I think you have hit the nail on the head Snacks - my concern about how late it is arises from my love of school so in my mind she is missing out, but am sure that won't really be the case. I am just getting my head around the idea that the cut off is not aligned with school year and therefore depending on birthday you can have a choice on when to start meaning larger age ranges in yer groups. In uk school year is sep to aug so if you are 4 in end of jun for example you can start in sep, there can be people in year group who are 5 on 1st sep and people who are 4 on 31st of August but all in same year so you can still have big diff in age but don't remember it ever being an issue but maybe because was no choice so just accepted would be driving later, later age for certain movies etc.

Am sure system works well here anyway, certainly the children I know all seem great.

There is evidence apparently that if you want your child to excel in the sporting arena is better if they are in he older part of their age group, as physically will tend to be more advanced. And I do know teachers in uk who were desperate to hang on and give birth in sep rather than august.

If anyone knows anywhere on web where it explains why cut off does not align with school year could you pm me the link, several people in uk have asked me the question.