Is deferring reception as difficult as they're making it?

[Americanmummycomesurrey0]

Hi all,
As you can see by my user name I am new to the UK having relocated from America.
There was a massive delay on the house we bought so ended up with a late admission in the redhill area.
We didn't get any of our choices and no offer was made to begin with.
They have now offered us a primary school with an ofsted rating of 3 and lack of things we look for in schools just as library space and before and after school clubs.
We are number 3 on st matthews waiting list so the council advised the best thing we could do would be to accept but defer until the new year as our daughter is born on Christmas Day so legally she has to start following the Christmas break.
I have just had a phone convo with the head who is not happy about my idea of deferral however we think it would be very disruptive to start her somewhere only to remove if another space did come up at one of our preferences.
Why is this such a concern for the school, is it attendance figures?
She is a bright little girl and we already have enrolled her in an explore learning programme until she begins school which I informed them of,
I can't see the problem?

[reni2]

Start her now, might be a long shot that 3 children should move away in the next 2 months and you get a place in January. We are in year 3 now and 2 children left since reception.

You should pm sobloodyworried123, she's in your area and has a child same age as yours who is also doing the "explore learning" programme already and is probably at the same school as you. She does not want to start before January same as you and her headteacher does not want her to defer either. Probably on the waiting list for the same schools, too. Read her many threads, the advise for you would be the same.

[LIZS]

I honestly wouldn't rely on Ofsted alone as your guide . According to sobloodyworried there were places at Merstham Primary and Salfords available last week, if either has more appeal. Neither is a "bad" school , it is all relative and criteria have changed in recent years resulting in some disappointing gradings. In fact there are very few schools which would be worth refusing in the hope of St Matthews which itself has a very diverse community, potentially with high turnover which could work to your benefit, and wasn't regarded that well not so long ago. Your dd will be among the oldest third of the year group and deferring any child with an Autumn bday is perceived as unusual.

[prh47bridge]

Agree with LIZS about not relying on Ofsted. However...

I have just had a phone convo with the head who is not happy about my idea of deferral

It is your choice not the head's. You have the absolute right to defer entry until January. If you want to go down that route just tell the head that is what you are doing.

[reni2]

St Matthews has an Ofsted rating of 3 (up from 4 not long ago) as well if you want to judge schools by that so hardly worth waiting for.

[SliceOfLime]

I don't about schools in your area but agree with what prh47 said - the legal right to defer is set out in the School Admissions Code 2014 (on the SfE website, Google will find it) if that helps.