School starting age
Posted By : Samantha
I have 3 children and have worried with each one about starting school. My last child unfortunately for him was born in the middle of August. He is really not ready for school emotionally. I have done all I can to try to resolve a later start for him but at the risk of him missing out on reception class which i feel would be worse for him in the long run to start straight in at year one. I have tried to contact the local mp and Gordon Brown about these issues which i believe from all my study on this is a worry lots of parents have but have had no reply. I stumbled across your site today for the first time is there anything i can do to change this I am willing to take it all the way even if its to late for my children i feel so strongly about this.
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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You can always educate your child at home. Children need to be developmentally ready for education, it is not a race, we know statistically that countries with later starting ages for formal learning achieve have better levels of attainment than the UK.
Do not be pressured, as a Mother you know your child best. It is a lot easier to delay a child’s entry to school until they are ready than to get them back into school once they are emotionally damaged. I know I have been there!
Children should not really go into formal education until they have good gross motor skills (see http://www.inpp.org.uk), and they have stereopsis of vision, i.e. can use both eyes together properly to see 3D, to track text etc. a behavioural optometrist can check this for you (see http://www.babo.org.uk).
Can i join you in the battle? I also have 3 kids- first born on 1st September(lucky), 2nd in January and the 3rd a summer born boy.He is due to start school in Sept 2010 and I really am against this as I feel that newly 4 is too young.My angst is compounded by the fact that I am Scottish so have been used to the system there.If parents of the younger children there(cut off being end Feb ie not even beginning to be considered young here) want to delay entry then there is no problem with doing so and putting them in to primary one (=reception) the following year.There is no question of them being made to go in to primary two, which obviously is nuts.
I am currently “exploring” this subject with the education authority. I thought I was the only person getting worked up about it so am glad to read of others and would gladly help in a campaign.
I am a Reception teacher and mum to a 2 year old and 4 year old(May 30th, boy and left handed!)who has just started school.
When the provision is good in a Reception class, it isn’t unlike pre-school or nursery and gradually changes with the developmental needs of the children. Our children spend much of their day on self-chosen activities (mostly outside at the moment!)with adults supporting and extending their interests. Any ‘teaching’ is fun, practical and play based.
Although we offer full time schooling by the end of September, it is with the proviso that parents can negotiate further part-time, based on their child’s needs. Parents are happy to say to us that their child won’t be in tomorrow because they are tired and it’s not a problem. Equally, we extend part time entry if we feel a child is not ready.
Are we unusual? The requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage are very clear and very (young)child friendly (worth a read)- make sure your infant/ primary schools are fulfilling the requirements.
You don’t have to start him in September as the term after 5 is still the compulsory school starting age. Reception classes will take him either at Christmas or Easter if you are firm about it. Then he will have had extra time to mature and develop those skills he needs for “big school”. I wish you well!
Term after 5 is compulsory school age but Education Authority I work in will only reserve a place until start of spring term, i.e. January so you could miss out on school of your choice if you delay longer. Children also find it hard to break into established friendship groups if they start much later than other children. Have you looked around schools and talked about your concerns?
Sarah, i think your setting sounds wonderful, but sadly i think it is unusual. I have never heard of a school so flexable.
If these little children are going to be starting so young this is exactly what they should have. As for the E.Y.F.S i think some schools haven’t even heard of it. Either that or i find they can quote sentences from it very well in their addresses to parents but actually carrying them out in the class room just doesn’t happen.
I think if the child was able to have the entrance into school put back a year and then start with the rest of the children in reception frendships would be fine.
The differnce to the child who turns six shortly after starting school to that of the little girl or boy who has just turned four are sometimes a world apart from each other in their emotional and academic development.
This opinion is different for every parent and an on going battle for some of us, and some feel that their 5 year old shouldn’t have to wait another year to start school but the more developed and confident the better. School is hard for these little guys and we all want them to do well and have the best out of life so let them be children first and enjoy their childhood before the hard slog starts.
