3 year old august born twins starting school in September

[busbybabe1]

Hi. Having been quite blasé I am now terrified of my two month prem twins starting school this September. Delay isn't an option, that ship has sailed, so now i need to focus on getting them ready.

The positives, they recognise their own names, letters and numbers. Are starting to count properly and sequentially count to 20. Have started trying to write. They never stop talking. Love books and stories. Are pretty much potty trained except at night. Getting a lot better at sharing and taking turns.

The negatives. They can't dress themselves at all, and have the attention spans of goldfish. One goes to Sunday school and seems behind his peers in terms of sitting down listening and following instructions, and he is my more 'forward' one ifykwim.

Any thoughts? I so want school to be a positive experience for them from day one. They go to a childminders and nursery, both seem pretty happy with them.

[namechangedtoday15]

Hi, my twins were not August born (they were April) but they were 27 weekers (due at the end of July) so still a worry.

I agree with previous posts in that you’ll be gobsmacked at the range of emotional maturity of the children – the oldest girl (born 1st September) in my twins’ year clung to her mother’s legs at drop off until Christmas. It depends on such a lot of factors – whether they’ve been to nursery, whether they’re confident / sociable children and whether they’re positive about it. I think that’s as much about your approach to it as it is theirs. If you promote how great it’ll be, how exciting, but reassuring them that you’ll be there etc, I’m sure they’ll be fine. I agree that it is definitely about emotional development rather than academic development.

I’d suggest walking to school if you can, so you can hold their hands on the way and chat (without having to concentrate on driving), if you work, consider changing your hours / taking time off for a couple of weeks so you’re there for every drop off and collection – not so they’re reassured, but so you make friends with the other mums and see the children. Arrange a couple of play dates if you can in the run up to starting school (we had a few settling in sessions where the mums all swapped contact details).

And keep everything else – weekends and after school for the first couple of months – low key. They will be shattered. My twins were used to doing 3 fairly long days at nursery (8-5.30pm) but they were more tired by the 9-3 school day.

They’re now in Year 6 and my stress is about them going to secondary school this September !

[ceeveebee]

insancerre Thank you for that very useful list

Busbybabe My twins are 4yo, November born, and although DD is more mature, DS doesn't sound dissimilar in terms of development - he has only just started to go to the toilet independently and can't dress himself (can undress though and does frequently in the wrong places) and was kicked out of swimming classes after only one lesson for failure to follow instructions. Also has a very restricted diet so god knows what he will eat at school. A lot can change in 9 months (so I keep telling myself...)

[BadDoGooder]

Thank you so much for starting this thread OP!
DS is a May baby, so not youngest, but I was worrying (secretly) that he might not be ready for school in Sept. He seems so young still!
But hearing where everyone else's 3 year old is, emotionally, physically and in terms of education, has really put my mind at rest.
He can do colours, shapes, counting and is currently obsessed with learning how to tell the time! He is 100% toilet trained, can dress himself a little and the attention span thing I think I will start work on!
Phew...mind at ease!

[Bumpsadaisie]

Just to say everyone that they grow up a LOT between 3 and 4. September is a long time away, in child development terms!

[Santaschiefelf]

My ds will be 4 at the end of July ( but was due in October). He stills wears nappies (NOTHING has worked so far with regards to changing this), recognises no colours, shapes or numbers, can count to 10 but can't count objects, can take off coat & shoes but can't put anything back on. He is a sociable child & has happily attended 3 days at nursery for the past 18 months however I feel he is so much more like a younger child & much prefers to play with the younger ones. Watching him try to interact with the kids in his 'correct year group' is just painful. We have decided it's not in his best interests to go to school this year therefore he will have an extra year at nursery to mature regardless of the outcome of our application to the LEA.

I know this is not a popular opinion on MN & I await the negativity! However the reason I posted was to say to Busby that your twins sound great but don't give up hope if you do want to delay them/keep your options open. Are you on the Facebook group? There is a lady who regularly posts on there who works for TAMBA & has helped many sets of twins to delay school start. In fact I think she said recently that all the sets of twins that she has worked with have successfully delayed.

[busbybabe1]

No negativity here santaschiefelf, you know what's right for your little one. I just gut feel that for mine another year is too late, they will be climbing the walls. Maybe a January start might be better but don't think they do that in my lea (which notoriously plays serious hard ball), and then I worry about them settling once others are already there. I have a parents evening at nursery on Thursday. Let's see what they say. Noises to date have been pretty positive.

[Santaschiefelf]

Legally I'm pretty certain you can start summerborns in January or April & they are entitled to do part time for as long as you wish until they reach CSA. School & LEA may tell you otherwise but research it carefully & stand your ground as I'm pretty certain these are your decisions to make whereas delaying a whole year is still bit of a grey area.

[insancerre]

ceeveebee
you are welcome :)
just to put your minds at rest, most good preschools will have identified the summer bors and be working extra hard at making sure they are school ready
summer borns are any child born between 1st april and 31st august
ive just delivered training to my team on meeting the needs of vulnerable children and we have already identified those summer borns who will be going to school in sep 2017
by vulnerable, we just mean those at risk of not meeting the early learning goals at the end of reception, not vulnerable in a child protection sense