Primary school delayed entry - clueless parent questions

[schoolapplicant]

Mum to only child who is 3. We will be applying to primary schools for Sept 2024 start. Child is July born.

As first time mum I've only just familiarised myself with the process and had no idea that legal school age is actually 5, and that there is the option to apply for a delayed start. On further enquiry I now discover that my sibling, who is August born, had school start delayed by a year. So they were always the eldest child in their class. Coincidentally (or was it) they achieved very well academically and did engineering at Oxford. They were always "top of the class".

So a few random questions from a newbie up all if this:

• Is it perceived to be usual/common to delay a child's start, or is this usually only done where there are specific concerns or SEN?
• since the research seems to show children are greatly disadvantaged academically by being summer born, is it common for parents of summer borns to delay simply to improve the child's chances of academic success?
• is the above a moral application of the system?

In my personal experience, most children I know who are summer born start when they are 4. Obviously, you can delay, but I don't know anyone who has done it and I think that's largely down to cost. The cost of an extra year of childcare, even with all the support in place for paying for childcare now, is prohibitive for a lot of people.

That said, I think it's down to your child and what you can afford. If you are financially able to manage an extra year of childcare, then I think it can be a really sensible decision. If you can't or you think your child would be bored or not do as well being with younger children, then I think it's perfectly okay to start.

In my home country, the cut off date is slightly different, but it meant that I was the youngest in my class. It absolutely did me no harm - I was top of my class most of the way through, certainly from secondary school and I went on to achieve a lot academically and professionally (I have a PhD, etc.). I would have struggled I think if I had been delayed a year as I struggled enough being both the tallest (yes, I was the youngest and the tallest in the class!) and feeling a bit like some of the other kids were quite immature. I wouldn't have done better with a younger cohort. I think that's very personal though and very much about the individual child. On a more general level, children do tend to do better when they are not the youngest in their class.

In my personal experience, most children I know who are summer born start when they are 4. Obviously, you can delay, but I don't know anyone who has done it and I think that's largely down to cost. The cost of an extra year of childcare, even with all the support in place for paying for childcare now, is prohibitive for a lot of people.

This is my experience as well. There were quite a few summer borns at DD's nursery but none of the parents deferred their school start. But that's obviously within a group of children who've been to nursery, maybe it's more common for children who haven't

I’ve never actually met a deferred DC and mine are school nursery and Y2 so I know quite a few kids around that age. My eldest is a June birthday and I never considered it when all the rest of her school nursery class were moving up including several younger than her. So I don’t know how common it actually is. You’d also have to pay for a whole extra year of nursery which is no mean feat.

I only know two deferred children. One has physical medical issues that have meant quite a lot of time off school and so they've been kept down a year to try and compensate I.e. went through Reception and Y1 and was then kept back in Y1 for the next year (mixed age class so possibly different anyway). The other has a slight learning delay resulting from a different medical condition and just started Reception a year late. I don't think either are expected to move back up.

IME it's very rare for a school to agree to this just because of parental choice - there's usually a much bigger medical or social issue, IYSWIM.

Is your child currently in nursery/preschool?

It's not common at all. I've never encountered anyone who has actually done it. Both my children are summer born, July ish, and both started at the standard entry age. There were plenty of children in the classes with similar or August birthdays.

Do you have any specific concerns about your individual child as to whether they will be able to access the standard EYFS curriculum at the usual age? Bearing in mind that reception year is about play based learning and with a higher ratio of adults to children.

there is a Facebook group about summer born kids where this is discussed.

most local authorities will make a deferred child rejoin their cohort at year 1 so they miss being in reception. To start in reception you have to get agreement from the local authority and school and even then, at the moment most secondary schools will make the child rejoin their usual cohort so they'll start secondary school at year 8 instead of year 7

You can delay, but your child will start in yr 1, not reception, as far as I know. I only know of one child who deferred and started in reception, and they had medical complications.

I delayed my summer born (31st August) with agreement from the school due to SEND issues. I don't agree with delaying children starting just because they are summer born and don't feel it should be available for anyone other than August born children who are arguably the most likely to be affected. In this county the LEA want approval from the head teacher before letting you defer, and the deferral (when we applied a few years ago) doesn't continue into secondary school.

