In January, just as he turned four, we had the slightly agonising task of deciding whether Kazuo should start school this summer, or defer until he was five and a half. In England he would start this year as all children begin school in the academic year in which they turn five. In New Zealand it would be next January, after his fifth birthday. But here in Scotland all children born July-Nov start when they will be turning five, all children born Feb-June wait to start the following year when they will be five at the start of the academic year, but children born Dec-Jan May start when they are Four or Five and the govt offers them an extended year of preschool funding if they defer.
It seemed, on the first exploration, that the academic, social, physical and emotional developmental advantages associated with deferral would follow him right through to tertiary education, making it seem like a no-brander to defer. However, when we considered our limited options for finding Kazuo a slightly more stimulating environment for another year of preschool, coupled with his eagerness to learn new things and the charms of our newly refurbished village school – starting school this year won the argument.
No sooner had we made this decision, but we discovered we were expecting another little family member to arrive about a month after school was due to start, meaning I would be able to be home on maternity leave for all of Kazou’s first year at school.
As the year progressed, it became quite clear we’d made the right choice for our wee lad. His other two ‘besties’ we’re also graduating from preschool, smoothing the transition and not leaving our boy feeling left behind. He also came along in leaps and bounds both in his interest in alpha-numerical learning and in social skills.
But the fact still remained that, whilst being quite chatty and sociable when in a safe environment, he is still quite apprehensive about new experiences and social groups and so much of the summer was spent in a state of increasingly nervous agony about the prospect of starting school – often heightened by the fact that it was all anyone else seemed to talk about.
Finally the big day came. He was SO proud of his new uniform (with the smiley sun, Mama’) and after a back-to-school playday in the village hall the previous week (which had both intensified his apprehension and smoothed over some of his fears) had at least given him a sense of who his new peers would be, he was quite bold and excited to be heading off to school.
We had the inevitable anxiety and tears on the first couple of mornings, but these transitions were mercifully eased by the wonderful Aunty Kelly, whom we had persuaded to extend her summer hols in order to be after-school nanny for Kazuo and to see us through until we brought the new baby home from the hospital ext month.
It is quite wonderful to be able to report the school is going swimmingly. Kaz confidently reports that it is much more fun and interesting than preschool (which he loved). He has a very kind senior buddy who helps him through the minefield of gathering his lunch each day and plays with him and his new friends in the playground during breaks. He has begun soccer club and thoroughly loves running about after the ball in the QPR kit Grandma and Grandpa sent. His class has outdoor education lessons at nearby Craighall Den every Wednesday and he loves to be outdoors exploring. His fascination with words and numbers has taken off and he is regularly sounding out words he spies on everything from cereal packs to junk mail. Our evening reading sessions are a delight!
We are so glad and grateful to have a big schoolboy in our midst – the next big life milestone will be turning into a big brother in a few week’s time. Let’s hope that is an equally smooth transition!
50 things for 50 