Hello, i have been listening to the programme which is how I heard about this website. I have 2 children in primary school 1 Girl age 8 (April) and boy age 6 (August 28) both of my children have struggled with school my daughter as she has hearing problems, and my son due to his age. he started reception a week after his 4th birthday the school day was very formal and almost at once it was apparent that he was not able to cope. he would come out of school with a note from the teacher everyday about his behaviour. he would not sit at the desk and would curl up in a ball in the reading corner. He loves books treats them well and loves listening to stories, he is not a badly behaved child and this behaviour only manifested its self at school. He is now in year two and can barely write or read although socially he is much better, it appears he maybe dyslexic, as is my daughter. But both of them have to get on with it regardless, my daughter is now acutely aware that she is not able to keep up and my daughters report at the end of year three put her at level 1, the bottom of the report states that a nationally average child will have reached level 2/3 by the end of year 3. We had my daughter assesed privately by an educational psychologist in May last year as apparently the LEA do not have to diagnose dyslexia?. My son has not been tested yet as he is too young, but in any event the diagnosis does not make any difference as to how they are taught, all it does is confirm what we already knew and lays it out in an academic report. neither of my children are stupid they both care about school but are being left behind I am worried that they may develope psychological problems my daughters self esteam is already very low. I do not feel in anyway qualified to teach them at home, its bad enough having to do homework with them. I do not know where to turn I really do not want to have to pay for private tutors at weekends as they have had enough of lessons throughout the week and really need the downtime. There Must be many other parents like us, what can the current school system do to help children like this?. both my children have been given IEPs by the learning support teacher and the school does offer TRACKS sessions but again these help a little but the majority of the time they just have to go along with regular lessons and the regular style of teaching. times table are a sticky issue for my daughter she really has only just got to grips with 2/5/10 and even them one day she can remember the next its just dropped out of her head, yet she came home with a maths sheet which had 4 colums of 20 sums all a mix of X tables 3/2/4/5/10 and we had to time her a minute at a time (minute maths its called) it took her over 1 min to work out 7×2= . bless her heart she just goes blank she was diagnosed with a poor working memory along with ther dyslexia, I am dreading secondary already what chance have they got it seems its a lottery as to wether your in the catchment area of a school that can work with children like this. I do feel for the teachers as they obviously have no real time to help children as indivduals be they like mine or at the other end of he scale academically gifted. is our only option to sell our kidneys to find a private school?
Where to start. Your experience sounds dreadful and really upsetting – I wouuld hate for any parent to feel like this about me or my school.
_ We carry out DEST (Dyslexia Early Screening Test) at end of Reception year. This doesn’t diagnose Dyslexia but shows children who are ‘at risk’. Support is provided in Year 1 to match children’s individual needs and they are closely monitored to see if support makes a difference. LEAs don’t tend to say children are dyslexic, but that they have ‘specific’ learning difficulties. On one side it is fair to say that dyslexia is not one specific thing but also think term has become a bit taboo with LEAs (far too much legal action in recent years).
- You haven’t had a good experience with your children’s school, it sounds unsupportive at best. Are there any other schools in the area if your children are that unhappy? Paying for education doesn’t necessarily make it better. All teachers train in the state system and the best are generally still there. However, paying for education usually buys you smaller class sizes and therefore more adult support.
-Have you been able to have open and frank conversations with the staff at your school about your concerns? Don’t forget you can use the school’s complaints procedure to take your concerns further via the head, governors and LEA if needed.
-Agree on the tutor comment unless you can find one who specialises and can give your children strategies to help learn specific things, rather than banging away with more of the same.
-Lastly, good schools and teachers will find the time to help ALL children, value parents and their opinions and do all they can to support you.
Thank you for your comments, we do have parents evening tonight and we will certainly ask wether our son was part of the early diagnosis screening programme in reception. I believe he was but he would not co-operate with the test at that time. The SENCO teacher at the school has been very open with us, but I guess there maybe a limit to what they can provide and I do not know what I can insist on. with regard to other schools in our area they are oversubscribed or only in the satisfactory range, to the extent that many parents have taken children out and put them into the private sector. the school our children are in is an independent school and the state school we are in the catchment for is full. We decide in 2006 to educate the children privatly as our experience with the state sector was poor,and knowing our daughters problems with her hearing the small class sizes were very attractive. however last year due to the economic downturn, we are in a precarious situation ourselves. The school has been very understanding and we have been offrered a reduction in the fees on a yearly basis, which kind of makes me feel that we cant say too much as we may jepordise our position. The SENCO seems to be against getting the LEA involved although she does admit that there is at least one child in the school with a statement. Am I being naieve?
