Does anyone have experience of sending their child straight into Y1 (ie missing out reception year)?

[satlitegirl]

Hello

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of sending their child straight into Year 1 (so missing out the Reception Year by keeping child at home or in a nursery-pre-school environment until the child is at the age where they must start education)?

Our son (turns 4 late July) is eligible to start this September, but we have almost certainly decided to send him to a nursery school for that year instead, which would mean that he goes straight into Y1 the following Sep. I have read a lot of comments on this issue, and although a lot of people seem unhappy with the idea of 4 yr olds starting school, I am struggling to find anyone who has made the decision to keep their child out of primary school until they turned 5. So if there is anyone out there who has done this, please let me know how you and your child got on!

Thank you

the main problem with doing this is that you take the risk of not being able to send him to the school of your choice.

Places are given out in reception year (max 30 in a class) and unless someone leaves then you are highly unlikely to get a place in year 1 at a popular school. You can defer entry but the school is at liberty to give away your place if you choose not to send your child for that year - this would be the school's choice.

From your child's point of view, he will never get to do reception year, and will not get to do the introductory phonics learning, since the majority of a year 1 class will ahve picked it up and be reading and writing already. I personally wouldn't do it, but I don't have direct experience.

I am a reception teacher BTW, what is it that you are most worried about him struggling with at school? Could you speak to the school and ask them how they will deal with this (a good reception teacher will know exactly how to help a young for his age boy in a reception class, I have several this year who I think would struggle if they were in too formal a class)

Year one is a massive leap from reception. I would seriously consider a rethink.

One of mine is an August birthday so I do get your situation.

I've had 3 summer born girls and 1 Jan born girl. Reception even in the last 4 years has become more and more like nursery in terms of what they actually do day to day.

The "work" my children were given was to practise writing and learning the basic phonics over the first 2 terms, but not the first half term IYSWIM. None of my younger 3 learnt to read in reception they just recognised the letters. The school doesn't have a problem with this and neither do I.

REception is very much about learning through play, learning school rules and to get dressed and toilet and eat lunch independently and learning to learn etc.

I have no regrets about mine going to reception at 4 rather than skipping it and going into yr1. Although friendships are very fluid still they do tend to make a gang of more particular friends at this age too.

Personally I think your dc might find the leap from Nursery to Yr1 quite difficult.

Recpetion is like Nursery in many respects but my DS did not cover phonetics at nursery. All of this was covered in Reception year. The National Curriculum starts in Y1 and even children who have completed Recption can find it diffiuclt to adjust.

FWIW my DD is summer born and loved her year in Reception. The teachers are used to summer born children and adjust the curriculum to meet the childrens' needs.

I just wanted to add that in most posts I've read people seem fairly horrified at the idea of sending a child straight into Y1, but I'm not clear why this is. As I see it, the pros and cons of spending the reception year in a nursery-type environment instead are:

Pros

• Fewer children and more staff in the nursery environment
• Option to go part time (in terms of hours per day and days per week)
• More time spent at home doing normal kiddy activities - trips to park, walks, playing with other kids in a non-school environment (if there are any left!), etc
• In our case, we don't feel our son is emotionally mature enough to deal with starting school when he has just turned 4, especially as he would be in a class of 30 kids and would have no option but to go 5 days a week for 6.25 hours a day.

Cons

• Child misses out on forming the friendships that develop during reception year
• Child misses out on the basic understanding of school life/school rules that other kids will have picked up during reception year
• Some people have indicated that Y1 is a big step up academically from the reception year, so 'new' child might struggle to cope.

However, I'm not sure how much these 'cons' really matter, as going by my instinct, the 'pros' outweigh these in my mind, although I confess to feeling very much in the dark about the whole matter.

Would very much appreciate hearing from parents who have gone through the same thing.

It really depends on the school.
If the school has a good reception class there is nothing to be gained from missing the experience and if the school has a Y1 that is organised like reception (and many are) missing reception shouldn't be a problem.
Also consider there is due to be a new primary curriculum in 2011 (depending on what happens post election) which is based on what is currently happening in nursery and reception.

