dd will be just four when she starts school in sept would she manage with full days straight away??

[juleswastink]

hi

my dd1 is 4 years old and tiny for her age on the 29th of aug will be starting school th 7th of sept.
she goes to nursery 9-12 mon, 9-3pm wed and 9-12 fri.
is busy all day tues with swimming lesson and a group.

keen to send her straight to school full time?
will she manage?

she is a bright girl great with letter, numbers and reading luvs nursery

any thoughts??

My DS is in the same situation, born 25th August (although hes big for his age).

You can always try it, i think they let you revert to half days if they dont settle. Have a word with the school.

Im sending my DS half days until he settles in although may upgrade to full days if he wants to.

Don't they stagger it for the first few weeks? My DS was not quite 4 when he started, but the first four weeks were half days only.

He only had a couple of weeks full time before he turned 4.

I'm sure the school will be sympathetic if you are worried.

dd did, was fine but very tired at half term.

My dd was 4 on the 28th Aug, she was supposed to start mid Sept & then 2 weeks of half days. In the end she was so stressed about starting she started the 2nd week of term, 2 half days then full time. She was absolutely fine.

Our school does 3 intakes a week apart so the youngest start last then do 2 weeks half days and start full time in October most schools around us do similar.

At my children's school, they go into nursery class (which is in the same room as the reception class) in the September after they are 3. So my DS was 3 in June and in school full days at 3 and 3 months. He was quite happy and all they did for 2 years was play for most of the time. There was a little bit of pressure to get them reading well in the final term of reception.

I think it depends on the individual child and the school's approach.

Whether or not the school offer half days, you can insist on your child attending part time. School attendance is not statutory until the term after they are 5.

Obviously it's better if you negotiate part time attendance in consultation with the school, but if you feel that your child would benefit from part time, and the school don't agree, you simply inform the school that you will be collecting them at x o'clock each day. They cannot refuse, or withdraw the place.

In fact, as your dd's birthday is not until August, if you want to, you can accept the school place and then defer her start date until the start of the summer term. Obviously this means she would only do a term in Recpetion though.

I am wondering the opposite about my ds .. he will be 4.6 when he starts in September and they have said he will go mornings for 2 weeks, then mornings and lunch for another 2 and then full days. Ds is used to nursery from 7.30am until 5pm and has been since he was 6 months old so I am a little concerned that just a few hours may really confuse him!

Don't worry bo he'll still be shattered - it's learning all the new stuff

We didn't have the choice as our primary school does full days from the start, but we were ok with that. ds2 birthday mid August and although he got tired when he first started, he enjoyed it and I don't think he was any worse off than other older children.

I don't doubt it for a minute CarGirl but now I have to find varying stages of childcare for a few weeks! Grrrr.

There was a 30th August girl in dd's class when she started school. It was full days straight away (optional half days for the first week but no-one took up that option) and she managed fine.

She might just be a bit tired. Don;t plan much in the way of activities for those first few weeks.

My August ds didn't really sleep well until she started school. problem was keeping her awake until bedtime! Don't worry, she'll love it

bodiddly didn't you know parents of school aged children don't have a life!

Headteacher asked me today what I was going to do with "all my free time" when my youngest starts - the same as I do now without the 12pm pre-school pick up!

do they stagger it because it tires them too much or in case they are soooo upset they dont settle? Im hoping that even if he is upset in the mornings, that he settles fairly quickly, so is ok for the rest of the day regardless of whether it is morning or through until the afternoon ... or maybe I am being cruel!

At our school we were told they expect the eldest group (who start first) to learn what to do and then help teach/show by example the younger ones when they start.

I think in 95% of cases the older children are more mature and able to learn what's going on and what to do more quickly etc.

I think I need to win the lottery CG so I can sort out my childcare issues! God knows how I am going to work out day time when he is at school, let alone the settling in and holidays! Still .. I still have a few months to get that arranged!