July born child held back a year

[AlorMy]

Not my child but DN (nephew)

He is 3. Seems average in development and is well socialised.

His birthday is late June and his parents are wanting him to be in the class below because they feel that he’ll be at a disadvantage being so young in the class.

Reception is saying no.

How can parents push through with this?

Stuffed peppers to be fair 7 year olds should be sent to the head if they answer back to the teacher, his friends being 8 makes no difference.

So then parents will want to defer them too and the whole system unravels.

But this system happens in Scotland, Ireland and other countries all over the world and works very well indeed- why should England be different that the system seemingly can't cope and things unravel. It's far more beneficial to have children working at their stage as they all get there at different times - age is fairly irrelevant

Schools can say no to them starting Reception class a year later than they would have. They can't say no to anyone applying for their child to start school in year one.

Awkward1 so I've understood part of it correctly but not realised you can actually ask for them to start reception at 5 instead if going into Y1? I will have experience of both as my eldest was 5 when he started school in reception due to when his birthday falls. I don't think we will delay DS2 start date though

I know it will never change now, but it really does make me wonder why the cut off birth date isn't e.g. 1st of March so every child would be at least 4.5 before starting school. I know some would then be a lot older than they are today, but this doesn't seem an issue in other counties.

I know it will never change now, but it really does make me wonder why the cut off birth date isn't e.g. 1st of March so every child would be at least 4.5 before starting school.

This is exactly how it works in Scotland. DD2started primary school age 5.5. DD1 is among the youngest and started at 4.5

My son is a may child and we held him back until the term after christmas. several others we knew held theirs back until they were five. Our son just wasnt old enough in himself for school.
Now in his final year of secondary school he is the youngest bar one in the year and he definitely feels the difference and comments on it.
Research papers I have previously read have shown that children who are the oldest in their year rare better throughout their education and later life, had I read those earlier I would have probably made the decision to delay until he was 5.
Fortunately, we had the luxury of being able to send him to an "alternative school" where there are no tests, no pressure, no comparisons and children are encouraged to be themselves rather than academically perform. If he had hone to a mainstream school with sats, exams, streaming etc, its would absolutely have been appropriate to delay until he was 5.

Parents of summer born children may, therefore, submit a request for delayed admission to Reception Year group, rather than year 1, for any school within the Authority. A decision must be taken by the relevant admission authority based on the circumstances of the case and in the child’s best interests

This is what I have copied and pasted from our local council website. It certainly looks more flexible than when DD started school.

Now in his final year of secondary school he is the youngest bar one in the year

Not disbelieving you, but for a May baby to be the second youngest in the entire year is very unusual.

I have one July and one August child. Both started normal time, both have done perfectly well. August born is now at uni studying law.

@WaterSheep
The other child the same age was put back a year and there is one July child. It's a year of 64 kids. Not sure why its fallen that way.
My son was also 6 weeks premature and I think it took a long time to catch up.

We now have to make the decision for our daughter, she was also 6 prem, very Ill for the first 9.5 weeks which was clearly a huge setback more than the prematurity itself and she has had significant speech problems. She is also abnormally small which is being investigated currently. Shes mid june, should have been end july,,
What would anyone else's thoughts be?

Im an August baby and the end of it. I never had any issues from it. Passed all gcses. If they held your dn back a year because of his birthday it would make him a target for bullies because they would think he was held back for being thick later on. If he starts school and really struggles you can ask about repeating a year then but to hold them back for the sake of it is wrong.

I don't think an August child would be bullied for being "thick"

Glam I'd say defer in your case, prematurity, speech and size problems all combined.

Though I don't really know lots about being prem, I've seen it likened to this:

You are building a machine. Usually you build the whole machine and then start using it. With a prem baby, you build most of the machine but start using it before it is finished, and then you have to try to finish it while it is being used. It takes longer to finish, and some things you can't get just right anyway.

My DD2 was prem, but then neglected as well. It took her a long time to catch up. Luckily she was autumn born so she fitted with the younger summer borns. No way would she have coped if she had had to be the year above (really she'd have been better the year below).