Starting Primary school one year earlier than normal age.

[bobthemoggie]

Hi Lovely Supportive fellow parents,

Any experience, in the UK Public school, of starting the Reception class one year earlier than normal schooling age?

As per Local Council's policies, It seems that it's possible to start school either one year earlier or one year later than normal schooling age.

But I would like to find out the admission procedure in this case.

Cheers

By public, do you mean private? ( In England, public schools are private and therefore not subject to Local authority policy. So each public school will have its own admissions policy).

I have never heard of anyone starting Reception class a year early in a local authority controlled school, if it does happen it is certainly very unusual!

Why would you want to put your child under that much pressure on any level? They would be so much smaller than the other children for a start!

They start school in England early as it is as they can start from literally just after they turn 4. In Scotland they are a minimum of 4y 6m but can be deferred 1 year so can be a year older than that too

I would never ever ever do it. I had a son who aged 4 was well ahead of the National Curricum (reading age of 10+ and could do Y2 maths with ease). But it would have been a disaster to push him up. The first thing is that kids will catch up. He’s still ahead of his peers but the gap will narrow. And when it does narrow the fact that he’s a year behind in age will become significant. Why would you deliberately put him at a disadvantage? The reality is that if he’s quite this bright then staying with his cohort will mean that he will out perform them but the brightest in the cohort ahead will have a year on him and at some point that will tell.

Starting Reception early is very unusual in state sector, although now that Early Years are often combined there may be flexibility between Nursery and Reception targets. You can defer a year for post April birthdays in England , although there are hoops to jump through, and it is more common in Scotland.

As PP have said- do you mean state or public?

What age are you wanting to start? When is your child’s birthday?

We independently educate and our littlest DD is starting foundation (pre-school) in February when she officially isn't old enough until September. She isn't going up a year though, she will join her class year next year.

Massively outdated but I started school a year early (late 80's though so no idea if it's still possible) and was quite happy. I then came out at the end of either Y1 or Y2 and was home schooled for a year (not really sure much happened in the way of schooling to be honest though) and went back into the same school but in the 'correct' year group for my age. I don't really remember it so I don't think it did any damage necessarily but I wouldn't do it for my DC.

It was a normal state school (rough 'inner city' London) and I've no idea why I went early, I think I was probably advanced for my age but certainly not ridiculously so

Why would you want to send a 3 year old to school?
Surely all the behavioural stuff - queuing for lunch, surviving the playground, sitting through assembly - would be too much for them even if the learning wasn’t.

I do know someone who did this - very able September born girl, and it was at the YR teacher’s suggestion (from seeing her in nursery) so it clearly is doable. But it has potential to create problems later on in sports teams, age for 11+ (if relevant) and socially.

Personally I would go for an extra year of high quality preschool (ideally Montessori, as they are so good at catering to individuals) then start school at the normal time.

I think it would only be suitable for a proper certified genius type child and even then socially it wouldn’t be great.
DS1 started school with a reading age of 14+ and was working at junior levels for maths etc. However it isn’t just academic stuff they learn - it’s social skills, team working, life skills etc. Yes infants he found the kids very hard to get on with as he wasn’t interested in playing superheroes etc. As he’s got older the gap lessened and he made a couple of really good similar friends.

Nowadays schools aren’t constructed by year groups anymore. Kids will often mix with other year groups within smaller groups for literacy and maths according to their ability.

Am I missing something? The OP’s child could be a September born and be arriving at school aged four, in the same way that most August borns do.

Honestly, depending on the child I think that’s not a terrible thing to explore. I’m the same way I don’t think it’s terrible to explore delaying a year.

To be fair the OP has not given any useful information

I started a year early and it was terrible. Sport is also an issue. I'm considering starting my DC's a year late!

Thanks all of you suppportive guys.
This query is for Local Borough based state schools in England.
My question is what is the procedure to apply for the school place early?
As these are state run schools, so would like to find out procedure to make application

Thanks

Don't, just leave your child in nursery. HTH

There ain’t a procedure are it’s almost unheard of for a child to start school early (most people prefer their child to start later to put them at an advantage, there’s plenty of studies that show summer born (the youngest starting at just turned 4) don’t do as well throughout their school life)
You are best off contacting the LEA of where you live to ask them. They may refuse to let you apply out of the right age though.

You won't be able to. Nor should you be. Put them in a good private nursery instead.

Just going to dip in here. I started school in the 90s a year early at 3.5yrs old. My mother got special permission from council and I had to sit a test. Some of this was aptitude but more of it was about independence, being able to do queuing, toilet etc. I was a smart kid (could add, minus, read).

Now, this was by far a good thing for me socially. Otherwise i’d have been stuck at home with no engagement from my abusive carer or support. It was good to be with kids near enough my own age.

The only potential drawback was when I was older I was a year ahead still so went to uni very young, well before drinking age but luckily that didn’t impact much in the university town I chose to go to.

Sometimes school can be a safer place to be than at home.

But back to the OPs question, why do you want to send your kid to school early?

How early are you wanting to send you child? Are they born on September 1 and you want them going on their 4th birthday?

As it stands you can apply for the year your child turns five, there isn’t the option to go early.

If you wanted to ask in private schools they might consider an ‘out of age’ application, but more likely they’ll recommend to keep in nursery.

You will need to contact your local council’s Admissions department to ask.

Can you explain why you want to? I don’t think you can, I think the only option is to hold back spring/ summer born dc not to start earlier.

I really wouldn't do it.
The youngest in year are at a social and physical disadvantage.

I 'jumped' a year when I was 7 and I really don't think it did me any favours. I was summer born too so was 18months+ younger than many and it really impacted especially at secondary level.

I really think the academic advantages for a bright child are outweighed by the disadvantages.

They have to be 4 to start school, many people with July and August born kids defer a year.

I can't see where the funding would come from for a child not yet the right age for school.