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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

Reception Class only has one intake a year in Sep...........

19 replies

MrsOCD · 13/10/2008 14:53

My DD doesnt actually start school till 2010 but have got this worry buzzing around in my head. The school of choice (catholic) for my DD only has a Sept intake - not a Jan one so she being a summer baby, she will only be 4.2.

Another "helpful" mum, pulled a face when I told her this and said I should prepare myself for her not getting in if numbers are tight as preference will go to older children. Criteria to get in is hard enough as it is with the child needing to be baptised, us being practicing catholics etc, but assuming we pass all these, will her age go against her?

OP posts:

nooka · 13/10/2008 14:57

No. Her age is irrelevant to the schools admission policy. You should still check out alternatives though. The bigger issue is how many siblings are in the intake.

dilemma456 · 13/10/2008 14:59

Message withdrawn

MollieO · 13/10/2008 15:07

Where we live it is children in social care (and I think medical needs), catchment, siblings, denominational and then all others. It depends on numbers in each category. This year two of our local schools didn't get as far as taking all siblings. Age is irrelevant other than your dd will be one of the youngest in the year.

lulumama · 13/10/2008 15:10

the school my DS goes to that DD will hopefully go to in september also has one intake a year. DD will also be young, 4 yrs and 5 weeks when she starts

i am not concerned at all about how she will get on as she is currently at pre school 5 mornings per week and doing great, she has been out of nappies for 4 months now and is dry day and night and is getting by without a nap most afternoons.

reception is not

Original poster

MrsOCD · 13/10/2008 16:57

I dont know that much about Reception so v helpful. I had visions of my little baby being sat at a desk and expected to learn her times table! How she will even manage to sit still for 5 mins without bribe of raisins I dont know.
And yes, by the time she starts reception,she'll have a good year of preschool under her belt so hopefully it wont be too strange. Thanks for your responses.

OP posts:

Hulababy · 13/10/2008 20:28

Her age is irrelevant. They do not allocate places based on date of birth.

And don't worry about one intake system. Many children cope quite happily going to school at 4y. TBH January starts can have their own problems too.

Orinoco · 13/10/2008 20:31

Message withdrawn

leaky · 13/10/2008 20:57

Hi,just thought I'd add this,even though it's not exactly about getting your child in to school BUT once in school you have every right to only send your child part-time until the term he/she actually turns 5.
My son started school last year & we had recently moved to a new area so could only get him a nursey place for 2 mornings.Because of this & because he only turned 4 at the end of August, I was reluctant to send him straight into full time school.

I had heard that legally I didn't have to send him full time until the term he was 5 & the school were completely fine with that.He started doing 2 full days & 3 half days & gradually built up over the year.He's doing really well,in the top 3% of class so I'm really pleased.

Schools don't make you aware that you have this option but you do.

p.s sorry to have gone on & made a long post

nooka · 13/10/2008 21:06

I was very glad my son only started in January (he is a May baby), but my daughter would have been fine starting earlier (but she is an early Sept baby). I don't think he missed out from "losing" the Autumn term. But he did find the transition to school difficult.

TigerFeet · 13/10/2008 21:13

My dd started reception aged 4.2 this year and has coped as well as those almost a year older - it's not a given that hte younger ones struggle.

Younger ones are never at a disadvantage when ti comes to allocation - your friend told you wrong. If she were right there would be armies of younger children struggling for school places every year and armies of parents in uproar.

Are you a practising Catholic? That would be the first criteria for our local Catholic school.

grendel · 14/10/2008 13:10

My DD started reception aged 4 and 4 days! I worried lots before she started, even considered keeping her back a year, but she was absolutely fine and coped better than many of the older ones.

baffledmum · 14/10/2008 13:14

Legally your child does not have to go to school until the term after the 5th birthday but this can be risky. Once the school class is full, it's full and you risk not getting them into the school of your choice.

Re: age. I have heard of a school in London whereby age is an admission factor. To be sure look at your LEA's website and see what the admission criteria for your prefered school is.

maretta · 14/10/2008 13:23

If you look on your councils website you can probably find their admissions policy. I've never heard of a school discrminating on birthday. It would be very unfair - it's not like you can try again next year. I know some nurserys give full time places to older children first but that's different.

My son was a June b'day and started in September. I think it's better that way. I think it would be worse to start in January to a class of older children who have already made firm friendships and made progress with reading.

ChippyMinton · 14/10/2008 13:32

Never heard of age being a criteria. If you are concerned about her being young, ask the school how they arrange the classes, assuming there's more than one. At my DC school, Reception has an 'older class' for Sept- Feb birthdays, and a 'younger class' for March to August birthdays, so that the school day can be tailored to their needs. In Yr 1 they mix them up.

kyrasmummy · 14/10/2008 16:18

My dd started school this september at 4.1, she started off with 3 weeks of half days and couldn't wait to start full time and she's coped really well, would go at the weekend too. Her class is a class of 17, split into 2 oldest and youngest.

I would never have started her in January as i think they miss too much, same with half days really.

MollieO · 14/10/2008 16:50

We started full days from the off, no other option available and class mixed in ages. Some are clearly more mature than my 4.2 ds but some aren't.

bundle · 14/10/2008 17:09

criteria for admissions usually include: baptised, in catchment, parents practising catholics, siblings, distance from school etc - I've never seen anything re: age in year

Littlefish · 14/10/2008 17:20

MollieO - the school may not tell you that you have the choice to do part time. However, if you want your child to go part time, and feel that it will benefit them, then you basically accept the school place, and then in the September your child starts, you tell them that your child will be doing part time. There isn't a thing they can do about it (apart from complain)!

I'm a former reception teacher and Deputy Head and postiively encouraged parents to let their child attend part time until half term, Christmas or in some cases, Easter. What is the point in very young children attending full time and being miserable and tired! The whole point of Reception is to support their journey into lifelong learning, not switch them off at the first hurdle.

MollieO · 14/10/2008 22:00

LF I didn't know that but none of the boys in my ds's class go part time. My ds was tired at the end of the first full week but since then I've actually found his bed time getting later. He literally comes out of school bouncing and seems to be having a great time (not that he will tell me what he actually does!).

We did have the option to start in Jan or Easter but I thought it would be harder to join a class half way through the year when the vast majority started together in Sept.

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