I have delayed my child’s start. She’s a summer born and has SEN. I know another summer born child who has also been kept in nursery for another year. I intend for my child to start reception next year and not year 1.

Pretty sure that it's now a legal right to delay your summer born DC and for them to start in Reception. This is fairly new so PPs may be confusing the situation now with a few years back. It's becoming more common I think but is still unusual.

I don't know anyone that did but it's just beginning to be a bit more common, so I understand. Scotland it's very common.

My child is an August born. He went to school aged 4 and 3 weeks and was tiny and socially well behind his peers. He didn't really speak until he was 3. I did wonder if it was the right thing or not. Anyway he's now 10 and socially and academically flying. Not deferring him was 100% the right decision but is a very difficult decision to make when they're so young. Certainly, between the ages of 3 and 5 they grown up a lot. I would be swaying towards keeping dc with their cohort and sending to school unless you have very specific and serious concerns that can be backed up professionally.

I have done it - deferred my June born DS. No SEN, I just didn’t feel he was ready.
school and LA were happy with same and he started reception yesterday.

if it is right for your child, do it. What other people think is not relevant.

just check your LA’s stance - some are a lot more amenable than others.

the Facebook group mentioned above is excellent for answering questions both generally and about your area in particular.

Yes you can defer now. Parents have had the right to do this for about 10 years now. No Send needed just summer born. It is easier said than done though as each LEA have differnt ideas. Some are very accepting others make it harder. I think it depends on the child. I would t just defer if they were summer born it would be a decision based on the child.
join the Facebook group for advice.

In addition to my post above. Make sure it is right for your DC. i al a primary school teacher and we see a huge difference in children in the class. I had a Little one defer and he came to me in reception ( when his correct cohert was year 1) and he was bored. He got bored at nursery and started misbehaving. So make sure it is right for your DC. Good luck.

My son is summer born (June). We are now year two and he was exceeding expectations across the board in year one and was top set for maths and reading. When he started reception he was perhaps slightly behind on his talking compared to some others.

If you'd asked me before reception about delaying I might have been tempted but I am so relieved I didn't. Think he'd have been quite frustrated in the year below. Any gap there at the start disappeared in the first year of school.

It sounds like your family is quite academically able so I would find it bizarre to do this without abnormal concerns. There are other summer borns in my sons class and they are no further behind. My son's best friend is August birthday and also was with him in the top set for reading.

I do think its fairly unusual, I've not known anyone who has actually used this option.

My august baby started reception today, age 4. You can defer them but I don't think it's that common. We spoke to school and nursery because our DS was a little speech delayed and not very socially mature and both indicated they could accommodate it but it was unusual. For many, it's a practical choice too and whether they can afford an extra year of childcare (if their child is in nursery). You can apply in this round and then make a decision up until May I think so you don't need to decide now. We were on the fence until the last minute but DS' developed so quickly that we didn't feel the need to defer him. DS is pretty academic though so we knew he'd be ready for the school environment and more challenging activities than nursery could provide.

Honestly, MN makes it sound like it's really common but I don't know anyone in RL that has deferred.
It's not just about trying to get them to be top of the class. Are they ready to start school or would deferring actually make sense for your child? My DD is a June baby, I think there are 2 children younger than her in her class. She is the smallest, however I'm only 5'3 and DH isn't tall so that would likely be the case regardless of when she was born. In terms of academia I'd say she's in the top half of the class. I look at the children in the year below and in terms of maturity she looks miles ahead. Whilst I'm sure deferring works for some children I would've fucked it up for my DD if I had.

I have a late August 2020 baby and strongly considering starting her in 2025 rather than 2024.