Can you see how big the shock would be going from a nursery to year 1 - suddenly being there for 5 days per week, everyone else knowing the rules, everyone else having done phonics and chopping and blending???

Perhaps he will learn emotional maturity by going to school, is he going to get that at nursery where there are no older children to learn from? Don't know the answer to this tbh but it's not all about chronological age.

Do none of your local schools do half days for at least the 1st term? If I had a child who was too tired to do a full week every week then I would take them out IYSWIM. One of mine was shattered but she went to bed a 6pm for the first 2 terms!

Other option is to move locations to a LEA that allows you to defer and go into reception, there are several in England in now.

With one of my summer borns there was no way I could envisage at the Easter that she would be ready to start that September both her childminder (a former primary teacher) and I had our concerns but over the summer holidays she came on in leaps and bounds and she really was ready by mid September when she started.

Hi

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I'd still love to hear from anyone who has put their child straight into Y1 to see how they found it. Or has no-one done that???

My gut instinct is still that there is something wrong with sending a 4 yr old to school full-time, 5 days a week, in classes of 30 kids (no other options in our area, I'm afraid, and moving not an option for us), so they can learn phonics/ secure a place in the school/ learn the school rules at same time as other kids/ get ready for the big transition to Y1. I appreciate that some kids ARE ready to go at four, but I don't think mine will be one of them.

If there is such a big leap between reception and Year 1, surely all kids are going to struggle with that, whether they've been through the play-based reception environment or not?

I don't even know what phonetics are - beginning to wonder now how I got my MA!

I think it is unusual because a school won't hold a yr1 place for you so unless your local school is massively undersubscribed you may end up with a school place there!

Phonetic is just how to pronounce the letters and the diagraphs.

I went straight into year 1!! But that would have been in 1970 so not terribly recent. But it was the 'norm' then to start either the term you turned 5 or the term after (in my case).

You do have an alternative satlitgirl! You can accept a place for September and then say that he isn't ready and you're not sending him till either Christmas or Easter. They will try and tell you that you can't do that but you can. They might not want you to but it is your absolute right and they have to hold the place open for you. What they are not obliged to do is hold it till year 1. Technically your DS could start 1 week before the end of the school year in reception but that probably wouldn't be such a good idea.

You could also find out about phonics and do a bit with your son - 10 minutes a day would probably be enough!! So he would have covered the phonics he needs and will have had plenty of time to do all the things a 4 year old should be doing.

I didn't send DS2 or DD to Reception but then I didn't send them to school at all - we home educate. And phonics really isn't that difficult to teach.

No experience with what you actually asked but

I went to school in a country where they don't start till 7 y, but still have no qualms to start my 3 dc at 4 y old in reception, but

I suppose it depends indeed on school:
dc1 went to a nursery which was more "school-like" than his school

dc used to going nursery for much longer days than school days

Children who have moved school in y1 still seem to settle well in our school

If any of my dc one day would really not want to go to school(reception only though) AND I'm not working, I would have no problems taking them home again (sofar only happened in playgroup..)

Dh went into year 1 in the 80's his mum still reckons he missed out on that year compared to his peers

I would def apply and accept a place and see how things are in Sept/Jan/April and start him when you think he is ready IYSWIM, he may well surprise you!

Well my DS went into Y2 if that's any help.

He's an Aug born child with dyspraxia and is something of a perfectionist. It wasn't until he was 6 that he could physically hold a pencil well enough to make meaningful marks on a page so until he could do that we decided to home educate him.

The first term was hard for him but the school were very supportive and patient with him and after that first term he settled well. DS is now in Y6, he enjoys school and despite the fact he still struggles with writing he's doing very well.

We have the same situation, Daughter turns 4 in Aug she already has a serious speech delay and we felt school would be really hard for her, shes very shy and seems self concious of the fact she cant talk as well as other kids.

None of the schools in our area would hold a place for her so effectively she wouldnt have a school to start unless someone else dropped out, we were told we would be bottom of the waiting list as we had decided to hold her back... our council seem actively against the idea.

