Did any of your LO's start school part time?

[LaDY]

My LO turns 4 in the summer and is due to start school in Sept this year...tbh this has really been bothering me...he is so young, i personally feel he is too young for school...however i have been doing my research and have found that i can actually request my child to go part time until he is a little older...has anyone ever done this? is it common? how did you do it? x

 

[Vicyi]

I REALLY debated this with my DD. Her birthday is the 29th Aug so she is the youngest in the school. I talked to several of her nursery workers and asked if THEY thought she was ok going full time or if i should put her in part time - they all agreed that she was more than ready to go to school and although she is the youngest she is by no means 'behind' anyone else (this has since also been told and proven to me by her teacher who says she is one of the most independent, strong minded and friendly child in the class.)
I also spoke to my best friend (who works in childcare) and she says that going part time can actually delay your child and can, to some extent, exclude your child. For example if your child is in the minority (or the only one) who is going part time then their friends may form a tighter bond to other children who are there ALL the time. They also 'miss out' on some of the learning and playing and so can find themselves behind in certain things purely because there were not there when the rest of the class was taught it.

At the end of the day it is YOUR decision and only you can decide if your son is ready or not but why not talk to his nursery/pre school teachers if he has any and see what they say? Its hard not to compare your child to another of a similar age but tbh they change SO much when they start school and already Mills has come on leaps and bounds with her reading, writing, spelling & maths and she has only been there 6 months. I hope at least some of this helped. xx

EDIT: Only 2 out of Mills class of 30 applied for part time and by the end of the first week they both decided to take the leap and start them full time xx

 

[smelly07]

At my daughters school the summer and spring babies started part time.

autumn babies born between september -december started full time straight away.
spring babies born between january and april started part time 3 days 2 days full time and then after the october half term they went fulltime everyday.
summer babies born between may and july stated part time until after october half term and then they did 3 days full days and 2 days part time until after christmas and then started full time.

My eldest daughter was a summer baby so this is what she did.
My youngest is also a summer baby but now the school has changed the system and now all children start fulltime straight away.

Personally i prefer this as i felt that the summer babies were missing out and therefore behind compared to the other children in her class, my daughter often was upset when missing out on things that were happening in school in the afternoon and not always being able to stay for lunch with her friends etc

I think all schools intake differently so i would visit the schools in your area and ask how they do things.

x

 

[RachA]

Daniel's birthday is 10th Aug and he started part time. He only went full time on 9th Nov. TBH i really wish that i'd listened to my gut and asked for him to stay part time until after the christmas.
While he isn't in any way behind in an academic way at all he has early struggled because of tiredness. I appreciate that whenever he started full time he would find it hard but actually nearly 6 months after turning 4 would of been a lot easier than 2 months after.
Reception classes are very fluid and i really don't believe that Daniel would of suffered in any way by being the only child to be part time. Quite often friendships made in reception are broken by year 1 or 2 and they'll find they have a few close friends rather than being friends with lots of the children.

IMO there is a world of different between being ready to go to school learning wise and being ready to go in a social skills way. Daniel's TA and teacher have both commented on Daniel's ability to learn and his matureness. But they both have said that sending him to school full time when he had only just turned 4 would of been a disaster for him.

It's obviously up to what what you decide but i would say that if you aren't happy with full time hours then i would send your lo part time-once they are full time it's hard to take them back to being part time but if you find after an extra week of part time that he is ready then you can send him full time. You can also request to do things like send him full time Mon-Wed and then mornings only on Thurs and Fri.

 

[saitiffeh]

Here in Canada, the cutoff is Dec 31st for the school year. My son's birthday is November 21st, so when he started school he was only 3. THREE! He had a hard time adjusting, he was the "baby" of the class. He did school every other day to adjust and now he is doing great.

I would definitely recommend starting your LO part time. It's a big adjustment and a little scary. What kind of social interaction has she had with kids before?

 

[LaDY]

Thanks for your replies ladies, it's clear that there are a lot of pros and cons to sending LO part time. He really is a socialable little boy, he attends preschool currently but I guess in my eyes he will always be my little baby. Also some of his friends at preschool are a lot older than him which makes me realise just how much younger he actually looks x

 

[mumandco]

My little boy started school when he was 3 years and 2 months he's in the nursery class he did 3 weeks part time and now he goes full time. He does seem young to be in school but the difference it has made to him is amazing and he has already learnt so so much

 

[RachA]

Just as an extra note to my post above. I've noticed that Daniel has stopped struggling quite so much with tiredness etc since he went back after Feb half term. The vast majority, in fact i can't actually think of any that still are struggling so i should say all, of children in his class stopped struggling once they started back after christmas. It's taken Daniel an extra half term for him to stop struggling and i believe that had he been part time for longer it wouldn't off been so bad.
Daniel is also a very sociable child and being part time wouldn't of affected this.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

My son was 4yrs 2 weeks when he started school. He (and all the other summer term babys) did part time from September- December and then full time. It benefited him as he did used to get really tired. It was abit of a pain however that he may have settled in sooner I think x

 

[Tegans Mama]

Tegan goes to preschool part time now and will start school full time in September. She's an August baby too so she's one of the youngest in her year. All her classmates who were born after January have the option of staying in nursery part time and school the rest of the day until the next January if their parents see fit. I'm not sure what well be doing yet as Tegan has a developmental delay, but it is nice to have the option.