How disastrous is missing reception year?

[scotlandmamatoone]

DH and I are currently living in Scotland with our very nearly 2 (late august birthday) year old. In Scotland, she would start school school in August 2028 in 3 years time.

However, we plan to move to England in spring / summer 2028. In England, she would have been due to start school in September 2027. Due to an ongoing work contract, there is really no way of moving to England ready for her to start school then.

This means, when we move, she will be ready to go straight into year 1 (or perhaps if we're able to, to have a few weeks of reception?). I have heard that deferral is possible but have also heard from people that this means she'll miss a year of education down the line(?) and also that deferral might not be accepted if not applied for when she was initially due to start school - but obviously we won't have a house to apply from at this point!

I'm feeling a bit worried about it all. Currently she is potty trained, has very advanced language skills (not a brag, just some background) and is very comfortable at nursery, but obviously at not yet 2 it is very very difficult to predict how school ready she'll be and how detrimental missing a reception year would be! Does anyone have any similar experience? I know absolutely nothing about schools and hadn't really anticipated having to think about it so soon .

I would personally go for a deferred place into reception - she won’t notice a difference with her peers because she’s summer born anyway.

If, when she starts school and settles, there is a noticeable problem with her being too far ahead of her cohort then you can always open a discussion about moving up a year at that point.

I’d be interested to know the progression between nursery 1 and nursery 2 or whatever it is called. The resources that prompt more depth in their play, opportunities that prompt early writing, reading and maths. A friend who lives in Scotland said their child had a shock in p1 as it seemed to jump from no writing in nursery to writing, maths worksheets and reading.

There's no particular progression between nursery year 1 and 2 in Scotland as far as I am aware (my kids were in two different settings). The focus throughout is on presenting them with lots of of opportunities to explore their interests through play. They had access all sorts of resources that could support learning like books, weighing stations, building blocks, materials to support counting, sorting and learning colours and were encouraged to spend a lot of time outdoors too. No one would ever sit down and say 'ok kids, today we are going to learn to count to five', but if a child seemed to be interested in counting to five they'd be supported to do that. There is a big focus throughout on developing social relationships and necessary skills such as taking turns, negotiation and empathy.

I've not heard of any kids having a shock moving into Primary 1, but that may be because my local authority is particularly advanced at integrating learning through play. Entering P4 at age 7/8 seems to be the biggest transition at our school because that's when kids are expected to start to spend most of their time sitting at a desk. In P1-3 they will continue to have access to a big shared area with resources similar to what is available in the nursery and the more structured teaching of numeracy and literacy etc happens in short bursts throughout the day, but often in way that allows kids to continue moving around the area.

There's lots of resources available on the Play Scotland website (sorry Mumsnet won't let me post a link). It's still a reasonably new approach in Scotland, but it's been used successfully in Scandinavian countries for decades.

I've now got a ten year old with a reading age of 16+ and an eight year old with a reading age of 14+ in case anyone is worried!

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I find it really interesting to hear about the Scottish system. I can imagine you’re right, that a shock moving up could be down to the school rather than is typical.

As a Reception teacher the best learning is done through play, through them discovering things themselves and wanting to know more due to the environment you create. However, there are some children who will not engage no matter what you do and I do ‘gently’ encourage them to sit and we learn together.

Could you stay in Scotland a couple of years longer, and move to England when she is more established in school?

My DD didn't do reception as we weren't in the UK when she was due to start year R. So she started directly in Y1 when we came back. I had to be a bit pushy with teachers (asking for the next book sooner than a week, etc) but other than that there was absolutely no issue. She basically caught up with the others before the start of the second term in year 2.

I know several children from Ukraine, one from Honduras and one from India all in the year below their birth date. All state schooled and 2 of them have birthdays in autumn. None are special needs. One is currently going to Y13 but started in Y10 to avoid going into Y11 and doing only one year off GCSE curriculum. He got mostly 9s and 8s so it served him well!

Ps. You get funded to 19 so it's OK to go down one year. Or, you can do for example one year of sixth form and then swap to a 2yr college course.

Oh, I forgot my friend's daughter from Hong Kong, another one in the year below (though she is also an Aug birthday, but stated in Y9 or so. Now finished her degree).

I’ve only known deferred kids to start in reception- otherwise what’s the point of deferring?

appreciate it may be different where you are, but that hasn’t been the case in my area.

Agree that there is no point in deferring and starting in Yr1 :)
Just wanted to point out that not all schools allow deferring summer borns and starting in Reception (mine doesn't!), so best not to rely on it

I am a reception teacher who also deferred my own August born son. He is just about to start high school so this is a few years ago now. We have never regretted it and applying to high school has been simple- there’s never been any suggestion of him missing a year. I would very much recommend going on the suggested Facebook group. If you have a summer born child, you have the right to delay their start until the term after they turn 5 in England (this is known as compulsory school age). The school does technically have the right to decide whether your child starts in Reception or Year 1 but they must base this on the best interests of your child - in practice, there is no way that they can ever say that missing the reception Year is in the best interests. Blanket policies (ie. Saying they never accept deferred children) are unlawful, it has to be your child’s best interests. Deferring is becoming much more common and the process is fairly simple in most local authorities. Occasionally parents will have to educate the school on their rights (I had to do this for my son) and sometimes will have to push this a little but it is becoming more recognised and easier each year that passes. If you know where you would like to move to, I would suggest phoning the local authority admissions or even ringing the school to try and sound out their stance on it. You may find it is simpler than you think!

This happened to my DS. My DS has a December birthday and we moved from the USA to the UK the summer he turned six, which meant he had done three years of nursery and then went straight into year one. I was particularly nervous because DS’s nursery in America was focused on hands-on exploration, creative expression, and social development (Reggio Emilia philosophy) rather than ABCs and 123s. It was brilliant but VERY different to the one my younger child attended in London a few years later.
I can honestly say it was no problem at all. It helped that we had always read to him a lot at home and he was already reading a little bit when he started but honestly I don’t think it would have mattered if we hadn’t. He was reading fluently by Christmas of Year 1 and has been an academic high flyer ever since. I did occasionally notice that he was not good at sounding out bigger words because he had missed a lot of phonics instruction but it wasn’t much of an issue for him. I don’t necessarily think it would have hurt him to go to reception but I’m glad he got an extra year to be little and I’m sad that my younger DCs did not.
After having two more children through the UK system I strongly believe we start pushing academics WAY too soon. The priority when they are young should be fostering a love of learning. They will learn to read and write and do maths when they are ready. I see no advantage to forcing them to learn to any sooner and many potential disadvantages.