Preschool want son in Sept 18 rather than Jan 19

heldel00

I received a phonecall today from the preschool my son will be attending. They want a registration form filled in asap. He will not be three until end of October. I had expected him to go in January 2019 but she told me they are only doing an intake this September. Is this a new thing? (Rural area btw)
He is not yet toilet trained. We will be doing this during the summer.
I assume we will have to pay for him to go from Sept to Jan? Can we decide how many days he will go for at the start? I just feel he will still be a bit young

seamus

The ECCE rules have changed this year. In order to claim ECCE fundings for your son for 2018/2019, he has to be enrolled in September 2018, he can no longer be enrolled in January.

This is why the preschool have also changed their policy.

In terms of the potty training and number of days, you'll need to talk to the preschool about this. If they're taking kids under 3, then they must have a process for toilet training - many preschools train all the kids together in a batch.

heldel00

I'm (quietly) confident that he will be toilet trained by then. So we wont be paying for him from Sept to Jan? Does it start off 3 mornings attendance or is it 5 from the start?

seamus

The scheme covers 3 hours a day, five days a week. It is normal in my experience for the school to start off relatively easy, but get into the full routine quickly enough. So I wouldn't expect 3 days for the first month, but rather 3 days for the first week, and then five days.

For example, Since the 1st of September is a Saturday this year, the school may open for the two days at the end of August, have you drop the kids in late and pick them up earlyish. Then the following week do 3 hours a day, Wednesday - Friday. Then the full five days after that.

It's really up to the school though.

heldel00

Thanks Seamus. I was just reading there about the changes to the scheme. My daughter is only 2weeks old today but i had been wondering as to whether she would start school at 4yrs 8months or 5yrs 8months old - January is an awkward month (bit mental thinking about this already seeing as she's only newborn but its the teacher in me!!)

The changes to the scheme means that she will be eligible for her 2 yrs in Sept 2021, Sept 2022 and start school in Sept 2023 at the older age so the decision to start school at 4 or 5 is kinda decided for me - unless i just avail of one year of the scheme. Is this something people do?

coffeyt

Hi in relation to your daughter I'd hold off on a decision yet. I have similar gap between my children, my little boy is 3 since last August and started preschool in September and will be doing 2 full years and starting school at 5.
My daughter however turned 2 at Xmas and will be starting preschool in September this year due to the rule change. (She won't be 3 till Xmas day).
The plan is for her to do 2 years preschool also and start school at age 4 (turning 5 that Xmas).
We only decided this recently as because she is the second child she is much further advanced than her brother was at that age and we feel she will definitely be ready for school at 4 years and 9 months. As it stands she is already looking to go to preschool with her brother and tbh apart from not being toilet trained yet she would be well able for it.

heldel00

But is the date that she starts the two years not decided for me?
By that i mean that when i look on the ecce website it says "Your child born in Jan 2018 will be eligible for ecce scheme from Sept 2021 to June 2022, Sept 2022 to June 2023".
That to me means that either i send her then or just avail of one year?

coffeyt

heldel00 wrote: »

But is the date that she starts the two years not decided for me?
By that i mean that when i look on the ecce website it says "Your child born in Jan 2018 will be eligible for ecce scheme from Sept 2021 to June 2022, Sept 2022 to June 2023".
That to me means that either i send her then or just avail of one year?

You can choose to send her one year or two for ecce but she is eligible for both, it's your choice which September she starts.
From what I can see you can only one avail of the free ecce years if she starts in September and attends the full year. However if you check with your local preschool they may have space and be willing to start her in January 2022 if you paid the fee yourself for her to attend until June and then allow her take her free place in September for a year.
I know I spoke to my preschool recently and they are having a management meeting soon to discuss the new policies and see what options they have so it could all be up in the air yet.
But you should check with your local school regarding their policy on the age she can start junior infants as that can differ from school to school.

