school starting age born 1951 Kent

[Yellabelly]

Hi does anyone know what the school starting age would be in Kent for a child born December 1951?

Thanks

[malcolm99]

Under the 1944 Education Act someone born in December 1951 would normally start at their local school in the January term 1957 (unless there were very local arrangements).

[barbara lee]

Well, not Kent, but Liverpool for me born May 1949. I was supposed to start at 5, and some Mums managed to get their kids off their hands at four and a half, but they wouldn't take me at Easter 1954, so I didn't start until the September, when I was 5 and 3 months. It was a Catholic school and pretty full at the time, what with all those post-war baby boomers!

I am sure there was a national policy, and 5 was the "proper" starting age for all kids at that time.

Barbara

[Devonmade]

I started school as a rising 5 in 1953.

[Richard1955]

I was 4 and 4 months when I started in Cambridgeshire (Huntingdonshire in 1960)
I think it depends on space.
My sister who was 13 months younger started the same school 2 years later.

[malcolm99]

I was supposed to start at 5, and some Mums managed to get their kids off their hands at four and a half, but they wouldn't take me at Easter 1954, so I didn't start until the September, when I was 5 and 3 months.

I’m early August ’48 and can remember quite clearly wanting to stay at home and not wanting to "go to school" (where my brother had gone) in what I presume was coming up to September term 1953. If I remember correctly, my mother said I was actually too young to start school officially (I suspect the cut-off date for September admissions was 31st July): they sent me nevertheless!

I was almost always the youngest ‘in my year’ until I left school in 1966 (which had its pluses & minuses – I mean at school: never in the rather-exciting London late-60s - does anyone else remember the disco in the crypt at St Anne’s Soho?).

[Mutley]

It also depends on the definition of 'school'.
There was a creche type of place where young children went, that felt like a school.
Then there was the Nursery School,
Then there was the Infant School,
Then there was the Junior School,
Then there was the Senior School........

I remember going to Junior School and after 9 months they realised my age was down wrong and I got sent back to the Infant School and then had to do the first year of Junior school all over again. (sigh!)

I think it may also have some bearing as to when you were born within a year, the beginning or the end.

Sorry, not a lot of help.

[notanotherminer]

In the late 50's and early 60's it was dependant on when your 5th birthday fell.

The school year used to run from 01 Sep to 31 Aug the following year (even though the holidays were in August for the purposes of the calculation August counted as the last month of the school year.)

A child would start school at the beginning of September in the School year in which they had their 5th birthday.

As an example if a child's birthday was in August they would start school at 4 years + a month because they would be 5 on or before 31 Aug the following year.

At the other end of the scale if a child was born at the very beginning of September they would actually start school either just before or just after their 5th birthday. When I was at school it was always the case that there would be almost a year's difference between the eldest in the class (born September) and the youngest (born August)

[Jan1954]

In the late 50's and early 60's it was dependant on when your 5th birthday fell.

The school year used to run from 01 Sep to 31 Aug the following year (even though the holidays were in August for the purposes of the calculation August counted as the last month of the school year.)

Yes, that happened to me.

A child would start school at the beginning of September in the School year in which they had their 5th birthday.

Nope - not in my neck of the woods. It was the September after they were 5. However, for those children who hit 5 from September to December, they could start in the Summer term following their 5th birthday, rather than wait until the September.

I was 5 in the July and started school 2 months later in the September. My brother was 5 in the November and started school in the summer term after Easter.

[Yellabelly]

Thanks everyone that helps a lot