4 year old starting primary school

niamhg13

my child is 4 since may,is it too young to send her to primary school in September,need some advice,thanks

byhookorbycrook

It very much depends on the child. Is he/she at preschool?

niamhg13

yes,just finished last week.she has older sister,who is in 3rd class,learns a lot off her.

zinzan

Only you can really tell if she is ready or not!
Our fella is 4 in July and could probably cope ok, but we're holding him back until next year as we feel he's still a bit unsure of himself at times. We figure it is easier to hold him back now rather than worry about having to do it later when he has a class full of friends. Hopefully he won't be too bored by a second year in preschool!

byhookorbycrook

How independent is she? Can she manage lunch box , going to the loo, putting coat on and off unaided? Is she able to share?Does she still need a lot of adult input ALL the time?

niamhg13

yes well able to do all of the above,thanks to playschool

Midnight Sundance

It would also be worth noting the general age of jun infants in your school of choice. If they are are on average the 4/4 and half age and you feel he will cope then send him. There's a big difference between just turned 4 and full 5 year olds , if the class is mainly 5 and over I think I'd wait .
Just an extra to add to your list of pro and cons

Tordelback

My son was the same age as the OP's starting primary school (4yrs 4mths), and all I can do of use is to report his progress, with the understanding that all kids are different. His creche Montessori teacher said he'd be well able for school and would be bored spending another year there (he was in full-time, back in the happy days when we both had jobs), so we sent him off. He's just finishing 1st class now, and he's doing grand. However, he is the youngest in the class at just-turned 7 when most are 8 and a few 9, and physically he's the smallest, a full head shorter than some of the boys.

There's no problem with the school work as such (he gets good reports and is well able for his homework), but he's definitely less emotionally and socially mature than the average for the class and he's starting to feel the differences in athletic ability too despite being quite sporty - he was recently quite upset after Sports Day because 'everyone' agreed he was the slowest runner (he actually wasn't, but that hardly matters). I worry about his self-confidence getting eroded by comparisons like these. These aren't terrible things by any means, and he's happy and excited running in through the gates everyday, but equally they're not ideal and possibly going to get worse.

I personally don't think we made the best decision for him, although it certainly hasn't been disastrous, and for my daughter who will be 4 at the start of September we had no hesitation in keeping her out until she's 5 despite her being very independent. I'd certainly echo the advice above about looking at the age profile of the class the child is going into.

byhookorbycrook

Tordelback, good post, hope your little chap does ok. Social and emotional skills are a huge part of school readiness.

layviae

hi op just saw this and you may have made a decision already but my son has just finished junior infants, he was 4 and 5months, most of his class were already 5 and started turning 6 in april my son was a little behind most in some aspects but excelled at others, we had some concerns at the start as he was very emotional but seems fine now, his best friend is 11months older than him but there exactly at the same stage in all aspects
ive heard people at 5 saying they never regret sending them late but there was a boy in my sons class who turned 4, 3days before they started and he was so ready to start he would have been too far ahead if his parents had kept him back althought there was a year and 4 months between him and some of the others he was further than most of them by far, like others said it depends on the child, basics they need to be able to do is
toilet themselves and wipe there bums
pull up and down there trousers and pants,
not wet themselves regulary,
put on and off there jumpers and jackets
open and close there school bags and lunch boxes and drink bottles,
blow there own nose
turn on and off a tap (mine couldnt)
generally look after there personal needs independently, if they can do all this without panicing and crying every day there pretty much ready
any acedemic stuff that they have difficulty with can be helped at home by doing extra work