Has anyone deferred starting primary school in the UK?

[Foreverexhausted]

I have a Summer born child who really isn't ready to start school in September. We attend activities and classes etc but she struggled to settle in to nursery to the point we were advised to remove her as it was making her physically ill. I really do think the extra year will make a difference, emotionally she just isn't ready.

Has anyone else deferred and are you glad you did or do you regret it and why?

Thanks.

‘Defer’ means to hold the child back until compulsory starting age, in this instance a child who turned 5 in the summer would start in year 1. ‘Delay’ means to hold them back an academic year, so they would start in year R. All parents of summerborns have the right to request a delay but not to insist.
Currently the number of requests approved varies widely by education authority. Some approve all, some barely any.

The problem with having them a year behind is that they are able to leave school at the end of year 10 without any GCSEs if they feel that way inclined.
No children need to stay in education until 18.

In Scotland. Deferred Feb born DD so she will start at 5.5. SO glad I did and she hasn’t even started yet - but this academic year she’s been at an incredible forest nursery, we’ve had so much fun together on her days off, we’ve taken random trips during term time, and she’s now so, so excited for August. I will be deferring December born DS even though we’ll have to fund the extra year ourselves (for non Scottish posters, January and February birthdays get an extra year of council funding for nursery if they wish to defer and start at 5.5. Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec birthdays can apply for an extra year of funding but it’s quite rare to get it. So actually in Scotland you don’t have to start school until nearly 6 if you’re an autumn birthday)

dimples76 but 30 free hours aren't really free. At the nurseries around here you need to pay extra hours, plus food etc as the 'free hours' funding doesn't cover their costs. Before and after school care is significantly cheaper, at least in these parts.

At my dc Nursery the 30 hours costs an extra £8 a week for food. So £8 a week childcare cost for my four year old. My infant age children £8 a day breakfast club and £12 a day afterschool. So £80 a week for four days school age versus £8 a week four days nursery.

@MyDcAreMarvel but you aren't comparing like with like.
Your nursery age child gets 30 hours for £8. Your school age children get 30 hours for free (plus meals).
Presumably if you wanted more than 30 hours at nursery for your youngest you'd have to pay, just as you do for the school age ones?

I think it should be fully parental choice. As sxchools are not making fair decisions. Some allowing Apr with no sen or reasons others not allowing even 31/08 due months later and sen.
I dont think sen can all be identified before applying by 3.5yo.
I am a little surprised at how many are now deferring because most dc ive seen have been ok. Obviously there are a lot of benefits though.
My dc2 presents ok most of the time but likely has sen as they are hyper-emotional (and stubborn). I am convinced the school would not cope and they would be in with the HT a lot.
There is a real risk with immature behaviour of getting excluded.
Also i dont think the playground is adequately supervised (it's not teachers) so the kids are not learning appropriate behaviour.
I was reading that 50% of 4yo would nap. Im sure that it isnt that high in this country but does raise that it is not surprising that the SB misbehave more, they are tired and smaller and trying to coordinate writing at 4yo but probably without 1-2-1 help.

There is some misinformation on this thread.

1. Your child does not 'have' to skip a year at some point to go back into the 'correct' cohort. The DfE advice on the admission of summerborn children states that any decision to change year groups later on has to be made by the headteacher

• in the best interests of the child
• in consultation with the parents

It would be very hard to make the case that missing an entire year of schooling would be in any child's best interests, so any headteacher that wanted to do this would have a difficult case to make and parents would have a strong case against.

1. "Someone has to be the youngest" - it's not about not wanting to be the youngest in the year, it's about not being ready for school at aged just 4 years old - it's an absolute not a relative issue

1. Spread of ages within the class - one of the arguments schools sometimes make against delaying a year is that they can teach to different abilities within a year group , so why wouldn't this still be the case ? The reason for delay is usually around social emotional and physical school readiness, not about academic ability. Surely it's better for schools to have a child who is ready to deal with the emotional / social / physical independence required for school rather than struggling to deal with those things and the academic side on top of that ?

1. It advantages middle class / better off parents - the system as it is does do that, because it leaves the decision about whether a delayed year child should be in reception or yr 1 up to the local authority/ academy itself, requiring parents to research the matter and argue their case. If reception entry was automatic for delayed children and this was made clear to parents, it would create much more of a level playing field.

