Have you sent your August-born to school at 4 and later regretted it?

[Sandrine1982]

Hi

I know this has been discussed many times before but I'd like to hear from parents who have not deferred the school start for their kids.
I know some parents with August-born children and they all want to defer their children so they start reception at 5.
But I want to hear the other perspective.

Our DD is just 3 but the registration period will start soon and I really don't know what we should do. She was born 25 August but her due date was actually 1 September. She was born a bit early as I had to be induced.

She seems very bright and is an extremely active, lively, friendly and sociable child. She has been at nursery full time since she was 1 year old.
Her speech is developping fine and physically she's also developping great - she's quite tall and athletic for her age.

The only thing I'm worried about is emotional maturity and just general readiness for school. I'm not really worried about reception but her schooling later on, and the impact of school on her confidence levels if "it doesn't work out".

Can people offer their experiences if they haven't deferred and it all turned out ok?
And if we do send her to school and she's really struggling later on, can she repeat a year or something like that?
I'm not familiar with the UK system as I wasn't born here..

Thanks in advance.
xx

It’s not a misconception thanks! There is a statutory right to request a start at compulsory school age - the term after 5th birthday. The school or authority (depending who is the admissions authority) has to demonstrate that that it would be in child’s best interest to start in year 1, and by implication miss the formative reception year (same applies for transition to secondary). It’s pretty much impossible for a school to evidence that it would be in a child’s best interests.

Sorry - comment was for @Mumteedum

@Mumteedum also worth being aware that the burden is on the admissions authority to evidence best interests which is very very difficult to do. It’s commonly misunderstood.

Well it is past relevant for me but it seems somewhat wrong the way local government sites put this if it is as you say @Gonewiththewind123

It's very off putting. It sounded to me as a parent that it would seem quite onerous getting a deferal and a risk if skipping reception year. Clearly you are well informed but it doesn't come across as the way you say it works. See attached.

Yeah @Mumteedum local authorities do interpret in different ways, possibly to put people off as you say. And the decision does ultimately rest with the authority but it’s a hard thing for them to defend!

DD was July birthday and went 2 months after turning 4. She did fine. Reception is about learning through play, getting used to being at school and building social confidence in a group, all things that are invaluable if they are younger.

@Gonewiththewind123

Suggesting that it's automatic is misleading though. The latest Government data analysis that we have shows that only 22% of local authorities accept all requests with 78% only accepting some of the requests made, depending on how they judge the validity of the reasons for the request. Whilst it's more common to be accepted, between 10 - 15 percent are rejected. That's hundreds of children nationally.

I'm not saying that LAs don't accept requests nor that they shouldn't but I am saying that you can't say it's automatic acceptance because more than 1 in every 10 isn't.

Absolutely - I don’t think I’ve said it’s automatic 😃. Just that parents do have the absolute right to defer entry to school to the first term after 5th birthday and that the authority has to prove it would be in the child’s best interests to miss reception (which is hard to do if pressed). Authorities can and do decline, but if appealed it’s a hard case for them to fight.

My DS is an August birth. He was absolutely fine with reception as he had been going to nursery so not much of a change for him.

This is what you replied to me:
there is national statutory guidance which more or less guarantees the right for offset reception start for summer borns, if parents wish.

A rejection rate ranging from of 1 out of every 6 to 1 out of every 10 (including appeals) is not more or less a guarentee.

Absolutely get your point 😀 @Mumteedum but maintain that the statutory guidance does more or less guarantee this if parents are well informed and able to challenge constructively. (that’s not to say it can’t be a difficult process for some to get to that stage). There was going to be some further reinforcing legislation to guarantee it, but the government have recently paused or stopped it (supposedly on the basis that school’s/authorities) should be doing it anyway.

This is completely wrong. Summer borns can defer and start reception the term after they turn 5, at compulsory school age. I wish these threads weren't full if so much misinformation.

My story is outdated but relevant to your OP. I was born mid-Sept but ended up in the year above. No idea how or why and DM claims not to remember. So, I was a year and a bit younger than some in my class. It was fine, really. No issues with academics or social stuff. It can work out fine.

@TheSandwoman as I shared earlier, another poster said I was wrong and I checked. I'm not wrong in my local authority. I screenshotted and shared it. Now @Gonewiththewind123 has said that if challenged then you would normally get deferral, but it is not how it is phrased in the website.

I'm not giving misinformation at all. I shared my experience which was a decade ago and then checked and it hasn't changed. Yes, it seems you can challenge it but it doesn't appear straightforward.

It clearly says parents can request this but it is not a given it will happen. It states above that they will miss reception and start in y1. This is from my local authority website today.

It might not be intentionally misinformed but in this example the local authority is acting outside the law and is itself misinformed (wilfully or otherwise). My own view is that people should be able to access accurate and informed advice. I do recognise your point that this isn’t straightforward and it’s clear your authority aren’t getting it right.

