With the new intake of reception children looming, I was wondering who decided that children must now start school at just four years old?
I am referring mainly to the children with August birthdays. These children have hardly stopped needing an afternoon nap. They are certainly not ready to face the challenge of a class of 30 children.
We will spend a considerable time teaching toilet training and cuddling and reassuring these little mites. None of us object to this, but there are only two adults in a class. Plus most of us have the inclusion of at least one if not more special needs children - children with various medical problems including asthma, epilepsy, autism, Asperger's and so on. On top of this we still have to accept children who will be only just four years old.
I remember my own children seeming ready to start school at three to four years old, but they were not! They actually changed their personalities again at four to four-and-a-half and some anxieties crept in. They were more cautious and less trusting - which is how one expects them to be, especially with adults they do not know. But with three mornings a week at playschool my children were more than ready and prepared to start school life at five years old.
At that time I worked as a staff nurse so wasn't always there but managed to juggle shifts to be around when I should be. They have never had to be the less able children in their class due to immaturity of age, thank goodness.
Some children are forever playing 'catch-up' from starting school when they are too young and suffer through secondary school as well. They are often picked on and even bullied due to their low self-esteem.
I know this doesn't apply to every four-year-old who has only just turned four a week or so before they start school, but one cannot help noticing the struggle some of them have.
