Hi Sunflower, my hubby had most of the nappy bit, and the highlight of my week is still going to Tesco by myself - ah bliss! My best bit is that at the weekend, they are happy to go downstairs by themselves, switch on the telly and grab themselves a carton of fruit juice and a brioch which I have laid out, and we get to stay in bed until about 8.30 instead of 7. We don't have reception class, our kids start in P1. They must start if they are 5 before school starts after the summer holidays (this year that would be 20 August). However, they can start if they are 5 before the end of February of the following year - most children would do that. however, they can defer until the following summer. So, the earliest they would start school is 4 and a half, but they could in theory be nearly 6 although in practice, no-one whos childs birthday is before Christmas usually does, but you can end up with more than a year between children in the same class which is a big difference at that age. Prior to this, children have an entitlement to 12 and a half hours per week in pre school - usually taken as 5 sessions of 2 and a half hours. This is nursery though, they don't do any formal learning at all until school where in my area, they will go from 9 til 3.15 after their first day.
My boys are in P1 and P2 and will go up to P2 and 3 after the summer holidays. We have a lot of composite classes though, the school only has 8 classrooms, and too many children for one class in every year except p4 and 5 which for some strange reason, only have 19 peoples in each wheras all the other years have over 30. They then have the bother of keeping brothers and sisters apart when you have people like us that have them really close together! I am sure that they all reach the same levels in the end, our kids just have a bit of catching up to do - but then in some countries they don't start until they are 7, so our kids would just be starting now!