starting primary school

[nappyaddict]

ds is no where near this yet as he is only 6 months but i was flicking through his birth to 5 book yesterday and i read they don't have to go to school until the term following their 5th birthday and if a school offers you a place before the child is 5 you can defer until she is, but it must be in the same academic year. well take me for example. i am born in august. i had to go to school in the september (only 1 intake.) if mum had waited until the term after i was 5, it would not have been in the same academic year, so basically they are talking rubbish? if someone in this situation did wait would they go into yr 1 with the rest of the people their age or go into reception and be a yr older? i am asking cos my friend says she went to nursery until she was and then straight into yr 1.

I beleive that they would skip reception and go straight in to year one.

right, it is confusing...

My ds is august and he started in reception 3 weeks after his 4th birthday along with everyone else who had turned 4 since the previous september. You can delay them a year but they then go straigth into year 1 with the others who he would have been in reception with the previous year.

Yes indeed - he would skip Reception altogether.

The thing is though, I don't think a school needs to 'reserve' you a place if you aren't going to take it up from the start of Autumn term (September). So if the school you want is oversubscribed, you will risk not getting a place there at all.

DD is an August baby and went straight into Yr 1 at age 5, after nursery. We lived in a different authority then. Now we have moved, ds started Reception class at just 4 (July baby). I expressed some misgivings to the Head at the time and she said that if he found that all day 5 days a week was too much, we could negotiate part time for him. It wasn't necessary. They did lots of "learning through play" at his school - not a policy followed by all schools.

i think if they offer you a place in september but they have a jan or easter in take you can defer and you get a place then. what i don't get is if you don't have to go to school til the term following your 5th birthday it is the norm for them to start in actual fact the term before there 5th birthday .. madness!

why it is the norm

Do not know if this will help, but my son's birthday is in august. He started a school nursery the September after he was 3yrs. The nursery was just for 5 mornings a week. He then went into Reception Class the following september aged 4 years, doing all day. He then went into year 1 the nesxt september and is now in year 2, which he started last september. It doesn't seem to have done him any harm. In fact he is one of the top children in his class and that some children older than him in his class are not doing as well as him. My daughter is 3yrs old in a few days time and her name is down for the school nursery. She will start it in September and personally, I think she is ready for it.

I hate early starting at school, although my dd1 has thrived on it. It's the norm because the state want to get children into their care and away from their parents asap esp. these days when the aim if for both parents to work.

In dd1's class in reception there are four August children and they are all doing okay, although the two boys struggle a little.

It is basically down to a combination of how schools get funding (they typically can't just conjure up a reception tecaher for just one term a year to suit an April intake say), and the fact that children are grouped in school years together so you're always going to have some form of transition.

You should take some comfort from the fact that the reception year is part of the Foundation stage so is closer to preschool/nursery than to Key Stage 1 in many respects.

That said, as in fact class sizes are capped at 30, if you don't take up a recpetion place then you will have to take your chances with getting straight into Year 1. Legally there is nothing stopping an August born baby going straight into Year 1, but there are sufficient disadvantages that most parents choose to avoid doing so.

Yes, although I don't like dd1 starting school at 4 and a half (she's a February baby) I would have hated it more if she'd started Yr1 without doing Reception - there are 14 in her class and they have their own Early Years room, toilet and playground with lots of role playing toys. It's definitely a gentle introduction - I understand that Yr1 gets pretty intensive - the next class up from Reception combines yrs 1 and 2 at dd's school.

I think it's different in Scotland where they tend to start later. surely someone can put a kilt on this thread?