So we have gone to a private school who were alot more accomadating, they have a nursery and reception and there are only 10 kids in reception so i feel alot better about her starting, any issues and they are happy for her to go to nuresry level and recieve more input.

a lot can happen between now and september, and as others have said you can defer his entry until christmas at least (schools have to submit numbers in January to finalise their funding, that is why they don't like easter starters anymore )

we have younger children starting at xmas and I think it is a good idea, it makes little difference to what they achieve long term.

You have to do what you feel is right for your son at the time, whether that be part time attendance, deferring for a term or 2 or giving up the place until the following year.

OP - fwiw, (and I'm sure a LOT has changed in 30 years), my parents put me right into Y1 without any type of group setting beforehand (nursery or otherwise). I did not meet a single child until I started Y1 (very rural area).

I skipped several grades in school and ultimately finished my post secondary education very young. I clearly remember starting school and had no problems academically or socially.

My mother feels to this day that it was the right decision for me. hth

I didn't know about that option Tinuviel, thanks. I would be happier about him attending nursery for two terms and then starting reception at Easter. I spoke to my sister (a primary school teacher, but in the private sector) and she said that was what she would recommend too, but when I looked into it in the area we are moving to I was told that we only had one option and that was starting reception full-time in September. Maybe they are worried that more parents might try to use a staggered intake if it is shown to be an option for parents, albeit one they have to fight for. It must be a lot easier for schools to have all the kids turn up at the same point in the school year, rather than contending with some FT/ some PT kids and a staggered intake.

Our school now only does staggered intake over the first half term having down termly intake for many years too. They found the one intake generally worked better even for the littlies. Absolutely though do what is best for your son but do be prepared that he will come on leaps and bounds and he may be more ready than you think in Sept/Jan.

"My gut instinct is still that there is something wrong with sending a 4 yr old to school full-time, 5 days a week, in classes of 30 kids, so they can learn phonics/ secure a place in the school/ learn the school rules at same time as other kids/ get ready for the big transition to Y1"

I totally agree! All the above are for the benefit of the school, not the child, to make the child blend in as fast as possible and rush him towards meeting his 'targets' as defined by the government in a totally arbitrary and purely political strategy.

I felt the same about DD and have secured a deferment so that she will start reception part time at 5. Our LEA is also totally against this, but it is possible. You need a sympathetic ed psych and a lot of luck, though.

Had that not worked, we were going to put her into y1 and I wasn't that worried about it. I am a primary school teacher and we have had children who changed schools in y1, children who came in from other countries and children who joined after being home educated. They all coped.

Roisin's ds went straight into year one, so you might want to look out for her. She may have missed this thread.

Yes I was going to say that Roisin did this for her DS2 (IIRC).

She is very Sensible and Nice so I am sure it was a Good Idea for him.

There are issues btw as others say with the school keeping the place open for you.

Hi Satlitegirl - yes, we did this for ds1 - also July birthday.

It was definitely the best thing for him.

He went straight into yr1 with a class of 30 children who'd been in formal education full-time for a year together.

Prior to this he just did 2.5 hrs per day in a very informal nursery. For the first half they had free play inside, and for the second half they opened the doors to the outside area and they had free play inside or outside! They did no formal reading or writing, though art/creative materials were provided for those that wanted to.

PS thanks for the reference Clary - Sensible and Nice?! LMAO

Satlitegirl, I can bore you to tears on the subject if you want! What do you want to know.

In my county if you opt to do this, they have to keep the place open for you. But the child has to start at in reception after Easter.

I haven't done this but seriously considered it for DS who was four years and three weeks old on starting.

DS' school had a good intro though - for the first half term of school DS only went from 1pm - 3pm...then went 9am - 12 for the second half term. So didn't start full days till the January.

To be honest though I wish we had kept him out, looking back.

I would say don't get railroaded or bullied by the system. OK you can't know if he'd get a place in year one, but what's the priority - to meet his needs, or to fit into the LEA's budgetary procedures?

When he DOES start, it is the job of the staff to settle him in and encourage him to foster friendships. It's not all up to him - that's what the staff are there for and they should make it easy for him.

FWIW my ds was most certainly not 'reading and writing' in year 1. And anyway, maybe your DS will be! just because he's not at school doesn't mean he wouldn't learn stuff either with you or at nursery, or god forbid learn it at 5 instead of 4.

Good luck.