Millem

Have a January baby myself. The scheme annoys me. A December baby is different as they will get their 2 years of ECCE as you wouldn’t send them to school at 3 years and 8 months! If a January baby goes to school at 4 years and 7 months (unless birthday is 1st January) all January babies would only get 1 year of the ECCE. I want to avail of the two full years as the reality will be that there will be children a full 10 months older than my son in the class. When it comes to sports down the line he will be with the year below anyway because of his birthday. The school want him to go at 4 years and 7 months :mad:
I feel schools need to look at their enrolment policies in line with the changes to the ECCE.

sillysocks

Was only looking at these policies the other day-it does seem like January babies will be at a loss. Either send them for two years and not start school until 5&8 months which is quite old, or just do one (or do an earlier year to make it two but have to pay for it). I’ve a December baby which makes it good for me however then a baby born a week later has to start school a year later!

I think they changed it based on complaints when they had three access times during the year but I think that was actually better for the children compared to this.

Millem

sillysocks wrote: »

Was only looking at these policies the other day-it does seem like January babies will be at a loss. Either send them for two years and not start school until 5&8 months which is quite old, or just do one (or do an earlier year to make it two but have to pay for it). I’ve a December baby which makes it good for me however then a baby born a week later has to start school a year later!

I think they changed it based on complaints when they had three access times during the year but I think that was actually better for the children compared to this.

I don’t think 5 years and 7 months starting school is too old though. Children are in school now for 14 years :eek: no rush in starting. We wouldn’t even be having a discussion on it if we were in another country School starts on 1st September a January baby is 5 years and 7 months unless born on 1st January. The reality is there are 30 in class in most schools.....far too many but it isn’t going to change. I would prefer my son to be that year older. I don’t know the age profile of junior infants would I would safely say he is at best 5th youngest in a class of 30. A few years ago I am sure he would of been in the middle. I hope schools can’t force a child to start a 4 years and 7 months.

Millem

Millem wrote: »

I don’t think 5 years and 7 months starting school is too old though. Children are in school now for 14 years :eek: no rush in starting. We wouldn’t even be having a discussion on it if we were in another country School starts on 1st September a January baby is 5 years and 7 months unless born on 1st January. The reality is there are 30 in class in most schools.....far too many but it isn’t going to change. I would prefer my son to be that year older. I don’t know the age profile of junior infants would I would safely say he is at best 5th youngest in a class of 30. A few years ago I am sure he would of been in the middle. I hope schools can’t force a child to start a 4 years and 7 months.

The other side of that is the amount of time teachers have to spend on younger children. Especially in Junior and Senior Infants. My youngest was 5 years 3 months old starting but was in with kids a year + younger. You would think that it shouldn’t make a difference but it did.

Millem

Deleted User wrote: »

The other side of that is the amount of time teachers have to spend on younger children. Especially in Junior and Senior Infants. My youngest was 5 years 3 months old starting but was in with kids a year + younger. You would think that it shouldn’t make a difference but it did.

I am a secondary school teacher myself and from my experience I think it’s better to wait I would prefer my son to be older rather than younger. Primary school teachers deserve medals.

uck51js9zml2yt

Mine both spent 2 years before n Montessori.
My eldest was born in September do started at 3.
Youngest in Dec so started at 2 3/4.He didn't talk till 3 1/2 but it didn't stop him. He was toilet trained before starting and the teachers worked on his speech. He's flying now.
Both had 5 days a week.

Moonbeam

My 3 January babies ,they all did 2 years ECCE then started school ,
My 4th is an April baby so 3 years play school then to school .

heldel00

Were they 4 or 5 starting Moonbeam?

As a teacher i think its ridiculous that schools weren't consulted more on this change. None of my colleagues heard of the changes either. It will have a direct impact in 5 years time on the Junior Infant curriculum and that will have a knock on effect on the rest of the classes too.
It can only be a good thing that we will no longer have 4 yr olds and almost 6 yr olds in the same classroom.

Moonbeam

4 years and 9 months.
I do feel sorry for JI teachers when they have ids just gone 4 in their classes with kids that are mostly 5 and some turning 6. At that age it is a massive difference.

ECCE teachers were not consulted either, wouldn't it be lovely if teachers were consulted before changes were brought it in, parents need to be educated about it too.