School start for Summer-born children

Only reason I’m gonna send her to school at 4, is because they still follow the EYFS curriculum in reception, so it’s still similar to preschool however it is slightly more regimented in terms of routine x

I think I’ll send him to school at 4

We are going to wait a year, I think. Our older one is born in October so he was almost 5 when he started in reception & till today, I think he benefits from it. I personally think that the hours are long for small childern.. 9 till 3 Monday to Friday is a long week for 4 yrs old

I am a teacher and usually teach the youngest students (in Ireland we call them junior infants) I always find the 5 year olds are much more able for school emotionally. It's a lot for such small kids!! There's definitely some I've met who were ready at 4 so can happen but I'm waiting until he's 5

@Zuzana the long hours is a good point, thank you for your insight <3

I was going to request to defer my lo because she was born on the 29th so if the term started as early as it did this year she wouldn’t have even been 4 yet (the term started on the 27th August this year). However, we are now moving to Scotland and the enrolment year runs from March to Feb rather than September to August (even though the term starts around the 2nd week in August) so she will actually be middle of the year as she will start the term around the second week of August then turn 5 on the 29th so I’m not going to defer her now.

I was thinking of this aswell. I always said 4 but my nursery is being pushy at where my daughter should be developmentally so I'm thinking maybe the extra year would benefit her xx

At the moment thinking we will probably start him when he’s 4 but I might change my mind. The hours would be less than he does At nursery so that wouldn’t be a concern for us. Just whether he’s emotionally ready.

I was born in August and never had any disadvantage compared to my peers throughout my school life. In fact it's probably an advantage for them to start at 4 instead of delaying their development. But I'm not sure what the concern is about, if someone can explain further?

@Sade The concern is mainly about readiness, and maturity. Worries me if they may face academic and emotional challenges.

I think it’s to early to decide now As time goes by you would know if he/she is ready for reception . You would be amaze how quickly they develop especially around 3 /4 years .

@Patricia hmm, so is it that they would start reception at age 5 and be one year behind for their whole school life, or jump straight into year one which they would definitely not be ready for?

Me and Husband are born in August and we also planned to have a July-August baby because we love so much our birth Month, We both loved we were the youngest in class! If anything made us more mature. From a university point of view both of us went to uni and got degrees. So being the youngest didn't delay us in school or university for that matter. I have a Sister that was born September 1st bless her 🥲 and she hates being the oldest and feels behind everyone. My kids will be going to school as soon as 4 for sure, I think its a huge advatage that they are the youngest in class, don't see it as a bad thing at all.

As a teacher we really don’t focus or are even really aware of who’s the youngest in the class- For us I’m on the fence as my LB is a bit on the smaller side. He’s tall but smaller