Hi OP

Our DC2 is early August born, they are due to start reception in the next week

In some ways feels a bit strange as they only turned 4 earlier this month (more for me & DH) but in other ways they are completely ready to go!

Also, older sibling is at the school already so they know the whole drill re drop off, pick up, familiar faces at the gate

Guess we'll have to see how DC gets on over the next few weeks & months

Never considered for a moment holding them back a year/delaying their start, no concerns about their development or social behaviour all the way through nursery

Also to add they have gone to nursery since just before turning 1

Then had a childminder as well in recent years

They aren't acting outside the law. The information says that, as a matter of course, a child starting after they reach compulsary school age will start in Year One unless the parent makes a request for deferred entry into Reception. This is true and within the law.

It then states that each application will be looked at on a case by case basis. This is true and within the law.

It states that this must be done in advance and that it may or may not be granted. This is true and within the law.

DD was born end of August. She is not just the youngest in her year group but she's also tiny. Throughout nursery and preschool we thought of deferring but the nursery teachers always told us that she's ready to move on. She'd get bored if we deferred. I always wondered if she just seems more developed than she is because her language skills have always been extremely good. In terms of confidence and social skills I did find her to be behind older kids.

She's going to year three now and I'm still in two minds. Academically she is performing exceedingly well but we were never worried about that. It does get to her that she is the smallest, slowest and kind of weakest (physically) in her class. In any kind of sporting event she is always the last and she does seem to get overlooked a lot even by the teachers. The other kids also make a lot of comments on her being so small and the youngest.

I think eventually she will be ok but I still wonder if we made a mistake and put her at a disadvantage when she didn't need to be. At some point she will catch up developmentally but I wonder if her self confidence will be dented for good.

I think it depends a lot on the child. A more confident or maybe just a physically bigger child might have a different experience. Do keep in mind though that development doesn't just affect academics but everything else as well.

Mine was due late Sept, arrived mid-August. Quite ready for school at 4; I was relieved she'd been prem as I don't think the pre-school would have cut it for another year. The only problem was that the week was just a bit a long for her. Fortunately her school were of the view that if a child was tired, an afternoon off was the best thing. She did roughly a 4.5 day week for most of the first year. 16 now, good GCSEs, no problems later.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm super confused... and now worried!

My daughter (turned 1 two days ago) was born on 27 Aug. I thought the law was that she had to start school the sept AFTER she turns 5, so we were anticipating a start date of September 2026.

Am I hearing that she could/should start school a whole year earlier... in 2025?!

Clarity massively appreciated!!!

August boy here. Youngest of three children (both sisters are autumn birthdays) and he was a tiny dot of a child - still in age 18-24 months clothes when he started school. We really strongly considered keeping him back a year, but his nursery school teacher was adamant that he was ready for Reception and we chose to be guided by her.

His first term exhausted him - his lovely teacher used to tuck him up on a beanbag in the story corner every afternoon so that he could have a nap, and he’d usually be cuddled in on her knee at home time. But we stuck with it, and he absolutely thrived.

He’s always been immensely popular, and while his friends all tower over him, it’s made them very protective of him and they’ve always stuck up for him, even when he’s been more than capable of fighting his own battles. He’s been a little immature at times, and has needed some support in not being an entertainer to his own detriment, but I suspect that’s a third child thing rather than an august thing.

He’s 10 now, in top sets for everything, absolutely flying academically, so it clearly hasn’t held him back there. We needed to have a word with ourselves a bit in the early days, ‘Why isn’t he reading fluently yet?? His sisters were reading fluently at this age??’ because we’d forget that the end of Year 1 for him wasn’t the same as the end of Year 1 for them. Patience was key.

He’s very sporty, despite still being tiny, so it never held him back there either.

Looking back, we have absolutely no regrets, and indeed I think he’d have been bored and disaffected if we’d kept him back a year.

My ds is August born. He didn't particularly like ks1, was ok in ks2, flourished in secondary.

Got 8s & 9s in his recent gcses.

I was worried throughout primary and then it all came together.

Assuming you are in England, you will apply for a school place for a September 2025 start. However, as part of that application, you can request a deferred entry for September 2026 because your child, with a summer birthday, does not have to legally be in school until then. However, you will need to decide whether you wish to apply for a Sept 2026 start in Reception (placing her outside of her chronological year group) or a Sept 2026 start in Year One (with her chronological year group).

These requests are often granted but can be rejected so you must supply valid reasons for wanting your child to start out of chronological year group.

As far as I know they are meant to start school (ie reception) in rhe school year in which they turn 5. So if you have an August born they would start reception in September after turning 4 in August.

DD turned 4 end of August and then a few days later started reception...

We’ve deferred our early August DS so he’ll be starting next year instead of this. He’s in a really good nursery three days a week who are able to stretch him and provide activities so he doesn’t get bored. Having volunteered in a reception class with DS1 I have no doubt that an extra year before school can only be beneficial. I can’t see any downsides tbh unless childcare costs are difficult.