Talk to me about delaying my summer born dd until she is five

[Medwaymumoffour]

Dd is a August birth. She is being assessed for a ehcp as she has speech and communication delays. She won’t get a ehcp. I’m in a LA with a inadequate Ofsted for their SEN dept and have done four appeals for her brother. The EP report said ‘pointless EHCP process’ and talked about delaying her start date instead.

I have no idea how I would go about this and how it would effect her secondary education?

Im in a god alful LA for SEN. I think she would benefit more from delaying her start than me appealing countless times to get her speech therapy

Hi I'm afraid I don't have any advice and I don't know the rules for deferring for a full year but still starting Reception, but I wanted to answer being a fellow medway mum with a summer born DS who also has a speech disorder.

DS started reception in September after a handful of speech therapy sessions. Has your DD been referred for any? Our HV referred us when DS was 2.5 however it took 14 months for them to start. They've helped a bit but he has quite a way to go still. He is under SEN now he has started school.

Earlier this year I looked at deferring his start date to next January (due to his age and poor speech) but after a good chat with his pre-school and new HT I decided to send him in September but part time (he only does a 4 day week and will do until after Christmas).

Sorry not much help, hopefully you will get some good advice soon.

There is a great (pro deferred entry) facebook group called 'flexible admissions for summerborn children' that gives advice and support with the process of applying to schools.

I have a July 2014 DD with severe speech problems. I'll be deferring her reception year start until September 2019. In general in Essex the procedure is to contact the heads of schools you like to find out their policies then get in touch with Essex admissions (a little different if the school is an academy). You have the absolute right to not start your child until after they turn 5 but the schools seem to have the final say as to what year they start in. One local school has replied to say absolutely no to starting in Yr R, if we send DD at 5 she.would go into year 1. The other school we liked has said they will definitely start her in Reception as EYFS is so important. We have been advised on the back of this to make a paper application specifying a reception start during next year's admissions process, not the one coming up.

Re secondary school, I believe there have to be exceptional circumstances for them to be removed from their cohort so I'm not too worried about that side of it.

I was going to mention same FB group as previous poster.

I went online and googled 'decelerating my summer born child'. I found my particular LEA and downloaded the form for decelerating. I filled it in, sent it away and awaited their response. I also spoke to what would be my child's primary school to let them know what i was doing. My summer born DD started school this September at 5 years and 2 months. I have no regrets and would do it again.

I wish I had deferred a year with my Aug baby (she yr 3 now but working at year 1 level , deferring wasn't a thing back then, it was miss reception and jump into yr1, and I didn't want that for her). She was under Speach therapy for 2 yrs, has confidence issues and now dyslexia .
If I could turn back time she would be in a different year group.

Can you get your GP to refer her for speech therapy.
Can you gave some private sessions

I’m getting her privately assessed as she has had about ten questions from the CELF and was declared from severe to mild she had just passed a panel to get into a speech unit nursery but didn’t get in as there was nine places but 30 kids passed the panel.

Her older brothers but have language disorders, both in Sen schools, one is non verbal.

I will look up that FB group and Decelerated admission forms. Thank you

As a summer born child myself I'd encourage you to defer. I was academically able but socially and emotionally it was tough. Starting school should be as pleasurable an experience for our children as we can make it and age definitely helps.

It is the norm in Scotland and is a parental decision. For me secondary schooling issues are as important as primary- i feel that being one of the oldest rather than the youngest in a peer group has big advantages in the teenage tears.

I have 2 premature summer born twins - I wasn't allowed to defer long ago - but ds had speech and language difficulties. The teachers at infant school found his lack of focus frustrating and did not hide it! Socially he struggled too. It was all quite heartbreaking - they would have been so much more confident and ready a year later. They are fine now - in secondary school but we really felt their immaturity throughout primary.

Thanks everyone, I’m going to try my best to defer her. My gut feeling is that all kids are different but she won’t be ready for school

Even if you don’t manage to defer her you can always home educate for a year. However I guess she would have to go into year 1 and getting a place maybe difficult