what happens to summer babies at senior school

[comehomemax]

We believe we have a good argument to defer my summer born son a year and have him start reception at age 5 and 1 month. We have to apply for primary schools this year and then apply to the LA to defer I believe.
However, I have heard that if we are successful, the LA may still force him up a year at senior school age - does anyone know how likely that is or is it just a threat to discourage us from pushing this?
I'm really worried about this - can anyone advise?

I confess I am not an expert, but does a child with language delay not start to learn language from other children they mix with at school? I would also see what sort of school is going to be able to meet his need and whether he should have specialist provision at school. The date he starts won't really replace all of this for a SN child.

Hi OP I don't know if this is much help as things may have changed now as my son is 17. He was born in July 31 weeks early but had stopped growing at 26 weeks, weighed 1 lb 12 oz when born. Brain haemmoraghe at 6 weeks old which affected his motor skills, in and out of hospital for the first 2 years, delayed speech (didn't say his first word until he was 4). When he started at nursery I was told he could stay back a year, so all good. Then the school told me that he HAD to be in the correct year by the time secondary school came along and it was better for him to miss a younger year (recepion or year 1) rather than miss year 5 or 6 & go straight to secondary. I was so gutted for him, really stressed out and worried. He went into reception after Easter and only did one term, and for the first few weeks he was really, really upset. But the school had a really good SEN dept and some excellent teachers and he eventually settled in.

He's done fairly well academically, but also has aspergers and has recently been diagnosed with OCD and anxiety so socially it has been hard for him, but I think that would have been the case whatever year it was.

If the school has a good SEN dept hopefully things will be okay for him, but I think they do have the power to make sure he's in the correct year group by year 7. It's worrying, and if he is moved up and struggles at first don't depair. Things should even out. But I remember how scared I was for him and I know it's not easy. Good luck to you both!

Hi OP I don't know if this is much help as things may have changed now as my son is 17. He was born in July 31 weeks early but had stopped growing at 26 weeks, weighed 1 lb 12 oz when born. Brain haemmoraghe at 6 weeks old which affected his motor skills, in and out of hospital for the first 2 years, delayed speech (didn't say his first word until he was 4). When he started at nursery I was told he could stay back a year, so all good. Then the school told me that he HAD to be in the correct year by the time secondary school came along and it was better for him to miss a younger year (recepion or year 1) rather than miss year 5 or 6 & go straight to secondary. I was so gutted for him, really stressed out and worried. He went into reception after Easter and only did one term, and for the first few weeks he was really, really upset. But the school had a really good SEN dept and some excellent teachers and he eventually settled in.

He's done fairly well academically, but also has aspergers and has recently been diagnosed with OCD and anxiety so socially it has been hard for him, but I think that would have been the case whatever year it was.

If the school has a good SEN dept hopefully things will be okay for him, but I think they do have the power to make sure he's in the correct year group by year 7. It's worrying, and if he is moved up and struggles at first don't depair. Things should even out. But I remember how scared I was for him and I know it's not easy. Good luck to you both!

Sorry, posted twice.

Thank you mycat. It's horrible having to try and make decisions based on predicting his development. I just wish he could start at 5 then run through the system at that level. None of the decisions to start at 4 or make him miss a year later seem to be in his interest.
bojorojo - unfortunately his speech issues won't be improved by other children. He has issues forming sounds so his actual comprehension is great, he just can't get his mouth and tongue to make the words. He currently signs or uses PEC cards so we know his word count is actually very high. If anything, he gets very frustrated because other children just ignore him or leave him out when they realise he can't communicate.

I think if you asked the MN bods to amend the title so that it focuses on your child's extra needs rather than him being a summer baby, and asked for this thread to be moved to a more appropriate topic (is there a special needs topic?) you might get some more useful replies.

If his comprehension is great, then I would def get him in his correct school year group, and make sure the school can cope with his special needs.

Failing that, I would be looking at special schools that can accomodate his needs. Good luck.

Please look at the Summer born facebook group.

Government advice about summer born admissions

Hi, my son was born extremely prematurely (at 24 weeks) and is out of year group in spite of being autumn born. He started school at the correct time but repeated Y2 and is now in the year group below, so is in Y5 but should be Y6. Our LA would ideally like him to rejoin his chronological year group, but is not pushing the issue as it's really obvious that where he now is is right for him academically, socially and emotionally. We did have to do the first 3 years of school in his correct year group to be able to gather enough proof that referral was essential, however.

I would definitely concentrate on your son's SEN rather than being August born, as this could well be a more compelling argument. My understanding is that to use prematurity as an official reason, you need concrete proof of your estimated due date (though I am more than happy to be corrected on this!). Good luck.