Delaying school start for summer born child

[Piper22]

Hi,

Has anyone ever/ or is anyone considering delaying the school start date for their summer born child?

If you have done this, would you mind telling me about your experience? Do you regret it, or would you do it again?

Thank you

@Charmatt

We receive a few applications each year for our schools. The LA has to consult with all the schools listed as preferences. You are not allowed a blanket policy and must judge each application on it's own evidence. If we agree a request then we state that the parents must be clear about it being their responsibility to apply the following year in the application window, that they understand that the child will remain 'educated outside their normal age group' for the duration of their primary education and cannot expect to move year groups, and that they understand that they have to re-apply to remain educated outside their normal age group in Year 5 when their peers are applying for a secondary school place.

If you have a reason, eg, premature and with developmental delay that can be closed or significantly narrowed with another year in nursery, or similar, then I can understand it but not if a parent wants it because 'it's my right!'

...and a request....if you are going to apply, please don't start your letter quoting the legislation at us. We deal with admissions all day and understand the legislation.

Parents can also apply for a school place and choose not to take it up until the term their child turns 5 - that could be the Summer term if your child has a Summer birthday. Some parents do this as a halfway compromise. You should be eligible for nursery funding for the first 2 terms if you do that.

I think the posters on this thread have all been very reasonable and measured. Nobody has claimed it is their ‘right’ but it is an option that is available to parents of summer born children and it is not limited to children who were born prematurely or those who have developmental delays despite what anyone’s opinion about it is.

My son is now 18 and off to uni born in august and I never delayed starting school , granted he did take longer to reach some of the goals they set until about age 7 then he sat towards the top of class, secondary he levelled out but passed all his gcse with grade 4's although he was capable of better but exams aren't his thing and he admits he didn't revise as should , but went to college passed his btech and off to university in sept after taking a year out to work
I never started him later as socially he was shy and I felt starting after friendship groups were formed would of been hard for him due to his character, if he could of started the following year in year below i may of considered but i think at the time I could delay it until apriL
2nd ds is end of may also passed all gcse's and currently at college

@fallfallfall this is how it used to be mine are 18 and 16 and if i had delayed there start it was until the april of reception year so they would of gone in to the same school year which is why I never delayed
I would have thought more about it if they had been able to go in year below but then again they do loads of sporfs so wouldn't of been able to do them with friends as done by age not necessarily school year

You can only request. The request doesn’t have to be approved.

My friend did this very recently for her daughter who has significant additional needs. She was successful but it was a huge battle. She provided evidence from paediatrician, GP, nursery etc and was initially refused and appealed.

Initially the authority simply agreed to defer, but were insisting she go straight into year 1 on entry to school.

I think it’s a valuable tool if needed, and it’s very easy to see the social and maturity advantages when they are younger and little.
However, at the other end I think it can be a bit of a social and maturity disadvantage being the absolute oldest in the class. If they take a year out from Uni, your then with people two years younger. You hit the governments young people support quicker if you delay it, E.g chose to do an apprenticeship there’s age restrictions to support.

I think ultimately, the summer born thing levels out by year 4/5. So unless you could see your child would really struggle, I wouldn’t delay it.

If I had an August baby and they were able to go into Year R a year later (rather than straight into Y1) then I would do it. I am of the opinion that 4 is too young for formal schooling and I would rather have that time with my child to play and have fun. Sadly my kids were born in Feb and March so we didn't have that option.

My daughter s end of July. I haven’t found any disadvantage for her. Schools and teachers are very used to summer borne and make adjustments accordingly. All assessments are age adjusted and standardised.

I did this with two of mine (not uk).
School year accepts children from Jan to December babies. Two of mine were born in November making them quite young for the year.
I did bc they lacked confidence and also bc the local authority encourages assessments and keeping them in nursery another year if nec.
My daughter was the oldest in her year she was so shy and timid but I agonised over it bc I didn't want her to be the tallest and oldest and look ridiculous. Thankfully it was 100% the right choice for her. She sailed through primary school, was head girl.
My younger son was bullied in nursery when he was the youngest. He needed an extra year for confidence. He is a bit immature, not sure if it's bc he is with younger boys or that's just him. But ultimately I am happy that they stayed back, had an extra year to play and have fun before school

However, at the other end I think it can be a bit of a social and maturity disadvantage being the absolute oldest in the class

Well someone has to be.

And I imagine that if a child starts school a few days after their fifth birthday (due to being delayed a year) there will be a few others in the class who turn 5 a few weeks later so it’s hardly a huge difference in terms of being the oldest in the class.

3 summer born DDs including end of August. They are older teens. They all would have benefitted from a deferring for a year sadly it wasn't an option in our LEA at the time and the actively oppose it still which is due to money.

@Poppitt58 You can only request. The request doesn’t have to be approved. no that applies to your area. In many councils it’s parental choice and cannot be refused.

