earlier advice here is simply wrong.

You can defer entry until the term after a child turns 5, but if this means starting in the September term it will be Year 1, bypassing reception. Deferring Reception for a year and starting school out of age cohort rarely happens, and then only in cases of overwhelming SEN.

It is true that before the age of 5, schooling is not compulsory, but if you enrol a child in school then, then the school will expect regulate attendance. To judge by MN threads, though, many schools are happy to agree to mornings- only or other flexibility for the youngest reception children.

Dd did part time in reception until after Easter as she is a February birthday. For her she did 5 mornings initially and then a couple of afternoons as we moved towards Easter. TBF the HT would have preferred ft attendance but dd has SEN and has a statement and the LEA were happy for me to choose (because it saved them money) when she attended and the HT had to suck it up.
It worked well for dd as we continued a home based programme at home when she wasn't in school and because it was a foundation unit she left when the nursery aged children left so it didn't mark her out as different as poeple assumed she was youner than she actually was.

Should have added that she had previously attended the same foundation unit as a nursery child doing 2 or 3 mornings per week as well.

Parents have thhe right to defer their child's start in Reception. But they must start in Reception; if they do not, they will need to reapply for a place for the following September (year 1), and outside the main admissions rounds your choice of schools may be reduced.

You have the right to request part-time attendance, but this is at the school's discretion.

Although there is no absolute legal bar to children being out of their year group (it can happen for eg children with SEN, or multiples born either side of midnight of the qualifying date); it is universal policy that children do indeed stay in their age cohort.

This report from 2007 (When you are born matters) is quite interesting..

I should add my DD hated nursery. I had terrible trouble getting her there. Sometimes I had to carry her in under my arm and sometimes the TA had to come out to the playground to get her. I even went in to see the Reception teachers to tell them I was worried how I was going to get her in and in her uniform!! I don't understand why there is the difference and why we have none of these problems now!!

Also your DS sounds more advanced than my June born DS was when he started reception. I know it varies between schools but my DS spent pretty much all day everyday in Reception building models in the construction area. It really was learning through play!!

I don't know about what happens until they're 5 but once they turn 5, things are changing. You used to be able to flexischool at the discretion of the Head (nothing to do with the LEA) but there are changes being made right now which mean that it may possibly be illegal to flexi. Even if not actually illegal (it's hard to tell as this is all very new!) then they're changing the funding which means that most Heads are likely to refuse it. Some Heads are turning a blind eye to the changes but still...