Starter for four: at what age should a child start school?

The merits of starting children in primary school at the age of four or five is a perennial topic of debate among parents.

Dates of birth, school-enrolment policies and, above all, individual children’s maturity, are all factors in the equation. So are financial considerations, since children are entitled to only one year of free preschool.

Firstly parents need to be clear about what “ready for school” means, says Teresa Heeney, chief executive of Early Childhood Ireland. “It’s not about can they hold a pen or can they sit in a seat for four hours: no child should have to sit in any seat for four hours,” she says. “It is all about their social and emotional wellbeing, which creates the disposition for learning and forming relationships.”

You need to be happy that the child can cope not only with being away from home from 9am to 2pm every day but with being in an environment where there may be only one adult to, say, 26 children (compared with one to 11 in preschool) and in close proximity to crowds of older children.

However, “most children cope very well and schools are well used to helping them settle in”, she stresses.

Since the start of the free preschool scheme in 2010, Heeney believes more children are five now before they start school and that this is to the advantage of the child. She doesn’t agree with the notion that a child may be too “bright” to remain in preschool.

If parents think the curriculum at the child’s current preschool isn’t sufficiently challenging, she would advise moving to another one, such as a Steiner, outdoor or play-based one.

“That all comes down to money,” she admits. “But if the family can afford a second year, there are lots of very good reasons to give your child a second year and lots of choice of types of settings.”

To those worried about a son or daughter’s friends moving on to school while they remain in preschool, she points out that children make new friends very easily and that there is no better environment in which to do so than an early childhood centre.

Fiona Brennan, who has two children and lives in Co Meath, believes the question of being ready at four or five depends on the child and that where they come in the family is likely to be a factor too. Her eldest son has an August birthday, so he started school soon after turning five. His younger brother was born in April and she was worried about him being only four-and-a-half going into school, although staff at his Montessori preschool said he was doing fine.

When Brennan raised her age concerns with the principal, she was advised that most children with older siblings were ready that bit earlier to start school. So she went ahead and put him in that September. It turns out most of his classmates are a similar age and, almost two years later, she can say that “he’s flying” and that he would probably have been “bored” if he had stayed in Montessori for another year.

Ruth Griffin’s eldest child was born in March so she had the choice of sending her at four-and-a-half or five-and-a-half. She had attended a preschool for two years, but only for three hours a day because Griffin’s mother minded her the rest of the time.

Although she was confident her daughter was ready, “I did start to have doubts when other mums whose children were born the same month decided to keep them back,” she explains. “I was also worried that there would be some kids who would be nearly six. In a mixed school there is a bigger difference between boys and girls, particularly physically, in that the boys are often a lot taller and stronger.”

What’s more, their first choice of school in Cork didn’t have a place until the following year. However, she consulted the preschool staff about whether or not to hold on for another year or send her to a different school, “but we all thought she was ready”.

In the end she did get a place in her preferred school last September, but she had decided to go ahead anyway. She is the youngest in her class, but teachers report that she is managing fine.

“Long-term, I’m glad she started when she did,” Griffin says. “I’ve heard parents complaining at the other end that their children are all turning 18 in Leaving Cert year and it’s very difficult to stop them going out, whereas at least if they’re still 17 they just aren’t allowed. But that’s all a headache for the future.”

However, Heeney says she is more inclined to hear about disadvantages farther into the education system if a child is a year younger than classmates. There is a huge difference between a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old, she points out. Consistent feedback from parents of children who were born in February, say, and who send them to school when they are four, is that “they invariably regret it”, she adds.