My early August 2018 DS will be deferring. I also have an October born DS who started school last year and the difference between them huge. Younger DS is at a really good quality nursery where the education is really good so I don't see why i wouldn't defer. He has a good group of friends at nursery who will likely be moving on but they're not going to the same school so he'd have to make new friends either way. I have an august born younger brother who did not defer and struggled as the youngest. I think it varies child by child and you have to do what you consider best for your LO. Ultimately however for us there were no downsides to deferring.

Definitely check out the facebook group - a lot of PP are just factually incorrect.

I looked into this in quite some detail when my youngest started school, sought out the available evidence etc, there was a reasonable consensus that delay was marginally advantageous and that this was supported by some evidence. It's probably not a big effect, but it was enough to convince me at the time.

I've delayed my twins starting school this September.

They were born prematurely at end of August, so would therefore have just turned 4 if they started this year. The thought of sending them off to school so young was giving me sleepless nights.

They will now be spending an extra year at the amazing forest school nursery they attend and I'm so happy. Applying was very straightforward. I just applied as normal and then informed admissions I wanted to delay. I made it clear I wanted them to be admitted to reception outside of their age group. I had no issues whatsoever.

Go with your gut op. You know your child the best

I wouldn't, unless there was a significant reason other than them just being younger, because I think it's morally wrong. Just means someone else's child is now potentially 18 months younger than their classmates, rather than the max of 12 months before this was allowed. I don't think it should be allowed for NT developing normally children.

@Poppitt58

You can only request. The request doesn’t have to be approved.

My friend did this very recently for her daughter who has significant additional needs. She was successful but it was a huge battle. She provided evidence from paediatrician, GP, nursery etc and was initially refused and appealed.

Initially the authority simply agreed to defer, but were insisting she go straight into year 1 on entry to school.

In our County you don’t have to make a “request” they allow any child to join reception at 5 instead of 4. I deferred my Aug due date DC and it was definitely the right decision. DC wasn’t ready for any kind of formal learning at all, wouldn’t even sit to do things in nursery. Just needed to be on the go all the time and spent most of the time in their garden at nursery. It maybe helped that no nursery friends were going to the same school so DC wouldn’t have had any familiar faces regardless of when they went. Now doing very well academically and enjoying school.

I have two summer born children and delaying was not an option when they started school but I wish that it had been because I can see how they have been affected by being the youngest in their years and and many of the issues would not have occurred if they had delayed a year.

My son is now a successful adult.

His birthday is August 1st.

My biggest regret is him starting school too young as when he was only just four in the September he had children in his class that were turning five. He did not have the same sitting down skills that the others had and I feel that he was too young to start, much too young.

Unfortunately as he was my first child I believed whatever the headmistress told me and she insisted that he should start at that early age when I went in to discuss that I thought he was too young.

I really wish I had waited at least till the Easter or better still until the following year.

Having done a lot of research into this as a primary teacher, analysing summer born data, I would say it doesn't matter how many stories you hear of summer borns doing well in school, there will never be any disadvantage to deferring them. It will always be advantageous.

I have an August born ds, premature so sounds have been end of September. He would have just about managed reception at 4, but did to being referred he is absolutely thriving.

My other two are September born. No one ever considered starting September born children a year early even if they could theoretically cope.

For d deferral to be approved you need to submit an application with supporting documents. Each la is different but generally even after they approve a deferral each school you ask has a right to accept or reject the deferral. We had three schools say yes theoretically to a deferral and two say no. It really depends on the school. Then you have to apply for a place and hope you get it!

DD has a July birthday, and while she was fine thrughout school, the major difference was when she was in year 13, and couldn't go to some 18th birthday parties held in places that wouldn't allow under 18s in. She also couldn't stay out in town after 10pm on a Saturday because pubs and clubs didn't allow under 18s in after that time..

She looked a lot younger than her age (and still does), and there was no way of using fake ID because she didn't look anything like anyone else.

This is common in Ireland and we are considering doing this for my June born DD.

Some schools here set their own age cut off dates due to being oversubscribed - one we are considering has a cut off date of 1st May so if we go for that one it we won't have any choice but to defer.

My sons were born late July and early August. Didn't delay entry and they were very ready to start school. No adverse affects but of course can't do it over! I was also a whole year younger than my class as I moved countries and I was top set so no issues there either.
Unless you child doesn't seem ready and is a bit immature I wouldn't wait.

I have an August born, didn't delay and he really is no different to his peers at 9. In fact, I've never really noticed much difference. My October born however seemed very old to start school, flew ahead and they have to give him work from the year above.

DD is a May birthday in a class where they happen to be mostly autumn/winter birthdays. I think there are only 2 children younger than her.

She started reception in September and I could see a very obvious difference socially between her and her peers. She looked and behaved younger and has struggled a bit with the boisterous feeling of the playground etc.

It’s starting to even out now and after a difficult first term seems to be settling in better.

Academically though she’s absolutely fine, in fact at the more able end of things so it’s not necessarily the case that the younger kids will struggle with the actual learning.