Agree the FB group is the best place to start but a few bullet points:

• The info above about having to go into Y1 when they start isn’t true. The admissions authority would need to prove it was in DC’s best interest to skip Reception, which can’t be proved because all agree that Reception is an essential part of the EYFS
• Reception being ‘play based’ is a misnomer. It’s less about being ‘ready for reception’ at 3y 53w, it’s more about being ‘ready’ for desk based Y1 at 4y 53w, ‘ready’ for secondary at 10y 53w, ‘ready’ for Y9 politics at 12y 53w, ‘ready’ for A levels at 15y 53w, ‘ready’ for uni at 17y 53w…
• ’Someone has to be the youngest’ - yes, but the Uk starts kids at much younger than other countries, so it’s more about readiness for formal education at each of the above stages.
• ‘it would be awkward to be tallest and oldest’ - surely it’s more awkward to be tallest and youngest? My DC is tall for their age and their behaviour is already expected to be ‘better’ as people assume they’re older than they are. Imagine being the only-just-4 year old and being judged by the standard of kids a year older?
• People have said to me ‘well if she struggles you can always repeat reception’ - suddenly it becomes a ‘we held you back because you struggled’ thing rather than ‘we wanted to give you an extra year of play’ - with related implantation for DCs confidence
• People have said to me ‘she’s bright, she’ll be fine’ - is she so bright that if she’d been born 11 days later people would be urging me to send her to school a year sooner than she was ‘meant’ to?

I do however acknowledge we are lucky as we can afford the extra year of nursery and are in a LA that’s generally open to summer born kids starting Reception at compulsory school age instead of in their cohort. I appreciate not everyone’s in that boat.

*implications, not implantation!

Join 'Flexible School Admissions for Summer Borns' on FB - LOADS of great advice on there. I know a few have made the decision to defer. Only you know your child - other people's anecdotes are pointless really. Every child is different.

Also when thinking of negatives such as height, I ask myself 'Would I even be thinking this if DD had been born 6 weeks later on September 1st?'

it's a very good option for some children, as mentioned some with sen or extra medical needs.
from what i've read and experienced it's helpful for boys more than girls (more late born boys are diagnosed with adhd) as well as the fact that boys sports can be very competitive and being the smallest can be demoralizing (never picked, not running as quickly, less physical strength).
besides family finances you need to assess the child.
i know of one child (boy) who was deferred, but many many more who's parent's wish they had in hindsight.
my grandson born Aug 16th should 101% have been deferred. Due to being the youngest in the family was relatively immature to start with. being older by 14 days to the genuine sept 1 child would hardly be bragging rights.
as for post secondary, with so many international students and so many countries with different starting age it really doesn't matter at that point.
what you want is a good experience for your child, do what is best for him/her your family situation.
i believe the uk has an active fb group for late starters with support.

I knew of one person who did it in England, about 7 years ago now. I thought it was supposed to have got easier since then, but maybe not... Anyway, at that time I she really had to push to get the school and local authority to agree. And then a few years later another effort to get a secondary school to agree to a deferred entry (as opposed to going straight from Year 5 to Year 7).

I looked into it for my June-born DS1, as well, again about 7 years ago, but the schools I spoke to were unsupportive/unhelpful, and one said that if I did defer entry, then my DS would going straight into Year 1, which I felt would have made deferral pointless.

However, I then moved up to Scotland, and did defer DS2, who has a birthday in early January (cut off dates are different here). In Scotland they have to allow you to defer, if your child turns five after school starts in mid-August, and they have to fund another year of nursery if the child doesn't turn 5 until the January. I have no regrets about deferring DS2 - it's been absolutely the right move for him!

There are a lot of threads on this subject. They always concentrate on the perceived benefits in the primary stage. What rarely gets considered is the implications at the end of secondary school. Someone I worked with delayed her July born son for a year. Because he was in private school system he managed to stay with the same cohort throughout school. However because he was older than his class mates he was driving and even drinking earlier than his class mates. Things came to a head when he refused to return to school for year 13. His parents asked his school to encourage him to go back but was met with the response that as the son was now 18 he was now an adult and therefore he could not be made to return. When his parents asked him why he was so resistant he told them that throughout his secondary schooldays he had always had the feeling that his parents had done it to make him 'top of the class' but in reality he just felt they thought he was too stupid to cope in his own year group. The fact that his best friend at school was exactly a year younger than him didn't help.

I admit that I also wondered about the impact on secondary school, especially the more recent change to allow children to start Reception a year later. I think I read somewhere that secondary schools weren't that happy about it and it caused an issue in specific areas like sports (because children wouldn't be the right age to play for their year group teams in some cases).