@HildaSnibbs I'd agree with most of your points but not #4. School is still cheaper than childcare in most areas, certainly in the south where the govt funding for free hours doesn't cover costs so they all require some kind of top up, whether that's by making sessions longer, charging extra for food etc. It is also far more likely to be middle class and aspirational parents who are agonising over whether their child is ready and more informed on choices.
This is really noticeable where we live. Catchment areas are really small and every year on the WhatsApp group there are a number of parents who are horrified to learn that their child has not only not got into the top rated state school, they've been sent to the failing school a mile away - and nearly every time this turns out to be because they didn't fill out the form correctly, often only putting their #1 choice for example, so when they were too far they got allocated wherever have space. Some then turn down the place they get offered so they're in even more of a pickle. These are always parents with children who already disadvantaged through having English as a second language or socioeconomically. The well off parents have it all sorted, sometimes including a strategic rental.

I totally agree that 4 is too young for any child to start school, and totally support all of them starting a year later. But I don't think allowing some parents to delay is necessarily going to lead to the best outcomes.

I’m another who has decided to start my son in reception at compulsory school age. It’s not delaying them, it’s starting them when they have to start rather than a year early. He starts this September at 5 years and 12 days, and we have a guarantee in writing from the local authority that he can remain with his adopted cohort throughout his schooling.

It’s the best decision we ever made. There is a massive difference between him now and last year. He is more confident, his toileting is more secure, he is ready to learn.

Our reasoning was knowing he just wasn’t ready. He had a mild speech delay when younger but has been caught up for a while thanks to SALT. He was a late potty trainer (not because we are lazy parents, contrary to popular opinion) and very shy. He has come out of his shell a lot with his extra year in nursery and at home with us.

He was due in mid September but born three weeks early at the end of August and I think it’s ridiculous that that could have meant he lost an entire year of play. I personally think just turned 5’r is too young for formal schooling. For us it was not about him being the youngest, if school started at 6 like in a lot of countries, we wouldn’t have had an issue.

At the end of the day, parents know their child best, so if you want to start them at age 5 and it’s within the permitted rules, then go for it.

I think UK children are the youngest starters in Europe and Australia. There has been a lot of research showing children are more ready to learn reading and writing skills at six and seven. Pushing a four year old who should be learning entirely through play is unnecessary.

My dc is October born so not an issue for us but I'd fully support any parents choosing to do this for their child. I do think there needs to be some tightening of the rules though around parents who don't get into their first choice school and so decide to defer and have another go the following year. I have a close friend whose child didn't get into their first choice this year but knows of two families who have deferred and got a place this year, possibly resulting in her own child losing out as she may have got a place if these children had gone into their correct year instead of taking a place in the year below.

I was deferred as a child (in a different country). I was ready for school, but my mother deferred me for family reasons. It was never an issue. Nobody cared.

Remember, your child will only be 2 or 3 months older than the oldest in class. It is really not noticeable to anyone else, but will make a big difference to your child if s/he is not ready this year.

I know people who were among the youngest in their class. They were emotionally immature and their motor skills weren't as developed as their peers' which ruined their enjoyment of PE and art.

I thought long and hard about deferring DS2, before deciding against it. I'm glad I didn't defer now, as he dealt with it all very well, despite it taking a while for his behaviour to catch up to 'Reception child' level. He is doing extremely well and exceeding all his expected academic levels in Y2. His current teacher expressed surprise when I pointed out DS was the youngest child in the child at parents night. It was a bit hard during Reception though, as he was shattered by the end of the day and it always seemed to be me called inside at Hometime - 'Can I just have a quick word about DS2's behaviour today?'.

Tbh the main thing that swung me towards starting him on time instead of deferring was that DS1 was in Y6 when DS2 started. If I'd deferred, it was very, very unlikely that DS1 would get a place as he'd no longer have a sibling there and we live a long way from this oversubscribed school. So I decided to see how things went, and was pleasantly surprised at how good the staff were with the summer born children who were barely out of nappies (in fact DS was in pullups at night until halfway through reception) and couldn't sit still for two seconds at carpet time. Still alarms me a bit when I think that DS will do all his GCSE exams at age 15 though.

There seems to be a lot of misinformation in this thread. The rules have changed since 2014 therefore experiences before this are moot. Istarted my July born son this year in reception aged 5. To do this I had to write a letter to school (it is an academy). He is thriving and will continue in his year group for entire school career.

He received the 30 free nursery hours last year which takes away cost implications for working families (30 hrs is more than school).

100s of families are choosing this option every year. I believe this will continue to grow while we have a national curriculum not fit for purpose. All research indicates children learn best through play until 7.

