dileemma........

[mummy115]

i have to decide if my son goes fuull days in oct or to keep him on morns till jan..hes 5 in april.id like to wait till aft xmas as he shouldnt even start till 5 so i resent him going full days so young.the teacher says il be holding him back so im torn.he hated preschool but has settled nicely at school but they always used to start after xmas didnt they?also i was thinking of bringing him home for lunch as im 5mins away so he can see me and his younger brother and break up the long day but they are frowning on that too saying hel not bond with his friends.any opinions....

He'll be fine. Let him go full days and stay for lunch. DSs school aim to have all children full time by the first half term break - even the summer ones - unless they need extra time to settle which, from what you say your son doesn't.

Is he by any chance your Precious First Born child? I know I didn't want DS1 to go to school full time - he was still my baby

I think you should just let him do the full days in school so he is the same as his classmates, there are kids in dd reception class younger than your son doing full days.

I didn't want my dd to go to school full-time either, she started last September and her 5th birthday was the following May. She was more than ready though, and absolutely thrived.

If he's settling in well then I think the teacher is right - leaving him on half days will hold him back. Maybe not so much academically, but emotionally and in terms of making friends it might be difficult for him. It will certainly make him stand out from the rest of the class, which may be isolating for him.

He won't be the youngest in his class by several months - but even the youngest ones are generally fine to start full-time in the Autumn.

at our school kids who's birthdays are before end feb start in Sept .. those who's are between March and end August start in January

if all kids start at the same time and you take him out you're probably doing him a big disservice especially if he's not doing exactly the same as other children who are all settling at the same time .. he'll be the kid who wasn't there

DS started full time school when he was 4 and 7 months .. your DS will be 4 years and 6 months

I agree with it being PFB syndrome

ds's in reception - his school does not give you that option - something about funding. there are lots of children in his class not five till next summer that have been doing full-time since beg. sept. has he mentioned wanting to come home at lunchtimes? if hes settling in nicely cant think why you would want to bring him home and suddenly make his routine different to that of his peers.? ds says school dinners are better than mine thanks lol. the whole school experience for him has been so exciting he cant wait to go back tomorrow - long many it continue. i do feel that it has helped that i am so over positive about every thing to do with school.

At dd's school all the children went full time from the beginning. (optional half days for the first 3 days)

They all seem fine. To be honest I think that if only one or two children were part time and the rest were full time they would feel a bit left out.

DD's school is same as post below. All go FT from September (did PT for first week). All seem fine now. Was tiring for first couple of weeks, but seem to have settled now. DD is also not 5 until April and in our state system wouldn't have started at all til January, but she has been perfectly fine and loving it.

yes he is my first born.if i start him in oct id want him home for lunch as 9 till 33o is too long and he said hed like to come home as i gave him the option of that or packup.itd break up his day abit but id always let him know he can stay with his friends if he wanted to.

If you are determined to bring him home for lunch then just send him half days, that way he'll feel less left out than if he goes back after they've all been playing together. tbh I think initially the less structured parts of the day are actually more important as they are more child initiated than teacher led. dd wasn't 5 until August and went full days from day 1 at just 4 !

If he's settled let him stay all day, really what are you go to do in three hours ?
This is from somebody who wants to home ed half the time, I bloody hate schools.

9 - 3.30 feels too long to you, but you'd be surprised at how easily they take to it. Yes, they get tired - but in Reception the time is full of laughing, friendships, socialising and fun, and that's more important than the academic parts of it. He will be missing out on eating with the other children, he will be missing out on two out of three playtimes so may find it hard to make friends when other children are together for so much longer. My concern would be that you will be making him into an outsider at the very time when he should be making friendships and establishing himself in the class.

My dd started half days in september and isnt 5 until august 6 next year ,she will do full days after half term and i dont feel at all worried . Has your son settled in well so far? if he is going to be the only child left doing half days then i would imagine it might make him feel different. Also see how he goes ,when my son was in recetion year ,a couple of time i kept him off on a friday and monday to give him a cuople of shorter weeks when it was obvious he was shattered ,he is a july birthday so another young one . The school was quite happy for me to do this and as i said it was only a cuople of times .

seen teacher ds is starting full days in oct but havin lunch at home to start with till he expresses interest to stay.havin thurs aft off for speech therapy.me happy son happy teacher happy.thanks for your help all of you.