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Join the discussion on our Education forum.

Education

starting school a year later

37 replies

mckenzie · 14/01/2004 21:46

hi all

does anybody please know is it our right to have our son start school a year late? He will be 4 in June and so by rights would start school in the september but if we think he's not ready, are we allowed to keep him back for a year?
Do we have to appeal or somehting?

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Roscoe · 14/01/2004 21:52

As far as I know your son doesn't have to start school until the term after his 5th birthday -in your case September 2005. I don't think you need to appeal.

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mckenzie · 14/01/2004 21:54

thanks Roscoe, that's what we hoped.

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Oakmaiden · 14/01/2004 21:55

Legally he must start "full time education" by the beginning of the term in which he turns 5 - so that would be April (ish) next year. Until this time his attendance or otherwise at school is not an issue at all.

Beyond that date you have a duty to see that he receives an education appropriate to his age ability and aptitudes - this does NOT have to be at school. If you want to keep him at home a further term and educate him yourself for that time then that is your right and duty as a parent. Some people inform their LEA of their intention, but this is not a legal necessity. I personally wouldn't bother if it was only for a term.

The downside is that you will not be able to keep a place open for him at the school of your choice, and will have to then enrol him in whichever school has available spaces when the time comes. Or on the other hand you may enjoy Home Education so much you decide to stick with it (it is great fun!)

If you want toknow anything else then do ask - don't want to bore you with unnecessary details!

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Oakmaiden · 14/01/2004 21:56

Hm, actually that is right - it is the term after, so there is no problem at all.

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Roscoe · 14/01/2004 22:04

Oakmaiden - That's really interesting. Our ds is 4 in June too so we'd been wondering about this issue. I asked at the school where we're hoping to send him and were told it would be necessary from Sept. 2005. Do you know if this varies with each LEA? Just being nosey as we've decided to send him in 2004. Thanks.

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Roscoe · 14/01/2004 22:05

Ooops. Crossed posts!

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kmg1 · 14/01/2004 22:17

I considered keeping ds2 at home. (We changed areas, so ds1 did not start school until the term after he was 5 anyway). But in the end we decided to send ds2 in Sep, even though he was just 4 in May, because:

a) The school (which is fab) is oversubscribed, and told us they would not hold a place for him*.
b) There was no other alternative childcare - i.e. it was not possible for him to continue at his state nursery at that age, or go to any local playgroup or nursery. They did not cater for 4 yr olds. So he would be home the whole time, and all his peers would be at school all day and too tired to socialise after school.
c) We were very happy with the school and their approach to educating 4 yr olds.

*As far as I know this is entirely legal, and they have no obligation to keep a place open for a child whose parents choose not to send them until they are 5.

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JanH · 14/01/2004 22:19

The only drawback to doing this is that the child would go into Y1 in September, not Reception.

Reception is generally more like nursery school - more play, less work, easing them into the routines and learning. In Y1 they know the ropes and are expected to be able to sit down and get on with more work. It's another factor to consider. Maybe you could start him at Easter anyway, just so he doesn't miss it completely?

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Oakmaiden · 14/01/2004 22:25

I only sent my son this September - he started in Year 1. (Actually not entirely true - he went for a couple of "settling" weeks at the end of the summer term). For him it has been better - he doesn't cope so well with less structure, and a lot of children find Yr 1 a big shock after the relative "nurseryness" of Reception.

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Kayleigh · 14/01/2004 22:29

There is a huge difference between Reception and Year1 and I think a child going straight into Year 1 might struggle. Not only would he not be familiar with the other children but he would also be unfamiliar with the routines.

My eldest is an August baby and we did think about starting him later as he had literally just turned 4 when he started reception, but reception (especially the first term) is very much like nursery and he has come on really fast. I also know that we now have the option that if at any time later in his education he is falling behind, we would have an extra year to catch up.

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Luckymum · 15/01/2004 09:58

Our ds1 is a very late August baby. He was just a week over four when he started in Reception. Looking back I wish I had kept him back just for a little while. At the time I didn't know I could. However as previously pointed out his primary is oversubscribed and they I doubt they would have held his place. He has struggled all through school (now doing his GCSE's)and at first I did put this down to his age but ds2 is a late July baby and he has had no problems at all.

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Carla · 15/01/2004 10:18

Our LEA start them the term before their 5th birthday, and as DD1 is an August baby she started in reception after easter last year. I don't know who was more shellshocked. She'd gone from her Montessori nursery 'hallo Anna, what a pretty dress you're wearing today' to a teacher who shouted at them like they were teenagers and would not say either please or thank you. I would have said something to the head but I didn't want to prejudice Anna. Lots of tearful phonecalls to my Mum begging her to lend me the money to send her to a private school (she didn't!).

After September Anna started Y1 and the atmosphere of the class is completely different. Her teacher is straight out of Little House on the Praire and Anna and her classmates seem much happier. What I'm trying to say is visit both classes and teachers before you make up your mind.

