What age should children start primary school

[doonhamer8]

Children born in February in UK start school either at 4.5 or 5.5 years I'd like to hear from anyone who has strong feelings either way about whether or not it is a good thing to start school at 4.5yrs

[dancecaller]

It very much depends on the child, and I think it's all wrong that you have to make this choice.

[dancecaller]

Also it depends on when their friends are starting school.

When I ran a Playgroup we had one girl who was just a few days too young to start school when her friends did. She seemed mature so it was a shame. But then her brother had a birthday in a different month, and had to start earlier, though he was not really ready IMO.

Do what seems right for your child, and if you decide on a later start but then want to start in the middle of the year, ask for that. The school has to accept children who move into the area after all.

[kick3m0n]

a recent study (cna't rememebr deatils but it was reported in all the papers a couple of weeks ago) showed that boys (in UK) who start school before their 5th birthday perform less well over their entire school life than boys who start at 5 or over. Girls are totally unaffected by starting school at 4 or 5, makes no difference to them. The recommendation of the study showed that ideally, boys should not start school till they are over 5, although the author recognised that this may be impractical.

[boobesque]

you should be able to have a choice for them to start after christmas, my mum did this with my sister, she felt she was too young to start in the september so she started after the xmas holidays, there were a few who did this so she didnt start alone and she soon remembered all her friends from nursery

[MrsJo49155]

check with your local schools...the school I work at also gives the parents the option to start them in January however I would point out that socially the later starters do find it harder to settle in as the children who started in September have already formed little groups and friendships.

This day and age most children tend to go to playschool quite frequently and therefore there is not much difference between that and school - the early years curriculum is just a stepping stone between nursery and Year 1 at school.

[dancecaller]

There's the world of difference between a morning at playgroup and a full day at school. Even if the lunch break is long enough for children to go home to lunch it is a long day (and with more children staying to school dinner the break is shorter than when I was at school).

Once you have started school you are expected to attend regularly. And there may not be the same parent involvement that playgroups have (or had).

[aims1202]

My son was 4yrs old in february and is due to start school this september. I feel very strongly that children should start school much later, like other countries. The problem is we don't really have a choice. If i don't send my son to school until next year he will only be allowed to start in year 1. I believe this will be worse as he will miss the reception class. And he will probably be the only one or one of few starting school then. At the moment i don't think my son is ready for school and at least another year would make all the difference. I just wish we had a choice. The author of Raising Boys, Steve Biddolph says boys should start school a year behind girls, they would then be at the same stage as them. I actually think all children should start later, girls when they are 5yrs and boys when they are 6yrs. And there would have to be excellent pre schools for children from 3/4yrs until these ages.