I don’t know if anybody is still interested in this issue – there haven’t been comments for a while – but I have been doing lots of research on it lately as my daughter (born in August) is due to start Reception this September. Because I feel strongly that children in this country are being forced to start school too early, I have been doing lots of research into government School Admissions Codes etc etc and I have realized – and been told by the relevant authorities – that you do now have a statutory right as a parent to defer your child’s entry to the Reception class of a school if they are below compulsory school age. Therefore, if your child is under five when they are due to start Reception, once you have accepted an offer from your chosen school you can opt to defer your child’s entry to ANYTIME WITHIN THAT ACADEMIC YEAR. This is regardless of whether the school has more than one official intake.
Ideally, I would like my daughter to be able to start Reception when she is five (or even six) but I don’t think this will be possible. Like many other people, I don’t really want her to have to start in Year 1, which she is entitled to do. I just thought that someone should make it clear what our rights as parents are, according to government legislation which Admission Authorities (Local Education Authorities, usually) have a mandatory requirement to comply with.
I feel that too many Education Authorities and schools do not make this clear to parents, so that we end up sending our children to school before they’re ready and, in many cases, feeling that our children are disadvantaged educationally as a result of it.
Thank you Kerrie your comment is relly useful I have forwarded it to In Craig the Schools Chief Adjudicator
Kerrie, Hello, I am very interested in your comments about being able to delay entry to any time within the school year. Our local school says that I could only delay my son’s place until January. After that they would give the place to someone on the waiting list and we would lose the space at the school. Is the information you were given a national guideline or a local one? I have had no help at all from my local education authority…think my only solution is to move back to Scotland!
Hi all, Kerrie’s advice is spot on. However I don’t think the apparent ‘allowances’ of being able to attend part time or defer entry are good enough.
We have three girls, all summer born. The oldest was born in September and is doing well at school being one of the oldest in her class, the middle one is a June birthday and due to start next year (we wish to be able to keep her back for a year) and the youngest is born end of August.
We’re determined not to send the youngest when she is barely 4. I’m German myself and find the situation in the UK extremely frustrating. I started school at 6 and turned 7 not long after.
Yes, even in the UK you can keep your child back or ‘defer’ entry as they say, but this effectively means your child loses part of their education in reception. That’s not acceptable to me. You can send them part time but again, why should they lose out on part of their reception year when other children who are up to 12 months older enjoy it full time? Why not start the youngest ones in the following year if their parents think it’s best?
It appears that noone has challenged the authorities on the actual law. Here are some snippets:
From the admissions guidelines
“Children becoming 5 years old between 1st April and 31st August are of compulsory school age from the beginning of the term after 1st September.”
and
“the child does not have to attend school until the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday.”
So at what stage did who decide that if a parent abides the law would the child have to lose out on the entire reception year?
In fact the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 states:
“reception class means a class in which education is provided which is suitable to the requirements of pupils aged five and any pupils under or over that age whom it is expedient to educate with pupils of that age;”
Note that a lot of local admission authorities seem to misquote this act, stating that children mainly have to be younger than 5. Clearly the law says no such thing. In fact it even explicitly allows for children older than 5…
So if reception is mainly for five year olds, why do they expect us to send a 4 year old, or expect us to miss out reception entirely if we decide not to send our children until they reach compulsory school age?
I think we should get organised and mount a challenge. The law seems to allow (even subscribe) a later starting age than what is widely being practiced.
I think it’s an absolute disgrace how things are handled at the moment.
Someone please clarify this for me: on what basis can a local authority demand that a (summer born) child which starts school at compulsory school age, in line with the law, should miss out the entire reception year and go straight into year one? There must be some legal basis for this, but I have yet to find anything to that effect anywhere.
They seem to make it up as they please if you ask me.
