Educate together and irish system

lounakin

Hey all!
I've had to put my infant daughter on a list for schools already and I'm interested in the educate together system.
Could someone explain to me when children usually start school here in Ireland? Where I come from we start at 3 (but some children are not quite 3) and we do 3 years of preschool with learning basics of reading/writing in the last year. We go on to the first year of 'real' school by the age of 6.
Anyway, in most schools here they have an age limit and in the ones I'm interested in, that limit is 4 years old by the 1st of May. My daughter will be 4 by the 16th of May and I've been told there's no bending the rule. That would make my daughter a year older than her peers, which I'm not too happy about.
How many years of preschool are there before they start 1st grade? Is it just the one?
Or am I understanding this wrong and school here starts more at 5 years old and if a child is born on the 1st of may they will be 4.5 years and that is their limit?

aisher

A lot of kids in Ireland dont start 'big' school until they are either 5 or turning 5 - my own kids were aged 4 but turned 5 in December of their first year. They did two years of preschool before they went to school - they went to a local playschool and so touched on some 'academic' work but not a whole lot. You would be able to avail of one year of free preschool for your child right before they join Primary school. Regardless of what kind of preschool they kids went to before starting Primary school they all start at the same level and I found the first year was all about learning how to hold a pencil, recognise the alphabet and simple work. If your daughter is only turning 4 in late May I would feel it would be better to allow her a year of preschool and start Primary when she is 5.

lounakin

Your kids are born in December so they are even younger than my daughter. By the school's terms she would be 5 years and 4 months by the start of the school year. Some schools don't have a rigid limit then?

lounakin

And just to specify, when you say big school you mean grade 1?

aisher

Well we call the first year of Primary school Junior Infants followed by Senior Infants and then First Class and so on. All schools have an age limit - some allow kids to start if they turn 4 by end of July but its up to each school. The schools are trying to encourage parents to send their children to school nearer to age 5 then just gone age 4. If they have too many kids applying for places the older child usually gets in first.

lounakin

Ok, so she would start grade 1 aged 7 years and 4 months. Is that the usual or is that a year late? It's so confusing to me as grade one in france is started age 6 or 5 and a bit.

Big Bag of Chips

Many children start junior infants at 5, having done at least 1 year at playschool.

A rough age guide is
junior infants 5
Senior infants 6
1st class 7

Etc..

This then makes the child 13 starting their first year in secondary school, and if 5 years in secondary they will be 18 starting college.

It's only a rough guide though. And while a just turned 4 year old might be well able for junior infants, you have to consider if a just turned 12 year old would be able for secondary.

5 years starting junior infants is not unusual. And if that's the schools policy then your child certainly won't be the only 5 year old starting.

lounakin

Well the school policy is not 5, it's 4 years old by May 1st which makes them 4 years 4 months, my daughter would be exactly a year older than that because she's born 2 weeks after the deadline.
And as for starting secondary, i'm used to a system where we start at 10/11 years old so going at 12 doesn't seem an issue to me.

Big Bag of Chips

She will be a year older than SOME of the kids, not all. And if she started in school at 4, she would be a year younger than some of the kids. That's the curse of having a child in March - Aug!

That is the standard and structure of Irish schools. They start at 4 or 5, start secondary at 12 at the youngest, but 13 being around average.

If you are unhappy with the age policy of the school your only option is to seek out a school that doesn't have that policy.

lounakin

I don't really know yet, just didn't think it would be so rigid. And I was just asking about the average age in schools as it's different from where I'm from. I just understood now that the irish system has one extra primary school year than the french for instance. I have to figure all this out so I know what to do if ever I was to move back to france.

Cailin CoisFarraige

Junior Infants compares approximately to "La Moyenne Section" in France, Senior Infants to "La Petite Section", 1st class to "Cours Préparatoire" and so on. . . The first year of "secondary school" in Ireland is roughly equivalent to cinqiéme, in terms of age and the kind of material the children are learning, even though that would be the second year of collége in France.

La Petite Section doesn't really exist in Ireland, though most children go to preschool at around that age, which is similar, just less formal. Junior and Senior Infants are similar to Maternelle.

lounakin

We have the 'petite', 'moyenne' and 'grande'! lol.. anyway, I think I got it, it just seems at the same grade irish children tend to be older. I don't mind that really, didn't enjoy french school myself so I'm open to a different one, as long a my daughter doesn't stand out too much by being either way older or way younger.

byhookorbycrook

4 is generally considered very young, most kids would be older starting, in our school children must be 4 by the March before the start with us.It makes a big difference to children when they are that bit more mature. it's a big leap into formal schooling, especially when there are 29 others in your class!

Moonbeam

There is usually 1 year of pre school before starting "big" school called the ECCE scheme which is state subsidised in full.

My 2 will be years and 9 months starting but in my little ones pre school class all the other kids are already 4.