Am worried ds will be bored for the next 2 years before primary school.

[tracyk]

ds will be 5.5 before he can get to primary school - misses the cutoff by a week.
He goes to nursery 5 days till 3pm at the mo. His nursery class is a mixture of 3-5 yo's all on the top floor of an old house.
He always seeks out older children to play with - so all his friends so far will be going to primary in Aug this year.
I'm worried that he'll get bored being at nursery for another 2 years in the same floor - with the same people.
He can count to 20, knows his own name and surname and some other letters, dress himself and put his shoes on. Go to the toilet himself and shower himslef and brush his teeth.
Any positives for kids starting primary later?

He will be fine - children don't/shouldn't know the meaning of the word bored.

I don't understand why he will be 5.5, and not 4.5?

I thought they went to school before their 5th birday?

My DD is 3.6 (born Dec 2003) and she will be going to school Sept 2008, when she is 4.9

Do you work full time? If not, take him out of nursery 2 days a week and do stuff with him at home.

Agree with cazzybabs - children of that age shouldnt get bored

are you in england?

Are you in Scotland (which I think would explain the starting at 5.5)?

I don't understand either. My ds is the oldest in his year and he started school on his fifth birthday.

agree with heifer - he should be 4.5. The legal age for needing to be in school is the term after their 5th birthday so he should be starting school before he is 5.5.

But he will be fine. socially and emotionally there are lots of benefits to starting school later, it's much, much harder to be youngest in class.

The positives for starting school later - he will be ready socially, he will get less tired, he will be better able to listen and concentrate for longer, more play based learning will have increased his independence, his creativity and enthusaim for learning.

I think in Scotland the cut off date is March, but that children start in August, so if you were at the beginning of March you would be 5.5 when you start.

I'm fairly sure your ds is an Aoril 2004 baby like mine?
My ds will start in September 2008. he term after his 4th b/day. My sister in a different county has a ds born March 2004 and her ds will start January 2009 becaise there they start the term before the 5th b/day. Feels wierd that my ds is a few weeks younger than hers but will start school a whole term before hers!
We're not in Scotland though, can't remember if you are.

Idris is right - OP must be in Scoltand

could you find him a preschool place, for in the meantime?

Yes - am in Scotland. ds was 6th March and cutoff here is 28th Feb. So ds will be 5 in March and start in next term being Aug 09!
He's been going to nursery till 4.30pm the past few months as its been nice and dry (ish) and they get to play out in the gardens for an hour and a half. But will prob pick him up just after lunch in the winter brrrr.

Do we have preschool in Scotland? I think at his nursery the preschoolers mix in with the tweenies.
Do you think private schools let younger children in?

till 4.30?

Does your ds go to a private nursery for wrap around childcare rather than to a state school nursery?

Either way, this is common and he won't get bored - or certainly shouldn't, the staff should provide a changing stimulating range of activities.

The hard bit, like you say, is when you see his friends move on to school but he'll soon settle in with a new bunch.

Positives for boys - lots according to research (and this is Scottish research which assumes starting 4.5-5.5). The youngest boys in parituclar have been shown to often be behind theirpeers and this lasts on through high school. SO take some comfort in that. And LOTS of people in Scotland defer their children anyway so he prob won;t be oldest in class.

Yes Pointydog - its a private nursery. I don't think we have a state school nursery in our town.
I only leave him that late as he asks to stay and play in the gardens with his friends. He obv. prefers running around with them than going shopping with mummy!
He does fall asleep at 4.30pm on a Friday though - right through till 7 the next morning.

if you dont work I can't reiterate enough how nice it is to do less nursery rather than more

dd2 had reached the limit fo what her nursery could provide (in terms of reading and writing) and she benefitted in having more time with me doing stuff - parks, shopping trips, housework, gardneing etc

I do work - but freelance - so can make up my hours by working when ds goes to bed. I do intend to cut his hours when the weather isn't nice enough for them to get outside and play. But making the most of the nice (ha ha) weather just now and trying to do as many chargeable hours as poss - so that I can slack off later in the year.
Its just that he's only ever been in a 'room' for a year and a half and then moved onto a bigger boys 'room'. But he's at the top of the tree now and nowhere to move onto till 2009!

Certainly have a look at all your nursery education options - you don't sound particularly delighted with the nursery he's at just now (do you feel it's a little boring for him?)so you might want to look at fresh ideas at least for his pre-school year. Freelance nature of your work might allow you to consider other arrangements.

I think when children spend a lot of time in nursery they perhaps master certain skills quicker but the downside is that they often find it difficult to make fun for themselves and become engaged in activities which are not full on or adult led/initiated. I agree with other people on this thread who say children this age should really not know what it is to be bored...very sad. In my experience the older the child is when starting school the better, they are put into formal education very early as it is. If its possible (I know it isn't in alot of cases) have fewer nursery sessions, more time at home (or maybe with a childminder if this isn't possible) and more time pottering about, park, library, craft, swimming, sharing books, chatting etc...

My dds have autumn birthdays and I am really pleased that they will both get that extra year at home (though they will be doing 2 days a week with a childminder as i'm going back to wotk pt soon).