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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Is it possible to get your child into school earlier - i.e at 4 and a half

45 replies

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 12:49

Ds 2 birthday is the 12th of september 09 so technicaly he won't start school until just before he is 5. This also means he won't start rising 5's until next jan. Is it possible to get him into school in the jan ( 4 and a half) and therefore rising 5's when he is 4? He's not g and t but bright and i think he will be more than ready for it.

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misdee · 25/04/2008 12:51

no, but what about state nursery?

dd2 birthday is 1st sept so was already 5 when she started school. but when she was 4years old she started nursery. after one term she went full-time there (exceptional circumstances due to dh health problems at the time) and she really thrived in both parts of the nursery.

MrsMattie · 25/04/2008 12:53

My son's nursery offer longer days to children in the term before they go to reception - so 9am-3pm, instead of just an afternoon or morning. Is something like that possible? I don't think any LEA will take a child into reception class early.

Original poster

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 12:53

He goes to the local pre-school but there's no way i can get him anywhere else because of getting others to school etc. We are rural so not alot close by! Would've been fine if he'd been born when he was due

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NotABanana · 25/04/2008 12:54

Why on earth would you want too?

NotABanana · 25/04/2008 12:55

My DD had to go at 4 years and 1 month.

pooka · 25/04/2008 12:57

I think that starting school at 5 is a good idea. Am glad that ds (early sept birthday) won't be going as early as dd (she was 4.5). It is still so young and despite being bright and having settled well I wish we'd had longer at home/pre-school.

MrsMattie · 25/04/2008 12:57

My son will be 4 years and 7 months and I still wish we could wait another 6 months@NotABanana. LEA say he would have to go into Year 1, bypassing Reception, if we wait until the following term, and I don't want that, so off he'll go...

Original poster

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 12:58

Because he is more than ready now! We had the same thing with starting pre-school. I just can't do enough to keep him stimulated. It's not like his birthday isn't until the december.

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Twiglett · 25/04/2008 12:59

I think you'd be best to keep him in his school year .. there is some research that points that boys should be held back a year in primary anyway due to emotional maturity so it can only benefit him

far better to be the brightest and eldest boy than the youngest one

Twiglett · 25/04/2008 13:00

doesn't his pre-school have full time places?

Original poster

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 13:01

I just think that perhaps it should be a little more child led. A couple of children are older than him by only a couple of weeks but completely different.

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Original poster

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 13:02

At present his preschool only does morning sessions 3 times a wk. Looked into other nurseries but as i said, just not possible.

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mimismummy · 25/04/2008 13:06

Why put him into school before you have to? I know it is a pain childcare wise, but, believe me, once they start school, they have to do homework etc etc and so many studies have shown that children do not benefit from all of this early on. He would be much better off in a nursery. dd2 was born on sept 1st so will be 5 when she starts - really glad. dd1 was 4 and 1mth when she started and she coped fine but i know a lot of frineds with children the same age who knew they were not ready to go and still struggle to keep up years on.

stealthsquiggle · 25/04/2008 13:07

numptysmummy - only in an independent school, AFAIK, and you get yourself into the same issue that we have - DS (Nov b'day)is a year ahead of his age group (school's idea - they moved him up from nursery to reception- but we agreed because he was more than ready) - it is the right place for him (he is one of the 'top' one in his current class academically) but we are now limited on our choices for the 'next' school, and have to work out when/if we drop him back into his year group.

If you can find a really good pre-school which will continue to engage and challenge him it would make your life easier in the long run.

bringmesunshine · 25/04/2008 13:08

Good Lord - enjoy him being at home whilst you can in the blink of an eye he will be at school full time.

I would give anything for my DS not to have started school at 4.3 years. Children should not be starting school at such a young age imo especially boys they might be ready in terms of needing the next challenge however I don't know any who are emotionally ready at 4 or 5 for the rigors of school. Children in most European countried start formal education at 6 which is preferable.

coppertop · 25/04/2008 13:08

Ds2 (5) found pre-school boring from the age of about 3.5yrs. It triggered behavioural problems and tbh it was a nightmare at times but I'm very glad that he's in a Reception class with his own age-group. I really don't think starting early is a good idea.

Original poster

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 13:13

Stealthsquiggle - hadn't thought about the age issue for secondary school,good point. Ido enjoy him being at home but we are getting alot of problems which are down to boredom. I do lots of stuff with him i.e he has just started learning some letters,writnig his name but i'm not a teacher and don't want to teach him tyhe wrong way iyswim.

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NotABanana · 25/04/2008 13:21

My DD is very bright and probably could have been ready for school earlier in academic terms but emotionally it is still a wrench for some children.

You will just have to find some other way of keeping him stimulated. Goodness, if parents started dictating when their children started school the education system would be in a mess!

NotABanana · 25/04/2008 13:23

Don't try and teach him at all. Just be led by him and use common sense.

0I do understand as we taught DS1 the alphabet A (a) bee (b) c (sea) etc and then he had to learn a buh cuh.

MrsMattie · 25/04/2008 13:24

I think it's mistake to think that bright children always benefit from starting school as soon as possible. Often these are the children who find settling into a structured day of 'learning' the most challenging.

Original poster

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 13:28

Guess i'll have to think again then.

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Smithagain · 25/04/2008 13:33

To all those who are saying "why would you want to", please believe that there are certainly children who are champing at the bit to get to school well before they are 5. I am eternally grateful that my first daughter has a summer birthday, because she was totally bored at Nursery by then and I think she would have been very, very difficult to keep at home for another year. And I am a well-educated, stay at home mum, who does lots of "educational" stuff with my children. She just wanted to be "out there" and learning with her peer group. Some kids do.

To the OP - as far as I know, you can't start any earlier. So looking around for some other activites/longer nursery hours may be the only option.

I so wish the Scottish system applied throughout the UK, so the children at the margins of the school year could be catered for with flexibility.

NotABanana · 25/04/2008 13:38

I am sure there are some children very keen to get to school just as there are always parents who are keen to get them off as soon as possible.

As a mother with 2 children at school and a 2 year old who will go next year, I would say don't wish the time away. They griw up so fast and are school for such a long time. Just accept this is how it is and enjoy the time you do have with them.

Original poster

numptysmummy · 25/04/2008 13:48

I have 3 other children,2 older and one younger and they are all very,very different. One has sn and one is dyslexic so am very aware of how they all have completely different needs. Ds1 is also a september baby and i wouldn't of dreamt of him doing anymore than 3 mornings at preschool as he just wasn't ready. I belive Ireland have the same kind of intake system as Scotland. I'm a sahm so it's not a childcare issue!

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stealthsquiggle · 25/04/2008 14:41

It does annoy me that everyone seems to think this is a ludicrous thing for numptysmummy to be considering. Admittedly, I am not exactly unbiased, because my DS is a year ahead of his "proper" year group.

However, he is now in Y1, and I (and other mothers I know) look at him next to the Reception group and know that he would look/feel ridiculous in that group - he fits in every way possible with the year group he is in. This has been said to me, unprompted, by a number of people including members of staff who were not involved in the original decision to move him.

It is sometimes the right thing to do - but can't be done in the state system, and is not without challenges later.

I do think we will end up finding a way to put him back into his year group at some stage, though - I am not comfortable with the idea of a 12yo boy in a group of rising-14yos.

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