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Jenie · 15/01/2004 10:20

Dd is born in June and we could have kept her at home until she was due to start year 1 but decided against it as she seemed emotionaly ready but ds who has an April birthday may be a different matter!

It's not an easy decision to make but one of the main things for us was that all of the other children would have been together for a year prior to dd (if we'd waited) and she would have found it more difficult to make friends and be part of the "group" iykwim.

hth

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Jimjams · 15/01/2004 12:23

legally doesn;t matter what your LEA's policiy is- its term after they're 5 (athough you may stuggle to convince a school and may have to point out the relevant part of the education act). If you decide to do this in an oversubscribed school you may run into ptoblems though.

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Clarinet60 · 15/01/2004 12:32

We had this dilemma (4 in August) and decided to start him this January instead, as did not want to miss reception year.

The hulabaloo we got from the school would fill a whole thread, but we are pleased with the decision. He has settled well (knew classmates from playgroup anyway) and is much more ready for school now than he was in September.

HTH

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kmg1 · 15/01/2004 16:30

Going straight into Year1 may not be as tough as you think.

Because of moving house DS1 (July baby) started school in the Sep straight into yr1 with a class of children who had had a whole year of full-time reception together, and the nursery he had been to was very unstructured. The school he goes to is very formal and structured.

We did have a bit of a bumpy ride for the first month or so, whilst he sussed out what school was about, and what was expected of him ... but he soon settled in, and the fact that the other 29 children in the class knew the score, helped him to figure out how to fit in quickly. ... He's now in yr2, is apparently a model pupil, and top of his class too. So we have no regrets.

But there is still a problem about whether or not the school will have a place for you.

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mckenzie · 18/01/2004 21:46

thanks veryone for all of these messages.

I have now also heard from other local mums who have looked at keeping their children back for the year (schools in my area only do one intake so we dont have the option of January or Easter starts) and have decided against it because of the worry about losing the place.

When the time gets closer, what do you think I should be looking for in DS to know whether he is ready for school or not?

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JanH · 19/01/2004 09:48

We've had threads before on what a child needs to be able to do when starting school, I'll see if I can find one for you later. But with the youngest ones, I sometimes think the hardest part can be staying awake and alert all day...I'm sure when I first went to school (at Easter, just turned 5) we used to have a sleep in the afternoon - though I might have dreamed that!

Lots of practice with getting dressed and undressed, putting coat on and off, and shoes; managing lunchbox/drink if having packed lunch (some lunchboxes have terribly stiff catches); blowing nose, using toilet, washing hands; recognising name - can't think of anything else ATM. Does he go to nursery/playgroup? If so he'll be used to waiting/listening/taking turns at things. HTH!

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JanH · 19/01/2004 09:55

This thread is about summer-born children rather than school skills, but this one is about what they should be able to do when they start. HTH too!

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LIZS · 19/01/2004 10:08

mckenzie,

I think janH has pretty much covered it. However if I were you I'd keep my options open. Apply/accept for the Reception place and then review it nearer the time and if you feel strongly try to defer. They may not guarantee a place next year though. If you could get your hv on side at the time then you may have a case to argue for starting during the year although whether the school would make such an exception is hard to say or perhaps he could do mornings only until he was 5, which some schools do anyway ?

Friend of mine has held off sending her July-born 4yo ds yet, but is finding that all his friends have moved on from playgroup now and he is the eldest so she may send him at Easter(flexible village school struggling to survive).

Agree about the sleep thing - in my first school we had heads on desk time after lunch.

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Luckymum · 19/01/2004 10:12

JanH - we used to have a sleep in the afternoon too.......I was usually the last one up, completely in the land of nod while all the other kids were raring to go

My August born ds often used to fall asleep at storytime. When it was time to go home the teacher would come out and get me to wake him up - he was vile if he hadn't had enough sleep so definitely takes after his mum.

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kmg1 · 19/01/2004 14:46

DS1's teacher (in her early fifties) told me she sent her summer-born child to school aged 4, but let her come home for lunch. Then after lunch she would let her have a nap ... then take her back to school for the afternoon playtime at 2.30!

Somehow I don't think you'd get away with that nowadays.

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Clarinet60 · 19/01/2004 17:18

Oh, I don't know. Someone at one of our village schools told the school they could have her son for mornings only for a couple of terms and he would have Mondays off. As he was under 5 and the school was struggling to maintain numbers, they had no choice but to accept it.

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mckenzie · 19/01/2004 19:37

thanks Janh and everyone else. I'll have a good look at those other threads too.

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Gomez · 19/01/2004 19:51

Find all this quite intersting as DD is 4 in May and we would need to apply for her to start school early, and be assessed as ready to do so, in Scotland if we wished for her to start in August 2004. The cut-off here is end Feb - i.e. any children 4 before 29/2/04 will start August 2004 and from 1/3/04 to 28/2/05 will start August 2005.

Do they then all have the same length of time at school then? for example DD will have Primaries 1 to 7 and then potentially Years 1 to 6 at Secondary school so 13 years. In England do you then have reception and Years 1 to 12, also 13 years? Just interested really.