4 year old into a village school

MichaelR

Hello,

Our child will be 4 in May. Is it OK to send him into a primary school (in a village) at this age? Many adults here seem to think it's better to wait until 5, but the boy is smart and likes to be with his peers.

E.T.

I teach infants in a small school. From my experience, I think this is quite young to send a boy to school. Even if a child is very bright, often they're not socially mature enough, as a young 4 year old, for school. They may be well able for the work, but it's actually settling down to the school routine that is a big problem for a very young 4 year old. This is definitely more often the case with boys.

At the end of the day it's up to you, but all I can say from a teacher's point of view is that any 5 year old boys who come in to my classroom have generally settled in faster, found the work easier (doesn't matter how bright they are), and have been a lot more ready for the general school setting. Any parents I can think of who have kept their children in playschool etc til they were 5 have been more than happy with their decision.

maxim

I had a similar decision to make when it was turn for my daughter to start school. Her birthday is in July, and as such she would have been either the youngest or eldest in her class! I spoke to many people, including the school, her playgroup teachers, friends, other parents etc., and the answer was always the same - it's up to you! In the end she stayed in playgroup for another year and entered school just after she was 5. Once the decision was made 'everyone' said I had made the right choice (shame they couldn't have been more helpful before!) She settled well into school, and was that bit more confident and outgoing. She already had quite a good sight vocabulary and simple number skills before starting school, and consequently school was not too hard for her. I also found later, that if I had started her a year earlier there would have been someone in her class exactly 1 year older, so they had obviously waited the year as well.
Hope this helps - it is a difficult decision, and at the end of the day I would prefer that my child could cope with school easily, rather than not settling, finding it hard, and perhaps (although hopefully not!) being kept back a year.

byhookorbycrook

Generally, older would be better, boys sometimes find the social aspect harder when starting, no matter how "bright" they are. If it's a village school, am I right in presuming it will be a multi-class situation? This means children need to be fairly independent as teacher will be working with the other class/classes and the class not working directly under the teacher at that point will need to be able to manage.

embee

Hi,

hope you don't mind me butting in here with a question or two.

I have my daughter enrolled for school starting in September 2010. She was born in February 2006 so will be 4.5 starting. Is this age about right? If I left it til the following year I think 5.5 is very old to be in Junior Infants. She is starting Montessori in September of this year - people at the Montessori told me that in their experience girls can start off in school that little bit younger than boys.

My daughter is very sociable, she's not shy, plays with other children easily, for a girl who has just turned 3 her speech is very good and she is begging me everyday to let her go to school, very hard to explain to her that she's going in 18 months time!!!

Also, she will be attending a single-sex primary school, does this make any sort of difference? She is well aware of which primary school she'll be going to, every time we drive past it she says "Look Mammy, I'll go there when I'm bigger! Only girls go to my school" etc and she chats about the uniform etc. She asks literally once or twice a day when is she going to school. I'm trying my best to keep her entertained and stimulated but she's school obsessed at the moment. I know that she's 3 and getting very very into certain things is common at her age, but this school pestering has been going on since she's been toilet trained (7 months ago). Her imagination is running riot, a lot of her games that she plays now are sitting at the table, pretending she's in school, doing her "homework"... she's got an imaginary friend called Katie who "sits beside me in school"... all imaginary games are sort of revolving around school and she gets sad and sulks when I tell her she's not quite big enough yet. She tells me she's the "best girl" and she is "big enough for school".

She does go to a childminder at the moment, not that I'm working, I'm in college but on a sabbatical but there aren't other small kids in the family and I want to have her used to children of different ages etc before she starts school.... but is there anything else I can do short of fast forwarding a year?!

E.T.

Hi Embee, I think a child who'll be 4 in February is just about old enough to start school in September of the same year. From my experience as a teacher, children with birthdays after February seem to have trouble settling in and getting used to the school routine (this is just in general, there'll always be exceptions, although they're fairly rare). I have a number of children who've already turned 6 in my Junior Infants class this year and they definitely have an advantage, both socially and educationally, on the younger children (as I said in my original post, it doesn't matter how bright they are).

littlebug

OP I had the same dilemma with my May baby but I waited til she was 5 to start school and I haven't regretted it at all. She actually isn't the oldest in the class either. It's only March now and she's already been to two 7th birthday parties of her classmates.

Embee my son was exactly the same before he started Montessori last year. We signed him up to a week long summer camp in the montessori which I think prepared him nicely for starting in Sept and he met some of his classmates to be etc. When I say week long I mean Mon- Fri 10am-1pm.

embee

littlebug wrote: »

OP I had the same dilemma with my May baby but I waited til she was 5 to start school and I haven't regretted it at all. She actually isn't the oldest in the class either. It's only March now and she's already been to two 7th birthday parties of her classmates.

Embee my son was exactly the same before he started Montessori last year. We signed him up to a week long summer camp in the montessori which I think prepared him nicely for starting in Sept and he met some of his classmates to be etc. When I say week long I mean Mon- Fri 10am-1pm.

Hey littlebug,

Think the Montessori Rhi is enrolled in does a similar thing in the summer too... will look into it though! Her "long day" at "school" will be 9.15 to 12.15 but I'd say she's going to love every second of it. She's bursting for school now, hard to explain it's still six months away

dna

OP - Im an infants teacher, and in my experience boys tend to be better left for another year if possible but that's just my opinion. Read a book about raising boys (can't remember author) that said a boy should be a year older than the girl they sit beside in school.

mairead_or

As an infants teacher I've been asked this question a few times and without any personal experienc to base my answers on I turned to my principal for advice... she said there is obviously no "right" answer becase every child is unique and every parent knows whats best for their own off spring but generally "noone regrets sending their child to school a year late but many people regret sending their child to school too early". she's been teaching a long time so its seems sound advice...if in doubt keep them at playschool...it definitely wont to any harm!:)