Summer Born Children - What happens after delayed admission

[Vilia]

There are lots of post about whether to apply for delayed admission to reception or not and how to do it. However I can not find any information about the progress of the children who started school at CSA and not age 4. My concern is that Surrey Council states that such child would not be expected to stay out of chronological year group indefinitely and that the special request will have to be made in order to stay with the same cohort at secondary school stage.
I would prefer my late August born son to start school a year later (and have agreement for him to do so), but if at the point of transferring to secondary school he has to go into a year above, he simply won't get into our local school as it is massively oversubscribed. Could it mean that he then ends up going to any school that has a place at year 8?
I would appreciate any responses from parents whose summer born children started school at CSA.

My dd August born is due to start at csa. Our local authority policy is all children will stay in the same cohort so I have no worries.
Why do you think your request would be refused?

Surrey County Council's guidelines state:
"A child may not be expected to remain out of chronological year group
indefinitely. Any return to the correct chronological year group is expected to be managed within a Key Stage i.e. at the end of a Key Stage the child should be placed within his or her chronological year group"...
and
"At each transition the decision whether to maintain the placement in a younger year group must be made by the admission authority for the school based on the circumstances of the case and what is in the best interests of the child and as such there is no guarantee that it will continue throughout the child’s education."

In those circumstances I think starting with regular cohort after Easter would be the best option.

This is my councils policy.

“We believe that every child in our city deserves the very best education regardless of the month of their birth and that parental choice is of great importance. That’s why we will be amending our admissions policy to ensure that parents of summer born children – who wish to wait until compulsory school age before sending their child to school – will be able to send their child to reception aged five.“Reception is a crucial part of a child’s learning and we don’t want our children being denied the right to their reception year. Government recognise the importance of this issue and will be amending the School Admissions Code accordingly to ensure that “summer born children can be admitted to reception at the age of five, if this is in line with their parents’ wishes, and to ensure that those children are able to remain with the same cohort as they progress through school.”

Actually reading that it implies government will change there policy to stay in same cohort throughout.

My August born son started at CSA (best thing I have ever done for him). There were some vague threats about having to move a year when he starts secondary. I found the whole idea so ridiculous that I decided to ignore the vague threats and deal with it later. No regrets so far and he is just coming to end of his foundation year.

You are in the lucky position to have parents who have done this already and will not be letting this happen without a huge fight in 5 years time so imagine it will be resolved by the time you have to worry about it

Delayed admission is something a LA/School has to consider but do not have to do. The child is expected to 'catch up' and transition with its normal age range group.

Unfortunately each local authority does as they please at the moment. You are lucky to live in the one that supports summer borns. I wish I knew all of this before we settled in Surrey.

The headteacher did not support our application for decelerated entry nor did LA. We eventually got acceptance after I a threat of legal action. However once the child is in the school it is up to headmaster to decide how to educate him. I have a feeling that they will move my son up, just to prove that they can. There is not one other child in our local primary school being educated outside the normal age group. Unless there is a change in legislation authorities and schools can and will do as they please. As far as I know public consultation has not even begun, so it will take years to get the legislation out.

Vilia, I think it would be more normal to miss Y6 rather than Y7. From what you quote from Surrey, it says that by the end of a Key Stage the child should be in their 'regular' cohort. That wouldn't apply if a child did Y6 with the 'younger' children, then moved straight to Y8. It's more likely that school would try to move the child up into their 'regular' cohort sometime within the Key Stage. Or have them miss Y6.

The difference between missing Y6 and missing Y7 is that the child would start secondary school along with everyone else (rather than joining established year groups); so no problem with admissions (except if you'd be aiming for 11+).

Also, some people say that Y6 is basically a waste of time because it is all about preparing for SATS. Teaching to the test. In fact, I've read of a few people here on MN who choose to Home Educate for Y6 precisely to avoid that. I've also read that many children experience Y7 as a repetition of Y6 - a lot of Y7 seems to be establishing the groundwork that may or may not have been achieved by children in Y6. So from that perspective, it sounds like missing Y6 may not be such a bad option. Academically, you may just avoid a year of teaching to SATS, without too much detriment as everything will be repeated in Y7 anyway. The move to secondary school will involve losing friends and meeting new people anyway, no matter if you stay with your cohort or not.

From that perspective I'd go with Octonaught: Do what's best for your child now, rather than be caved by vague threats that may or may not come to pass (and may not be a terrible thing anyway).

What would put me off in your case is your suspicion that they'll try to move your child 'up' as soon as possible.
My August born DS was ok in reception. Not great - he struggled socially and emotionally and would have been ready for reception by the end of the year really. The year would have been much better spent if he had stayed in his nursery school. But he was ok nevertheless - he got to play and have friends. But he is finding the 'all work no play' of Y1 very off-putting. I can't blame him. He is academically able, differentiation is poor, he is basically being made to sit through three hours or boring repetitive stuff - every morning of the week. That is NOT how a 5yo should be spending his days. He should be running and exploring and getting dirty. All the while having no limits on his learning.
So if your child's school is likely to just move your child up into Y1 half-way through his reception year, then you would have gained very little. Starting reception at just 4 is not really the problem IMO. Starting Y1 at just 5 is. (In many schools anyway.)

However, keep in mind that due to Infant Class Size rules, even if the HT WANTS to move your son up, they may not have the possibility, unless a space becomes available in the year above. That would guarantee him to be able to remain with his 'chosen' cohort at least until the end of Y1, and the earliest he could be moved up would be to skip Y2 and go straight into Y3 (where ICS no longer applies so he could be 31st child).

Chamenager, thank you for your post. It reassures me to go with my instinct and keep my son back for a year. It is unnerving that LA and Headteacher are against us, but I will stick to my opinion that 5 year old should not be doing university hours. Thanks again.

My daughters started reception at CSA and are now in year 1. We have not regretted it. We had a similar conversation with the head of our school, but we have a letter from the council that our daughters will stay in their group unless we agree otherwise, which we won't. In regards to secondary school, we will deal with that when the time comes, but we would fight any school that did not honour agreement and would take our case as far as it would go. I have spoken to a couple of headteachers and they have said that they would not force a child to move year groups. There was a study recently done in the US. It stated that parents, who started their children the following year, did not regret the decision as it gave their child that time to grow. However, the parents, who were offered this option and did not take it, regretted not having done it as they watched their children struggle with the social and emotional issues. Go with your gut and take one day at a time.

I called several private schools and asked if they would take an 12 year old to year 7 , they all said NO!

Lots of independent senior schools have children out of their correct chronological year. So do prep schools.

Do not think for one minute that Y6 is a waste of time. A few schools practice for Sats far too much but most teach the Y6 curriculum and prepare children for secondary school. Home educating for a year and removing a child from all the fun things and responsibilities in Y6 would upset many children.

Children who are summer born can be very bright and do catch up. Mine was never behind! I think parents need to be aware of the problems of swapping Year groups and trust schools a bit more.