Primary school starting age

amkin25

Does anyone think sending my son with a birthday in oct to primary say in a september when he would be turning 6 that october just after the school started is too old.
I know it is just within the allowed limit but is it too old would there be other people sending their kid's at that age or would he be standout older than the rest?
Any opinions appreciated.

muckisluck

I think that is probably too old. It always depends on the child but the chances are his interests etc will be more sophisticated than his peers in the class. Also for activities he would never play on the same teams as his classmates as most activities for children are aged based. That can have an anti social effect on the child.

Lisha

Is he in playschool or crèche now?

If he is I would ask their opinion.

Normally people would send a child his age to school the sept before he would be 5.
But I do know a girl who sent her son the sept before he was 6. She did so on the advice of her sons playschool teacher.

amkin25

He is in playschool right now,just he spent his first couple years abroad his english might be slightly behind the norm but he get's on fine in playschool,it was just i hadn't him registered in a school yet and i know may is the deadline also i'm sort of in between moving now,was planning to be moving to another area in the next year,not far just different parish u know,so i can only be sure of him getting into the parish i am in at the moment.
So i didn't want him to be moving school's either after just 1 year or something,but like if it was too out of the norm him turning almost 6 when he starts,i think i would have to find a way to get him in this coming year somewhere.

byhookorbycrook

I'd say that is a bit old, but of course it depends on the child.

lazygal

Starting at six in Ireland would be the exception rather than the rule, even though the curriculum and legal starting age runs from 4-6 years. I'd register for schools now and chase up a place. You can decide to defer closer to the time if necessary.

Missyelliot2

I'd agree with the earlier posts - ask for the opinion of the playschool. But for him, he won't want to be the biggest /oldest in the class. But personally, would bite the bullet and send him in Sept

bulmersgal

I think it's a bit old. He would be six and the majority of the class would be 5 or just turning 5. I'm starting my April born daughter this on advise from crèche and what I felt too. So if they were in the same class when he was 6 their would be 18 months in the different between them. That's a huge gap, and in our school there is 20 kids born from Jan to April 2010.

Moonbeam

Is it just his english that you are concerned about?
If so I would not worry as they pick up language very quickly and in a lot of schools he will not be the only one starting with out fluent english,talk to the school and see what they think and also his pre school teacher.

Lisha

bulmersgal wrote: »

I think it's a bit old. He would be six and the majority of the class would be 5 or just turning 5. I'm starting my April born daughter this on advise from crèche and what I felt too. So if they were in the same class when he was 6 their would be 18 months in the different between them. That's a huge gap, and in our school there is 20 kids born from Jan to April 2010.

Hi bulmersgal,

Just to clarify are you starting your April born girl at 4yrs six months or 5yrs six months please?

Am in the same boat with my daughter and I'm just curious.

saucyleopard

It might not be fair to leave him so much older than his friends. My 3 all started at 4.After 2 years of creche they were sick of it .

amkin25

Thank's for the replies,helped me come to a decision,have decided i have to get him in somewhere for this coming school year,he would be impossible to manage i think probably and be way too big for playschool anyway for another full year.

Lisha

amkin25 wrote: »

Thank's for the replies,helped me come to a decision,have decided i have to get him in somewhere for this coming school year,he would be impossible to manage i think probably and be way too big for playschool anyway for another full year.

I think you are right best of luck to your and your son

bulmersgal

Lisha wrote: »

Hi bulmersgal,

Just to clarify are you starting your April born girl at 4yrs six months or 5yrs six months please?

Am in the same boat with my daughter and I'm just curious.

She's starting at 4 and 6 months. She's been in crèche 3 years so would be very social and use to follow rules and sitting down etc. the majority of her class will be born from jan to April so she'll be find.

I had to pick between two schools and other school she would of been the youngest and not many born after January

Lisha

bulmersgal wrote: »

She's starting at 4 and 6 months. She's been in crèche 3 years so would be very social and use to follow rules and sitting down etc. the majority of her class will be born from jan to April so she'll be find.

I had to pick between two schools and other school she would of been the youngest and not many born after January

Thanks for that. I will hold my daughter until she is 5yrs 6months as the custom in the school is to wait until as near 5 or iver5 as possible. Our school advises that any child born after the January is kept until the following year.

She has only gone to playschool 2 days a week since Christmas so she won't be sick of it (I hope)

She also does not have great concentration skills yet. So it's a different set of circumstances to your daughter .

Best of luck and thanks for reply. Always good to know what others are doing

Moonbeam

My daughter is in Junior infants and I think there are probably more 6 year olds then 4 year olds at this stage. My 1st 3 kids are January and will do 2 years of pre school and my baby is April so unless she is exceptional I reckon she will start at 5 and the rest at 4.

billie1b

I have my daughter starting Junior Infants this year, she will be 4 on July 23rd, but she is well capable, the rule in our school is that the child has to be 4 before the end of March, due to places being available they accepted her. She can't wait, already talking about her uniform and Dc.McStuffins school bag