General Chat

please could someone tell me when did the age of starting school change from 5 to three

It hasn't - has it?

School is statutory after the fifth birthday - pretty certain on this.

I went to school age five in 63, but ime not sure if it changed for my brother who was born 74

My son was born 1973 and he went just a few weeks before his 5th birthday, daughter born 1977 was exactly the same. Both went to a nursery attached to the school from 3 but it wasn't compulsory. The school age has been altered upwards they leave at 18 now but as far as I'm aware it's still 5 with talk a couple of years of not starting school until 6.

The PM talked about free nursery places for 3 and 4 yr old only recently.

The school leaving age was raised in 1972 to 16 but I think the starting age remained at five (or strictly speaking, the term after the fifth birthday).

He might have started school in the school year (1 Sep - 31 Aug) in which his 5th birthday fell.

Depending on the EA, there were moves (England and Wales) to do away with new entries every term and limit them to only in September and January. Some parents felt pressurised
to send their children well before their 5th birthday.

One of ours has a birthday towards the end of July - he started school in the previous Jan so age c4 years and 6 months.

Are you confusing a statutory school age of 3 with admission to nursery/kindergarten? Some of those act as feeders to the Reception/Year One of the nearest Primary school.

‘Playschool’ wouldn’t accept a child under the age of 3, believing that they weren’t mature enough for the separation and that children should learn through play. In the main, the children did not attend 5 days a week, but either some mornings or some afternoons.

I live in Scotland so slightly different here but our kids all start school between 4 and half and 5 and a half. The children born between March of one year and February of the following all start school at the same time so the March birthdays will be 5 and a half and the February birthdays 4 and a half. Those whose birthdays fall late December, January or February can defer for a year so the child will be 5 and half when they start in August.

Many thanks everyone

I don't think it ever gone down to three but sometimes the term changes sometimes they take you in the term before your 5th birthday and sometimes after. Some nursery schools attached to schools would take children in at three but that was only for mornings or afternoons

ooop`s, I forgot to say...So would my parents of had the choice whether to send me to school or not at age three in 1966

Although the legal starting point is the term following the fifth birthday parents may feel pressured into starting their child's schooling earlier as explained in this article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25726538

This explains my grandson's school admission: He was 4 in the July so started full time 2 months later.

Nursery
The nursery is part-time, i.e. either a morning session or an afternoon session
on alternate weeks. A maximum of 32 places is available in both the Welsh
and the English Nursery. Children are entitled to a part-time nursery place from the start of the term following their third birthday.

Reception
Children are admitted to our reception classes in the September following
their fourth birthday.

i started school at 3 but that was long ago..lol

My grandchildren started at 3 also, but it is really pre-school and not compulsory. it follows on from nursery.

Thank you all :-)

I started school three months before my fifth birthday, in 1951. I have just returned from a re-union in Whitby with five others of the same class.

school age in lincolnshire is 4

My granddaughters live in Hampshire. Both started school the September after their fourth birthdays.

My sons both started in the term after their fifth birthday - 1960's - but moved up to the Juniors in September. So elder one, with an August birthday, did just two years in the Infants, while the younger one, with a December birthday, did two years and two terms. Not surprisingly, winter born children had an advantage over the summer ones!!

I started school in the Infants building in September 1944 at the age of 4+, and turned 5 in the following January. We spent 3 years in the Infants, then moved to the Junior School (in a different building) in the September of the year in which we turned 7.

I actually walked into the Junior 1 class to be greeted by the teacher with "We expected you last year!"

I don't think Mum and Dad were ever chased by the truancy people, so don't know what had happened :-)

There was only 1 entry a year then

Cane I went to school age 3 but I went to nursery which in my days was a lot different to what it is now we learnt to read and write . what they call preschool maybe now :-D

My youngest daughter started nursery when she had just turned 3 then went up to the infants when she was 4. I started school when I was 5 in a little country school