Summer Born Children - Deferring school start

[Lubelle80s]

I have been reading about applications to delay school starts for summer born children - having them start reception class a year later rather than simply missing reception and starting school in year 1.

I have read that local authorities tend to be reticent to agree to the applications and I'm curious to see if anyone reading this has been successful?

Do you have valid reasons for deferring or it is purely that your child is summer born?

I wish I had tried. It's been a nightmare.

Essex leaves it up to the school. I'm in a town with three primary schools, two allow it, one doesn't. I know quite a few children who have done this.

I did this after an unsuccessful start in reception when it became obvious immediately that it wasn't going to work. Dis registered then started again following sept and never regretted it.

It used to be the case that many LAs operated a blanket policy of refusing to allow summer born children to defer for a full year. That approach was ruled illegal some years ago so LAs are required to look at each case individually. They can only refuse if they can show it is in the child's best interests. As a result, it is now a lot easier to defer. Many LAs now accept all applications to defer.

If it's any help- my 2DSs were May born. Both struggled in early primary. If both could have repeated either R or Y1, it would have been a blessing; acknowledged by us and the school/s. But, no. Not an option.

The soldiered on, (alongside other boys, largely, who would have benefitted from being 'held back').

Both mine ended up 'staying back', ultimately; eldest by by being very '15' at GCSEs; then AS levels, nose-diving in Y12; (restart -BTEC this time). So started uni at 19, thank heavens. Now 23, just graduated with a first class in software engineering.

Other stayed the course but, blessedly, did an Art Foundation year (uni v keen for them to have it); now 21, in EU uni for a semester. Future looking good.

It feels like hell at R and Y1 as it all seems disastrous; but I imagine few parents will actually pursue the deferral; thus your child will, like mine (when deferral wasn't an option)- end up in classes with similar DC, being taught to their abilities by people who know what they're doing.

It will almost always work out.

Yes, we deferred for both of my children. Some councils seem to blanket accept applications, as much as others blanket refuse. There is a Facebook group that’s worth joining for advice - flexible school admissions for summer borns. DS has thrived and is clearly in the right group for his social development. Academically it was just right in the early years and the perfect level for him. With that strong foundation and the confidence from doing well, his learning has accelerated in the last couple of years and he’s getting quite ahead now, although socially and in terms of maturity he’s still at the right level for the class he’s in. DD (younger one) might have been fine in either class and she’s clearly doing very well academically from the start. Academically she could have been fine in the older age group but she’s happy in the class she’s in and again full of confidence with how she’s doing in her learning so that’s the main thing. She’s not a naturally confident child so I think on balance this has been the right choice for her.

Also if you’re eligible for free hours and tax free childcare you can still get it until the term before they start school.

Yes I deferred both my children, purely because they're summerborn. Where I live it's easy and has been great for both of them

We did it for August born, no regrets - DC was academically but not emotionally/socially ready for school at just 4.

Join the flexible summer born group mentioned above - loads of useful advice, especially if you live somewhere that isn't keen on deferring (we were lucky to live in an 'easy' county).

We offset (rather than deferred - where you would go straight to Y1) and my august born boy started in reception this september. It was absolutely the right thing. Although slightly faffy, it was a straightforward process and our council were easy (despite others saying they weren’t). It did really help to understand it is a legal right to start later and the authority has to show it’s in the child’s best interests to refuse a reception start.

I was less concerned about academics and more about social and emotional development but also not it any great rush to start school - play is play is play! There is no disadvantage.

I’ve found that people can have strong feelings about it - teachers included (though our reception teacher is summer born and very supportive).

My DS has waltzed into school and cracked on in a way that just wouldn’t have happened a year ago (he would probs have been fine but definitely not as ready as this year and I couldn’t see a reason for him to start then).

All depends on the child and your reasons. There are significant downsides though in particular with sport but also scholarships, the lad who had been deferred couldn't play football for the school team in year 6 because he was too old, nor could he take part in a sports competition my dd was involved in, he also didn't qualify for the bursary for 6th form (private) because he was over 17 on 1st September. He was pretty annoyed at his parents and dropped out of the state 6th form college he went to instead of the private school (specialist)

I would. As a teacher I actually deferred having a child in the summer months to avoid this situation.

We didn’t defer our late August babies. I’m glad we didn’t.

I think it’s becoming much more common and the applications are now more straightforward. It’s still is a bit of a lottery depending on your council. I would really recommend getting on the Facebook group flexible admissions for summer borns. They have always been a great source of info and up to day support for anyone thinking of going down this route.

I deferred my August born DD - she is now in year 4 and I have never regretted it. I am now looking at transition to secondary and there seems to be no issues even with the 11+ and selective route. All the secondary schools in this area simply say that they Just take children based on their adopted year group.

We didn’t defer our late August babies. I’m glad we didn’t same with us. It has made absolutely no difference to ds1's life.

How does this affect the transition to secondary school? Are there many pupils who start year 7 who turned 12 in the previous academic year, or do they skip a year?

It depends. Most schools won't have an issue deferring mid July-August babies into reception. Birthdays earlier than that they'll tend to say they have to go straight into Year 1. Or the age ranges in the classes would be huge.
Make sure you ask the local authority about transitioning into secondary school too.

We are talking about the children being a week or two older than the oldest child in the year. In one case I had, the child was 3 days older than the oldest September birthday.

Schools cannot operate a blanket policy like this. The courts have been clear that each case must be considered individually and a request to enter Reception can only be refused if they can show it is in the child's best interests. Any school that automatically puts a child born in June into Y1 is acting unlawfully.

Most of us are going to decide that we're happy with the decision we made. There's no way of knowing whether your DC would have been better off deferred, or if mine would have been better not deferring.

We’re applying for independent secondaries and all the schools have been fine about DS applying out of cohort (ie 1 year later than expected), no issue with qualifying for scholarships etc.

My DD was 31st august. I didn't defer her and I'm pleased I didn't as she would have been bored! She's just started at grammar and excels academically. The only place it has really shown was PE as she is near enough a full year behind her cohort sometimes, but that is evening our.

DD is a mid July born and the only time it was a bit of a nuisance was in year 13 when she couldn't go to pubs and clubs in town. After 10pm they all had a strict no under 18s policy, and as she didn't look like anyone else she knew fake ID wasn't an option either. So she never really did the clubbing thing until she got to university, then decided that she didn't like clubbing anyway.

I don't think deferring would work well if people were considering grammar school. Has anyone done this?

I thought you deferred the start to primary and it all followed on from then?