Opinions on having only a september intake Reception Class...

[walkingprimrose]

Hi,

I am trying to choose a school for my DD who will start school sept 2009 or jan 2010 depending on which school I pick.

My daughter has a july birthday so would only be 4yrs 2mths if I pick the school with the sept intake (which happens to be the primary school which feeds into the best secondary school in the area, or I would have imediately discounted it!). I feel so worried and anxious about this - I feel that it is too young and the longer she can be at home & nursery for half days, the better. Are my fears unfounded? - the school seems to think so, but when I try to research it on the internet, everything seems to support a later staring age and goes on about how Scandanavian children don't start school til 6 or 7 years etc.

Any opinions gratefully receieved.

Thanks x

My dd was 4.2 when she started Reception this September. All schools in our area only do Sept intake. At the time I was happy with it - her nursery assured me that she'd be fine, she was bright and sociable and ready for school. The reality has been that she has struggled, is still struggling, and in all honesty I don't think she's ready. I wish I could keep her out for a little while longer tbh - but we have had to rearrange our lives around school hours so not possible to go back now. I think that if you can defer entry for a while, then you should.

There is no way I could have managed half days for a whole term because of work - might have been better for dd though.

As an afterthought though - my opinion is obviously coloured by my dd's experience. Other summer born children in her year group seem to be settling in just fine.

Are there any other differences between the two schools that need to be taken into consideration?

Well DD is tired anyway - and being shipped from pillar to post due to childcare issues can't help - so I am not sure two extra afternoons at school would that make that much difference. Also if she went until 3.30 I would have been able to change my work hours thus eliminating one early start and one late finish.

I think one thing that people often completely overlook is that you are very unlikely to have the only child in that situation. There is often a perception that the class is geared at huge hulking confident 5 year olds, whereas the reality is that there will often be a goodly number of children in the same boat. I think a lot of the concerns are "my child starting school" concerns.

When Ds started in the nursery of his school, 5 of the 12 children (it included 1 set of twins) had birthdays between mid July and 31 August. There were only 2 of them with birthdays in the first term. So the whole "vibe" of the class was young.

My DD is currently in reception - she's old but there are some very young children (one with a 25 Aug birthday and one with a 30 Aug birthday). There is a huge difference in what they can all do in the class: she is reading but I know that some children can barely write their own names (we had a lot of birthday cards!) and have noticeably more basic vocabulary. They just "teach" them all on separate levels.

Interestingly DS is now in Y2 and it is much less obvious who the younger children are - my mother as a former teacher said that it tends to even out completely at 8/9.

I think it's better for all the children to start together in September. My daughter was disappointed that she had to wait until January to start school - she saw going to school as a treat which most of her friends were getting before she did. In a single form entry school, it can be quite hard for the January starters to break into friendship groups which have already formed between the September starters and it seemed to take a long time for the two groups to blend socially.

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts - you're all talking sense. Need to think some more as this is only part of the another dilemma involved in choosing which school.. but I'll do a new post for that! x

My ds1 is June born and is now 5 1/2 and is still exhausted from school

Reception is all learning through play really but we only have one intake which is sept.

I wouldn't have wanted him to start later, friendships are made in sept/oct/nov/dec and the rest of the class would technically be ahead.

BUT - the secondary school that is fab right now may not be in 7 years time so I don't think that should be a huge part of deciding on a primary school.

My DD is a July born to, and started reception this year, she has thrived on it and was more then ready to go. Also like Anchovy, there are 3 children in her class who turn 5 between Sept & January, there is a single class of 17 and 5 of the children have July birthdays and 3 are in June, so it is a 'young' class.
DD is doing very well and is the youngest, though she is not struggling however her teacher said it is often the late born boys who struggle more then girls.

you could always request she does mornings only until you feel she is ready, as she will only be 5 later in the year perfectly within your rights a good secondary school is something to keep in mind.
Friends ds is july born and he thrived starting in september in y2 now and one of brightest in class my friend is scandanavian btw