Stefan
stefan@muchosmedia.com
My summer born boy had his first day at school yesterday 4/1/11. I delayed his start from September because he was not ready then- although my decision did annoy the school. They would have much preferred me to toe the line and send him in September and said he would lose his place in the school if he did not start in Jan.
I could not find any information to show the school what Kerrie had said about children being able to start at any time within the school year. However I have now received a reply from Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, which does clarify this and I thought it might be helpful to write it here for others to quote if they wish.
In the letter it states
“We will require all admissions authorities to offer a full time place from the September after a 4th birthday- but admission authorities must also continue to allow parents of children who are admitted to school before they are of compulsory school age to defer their child’s entry until later in the school year. Please note that later in the school year could be the day before the school year ends, although it is best for children to start at the beginning of a school term to minimise disruption. Where admission is deferred, admission authorities must hold the place for that child in the same school year and not offer it to another child.”
This gets round the blackmail aspect of “if you don’t start you will lose the school place” but of course does not resolve the fact that they will always be the youngest children in the class. I strongly feel that ,as in Scotland, they should be allowed to defer and start in reception the following year. I have agonised over this topic for over a year and feel I have failed my son by not managing to change the system! However I do also feel that he is much better equipped for school now than he was in September and I am glad I delayed his place.A lot of parents have said to me that they were not aware that it was possible to do this.
Kerrie, what did you end up doing?
Stefan, I agree that the system is flawed and I am going to continue to “discuss” this with our local education authority despite the fact that my son has started school.
sorry this has been so long! Helen
hi my little girl is a may baby and had to start school part time in sept 2010, i want to keep her part time but the school want her in mon wed fri all day and tues and thurs part time, i am now leaving her heart broken at school, i feel bullied and very upset, and i am 44 i can only guess how my 4 year old feels. reading what you have said i can insist on keeping her part time and if she is too tired keeping her casual until next sept.
Stefan – I think I have been looking for you! I am very much up for mounting a challenge, a campaign, generally screaming and shouting, crying on national TV, even climbing onto public buildings wearing silly outfits… in short whatever it takes for my now 2 year old not to have to start school a week after his 4th birthday. So what’s next?
Britta
I think we need to send these comment to Mr Gove and hope he is prepared to have a conversation with parentsoutloud and undersatnd how strong some parents feelings on on this.
That sounds great, Margaret. With the way the coalition likes to talk about giving parents and children choices when it comes to education… Quite a part from the question of what I believe is best for my child, I really object to the way that my authority as a parent just becomes completely overruled – not by a good argument (show me any evidence that says it will damage my son or anybody else if he starts reception class when he is 5 and we’ll talk) – but by a consideration for birth-dates rather than children. It’s absolutely infuriating!
Britta
Hi all,
This topic is not going away.
it’s been a while but here I am again
Our 3 year old daughter Annika (to be 4 in June) is about to start school this year in September. We are still in two minds about whether or not to accept the school place this year. In a way we don’t care what anyone would say, we know we do not have to send her until the term after she turns five, and that happens to be the beginning of the next school year.
I have yet to find any legislation or legal basis for the smoke screen that some authorities and schools seem to put up saying that if you delay until the next school year your child has to miss a year’s education and go straight into year 1.
On a more positive note, I have spoken to our Local Admissions authority who said that if we wished to delay school start for a year they would not be in our way as long as parents and school are happy with that. However the label of ‘low flyer’ was mentioned which infuriated me somewhat.
I could go on. I think we should all pitch in with some funds and get some legal advice on the situation. The fact that schools and authorities have ‘always done it that way’ does not mean it’s right or they are even allowed to do so.
Britta, email me.
I don’t think anyone has really mounted a challenge. I’ll keep you all posted – we may well pull Annika out of this year’s school year before she has started and try and delay her for a year – but only if we have guarantees that she can start in foundation, as normal, next year (by which time she will no doubt be ready for school). If we do so I make sure to report on progress.
As for our youngest daughter Louisa (born 26th August and due to start school in 2 years days after her 4th birthday): there is no way we will send her to school that young. No way.
stefan@muchosmedia.com
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