Starting reception at 3 years 10 months

[inthezone2]

Hello,

My husband has been offered a job abroad, and they have said our November born child can attend the school, but they start in reception. It sounds like there will be less than 10 in the class, but it will be made up of reception and year 1.

Unsure what to do. Nursery is very expensive there, and I will have our second baby in September. So she either:

A. Has the free place at the school but is the youngest. By far.
B. Stays at home with me and the baby.
C. We look into nursery some days a week.

Any thoughts on the above options? My husband thinks she'll be fine and learn from the older kids, I'm not sure. She wouldn't carry on in the year, so would repeat reception year or we would send her to the local school the following year.

Thanks for reading!

I'd keep them at home with you and try and do stuff - classes, toddler groups etc until they can start school properly.
If you can get a couple of morning sessions at nursery it may give you a break.
If they need to learn a new language, you need to make sure that they can mix with children to try and get a basic knowledge before school starts

I’d do a combination of home and nursery.

Keep them at home with you or surely they can attend preschool instead of starting primary school.

My eldest did this, and repeated Reception the next year. It was fine, but she was bright and could already read. Repeating the second year was a bit difficult because she missed her friends but there were two of them in the same position.

New country, new sibling all at the same time, I wouldn't throw starting school in to it for a 3 year old. Keep her home with you and build it slowly.

Well it doesn't sound like a typical Reception class (10 kids - some childminder settings have 10 kids !) so if it's this vs expensive nursery I'd go for this.

Yes, they have said about 7 kids. So I'm expecting 10 or fewer. She can't read yet. She can identify some letters and sound them out, but not words.

She's good at making friends, and loves being around people. I worry about having her home with me 24/7 as it's a lot with a new baby.

I get the impression there aren't loads of toddler groups or organised things to do.

It all sounds like a heck of a lot of change for her so I'd be inclined to keep her home with you for the year until she's the proper age for reception.

I suppose so, but she's a pretty adaptable kid. She's already lived in a few countries! New situations have never fazed her.

But she's also so young compared to the others! Might have a look into nurseries too.

That small of a class sounds fine , can always see how she gets on and still have the option of nursery or home if needs be

I would send her to the reception class and let her repeat a year especially since there is so little children per class so she will get individual attention - she is young and they adapt easily. She will learn from older children. The option of sending her to a nursery works too but you have to weigh up the cost and also whether she will have structured learning or more free play (and what you want her experience to be). Schools usually have more structured learning and broader curriculum but in a play based manner at this age

Also you can always switch from reception to home/nursery if it doesn’t work out (assuming its easy)

Totally understand that it’s impossible to be with child 24/7 it’s too much going on., need some personal time and a breather!