IMO the only reason the government, LAs don’t promote this more is the cost implication. I would advise anyone considering this to get informed and join Facebook flexible summerborn group. Good luck!

IMO the only reason the government, LAs don’t promote this more is the cost implication.

By this, do you mean that parents are entitled to 30h funding for an additional year at preschool if they choose to defer?

@cochineal7 I deferred my DS1 born 30/08/2008 when he started primary school in London. He is now finishing Year 5 abroad. As we are now moving back to the UK, my LA has told me I still have to apply for a Year 7 secondary place for him for September 2019 at my preferred secondary schools in order to inquire as to whether they will accept him 'out of cohort' for a Year 7 place next September 2020. I have to apply to inquire??? I found that strange instead of just emailing them to find out

Anyhow some secondary schools emailed me back to say they will accept him out of cohort, while others have said they would not accept him out of cohort and would instead put him straight into Year 8!!! I will have to now re apply again for him in October 2019 when the secondary applications rounds start at ONLY the secondary schools that accept his application out of cohort.

I don't really understand the secondary schools that won't accept him. One said in their email 'it is just not something we do'. So basically it's more important for that school to follow a blanket policy than to look at each child's individual circumstances. It makes me annoyed tbh, how that is fair or in his best interests because if he went forward to his 'correct' now, then he would be missing out on a 'statutory right to a national curriculum year programme of work'.

To top it off, he was diagnosed 3 years ago with a SEN (but he doesn't have an ECHP) so I'm still glad I deferred him when he had started school.

@lul37 Your best bet is to make sure you read the DfE's guidelines Advice on the Admission of Summerborns 2014. If you Google that it will be the top link. In particular pages 8 and 9.

The short answer is that at every school change you have to get an agreement to stay with their adopted cohort and that includes secondary.

However they cannot just make you miss a year. They have to show it is in your child's best interests.

So challenge the school - they are often not aware of this (as it only came into force in 2014, so many will never have dealt with this before!). It would be hard to argue that it would be in their best interests to miss a year, and they need to make that case in the individual interest of the child. They are not allowed to have a blanket policy of 'we don't do that'. That is illegal.

Can I just point put this is correct Don't they still have to join the rest of their cohort at some point? Ie they aren't always a year behind are they? Your child won't be held back a year, they will join their natural cohort, having missed out Reception class.

Back in the day there used to be a staggered intake, or 'rising 5's' as they were known, school had a September and January intake, which seemed to cover this adequately.

But then , even further back in the day , you only went up a class if you had completed that years work adequately. By the age of 12 my mother had caught her two older brothers up and they were all in the same age 14 leavers class, which she had to repeat for two years.

A lot of secondary's now do 'vertical forms' which do broadly move children around, so you may well find you are up or down a year according to ability. Im only mentioning it because education is a moveable feast depending on what party/minister is in charge this week. Gove & Balls, I'm looking at you two.

It's quite common to defer January and February borns in Scotland. My db was February born and my mum regrets not deferring him.

@cochineal7 thank you for referring me to the Dfe's 2014 guidelines, was completely unaware of this document! I have had a look at p8 and p9 so hopefully I can use it when we relocate back to put forth a good argument on why it's in my DS's best interests to remain with his 'adopted' year group. It would definitely give us more flexibility and choice on what secondary schools in our local area would agree to admit him rather than putting all our eggs in one basket with just one or two secondary schools.

I just wanted to also add that if you move abroad with a 'deferred child' it might not be so easy to slot back into the LA system out of cohort whether they are in the primary stage or the secondary stage.

Im finding this out the hard way as I was never warned about this before we left the UK. I am in tears now as we are moving back to London, my preferred local school has availability in my son's adopted year group but the admissions lady on the phone tells me I need to ring up the primary schools myself and ask if they accept my child 'out of cohort' even though this is the same LA which gave us approval to defer to Reception in 2013!!

The primary schools tell me I need the council to ask them this question on my behalf, it's a bloody nightmare!!

Looking into deferral for DS... August born. In Scotland. It's not looking good at the moment even though he really needs extra year IMO.

Will research further.

@blowinahoolie

Looking into deferral for DS... August born. In Scotland. It's not looking good at the moment even though he really needs extra year IMO.

Will research further.

In Scotland, I have never heard of an August birthday deferring. They would be FAR older than their peers

Deferred DS so he started primary at nearly six in Scotland.
No regrets at all and would do it again. He is nearly the oldest in his year group and there's a huge difference physically and emotionally with the younger ones.