Daughter born 1 day over school deadline for admissions

[Sunburymum]

My daughter is 3 and a bit years old, born 1 sept 2020. The council have allowed me to apply for her to start reception in sept. Not sure if they will accept but if they do I'm a bit stuck what to do. She's very bright and confident,her speech is advanced as well as her writing and numbers.She is currently in nursery in age group 3-5 so varying abilities meaning she's not always being stimulated as lots of kids are younger or different ability. We feel reception would benefit her. If she doesn't go this year does she start reception when she's 5 and year 1 when she 6 or does she jump straight to year 1 as she'll be 5 on 1st sept 2025. Also some.parents are telling me not to send her to reception this year and have her another year at home as I'll be sending her to college and uni a year earlier?very confused.....

I deliberately had my son on 1st Sep (c section) as wanted to make sure he wasn't the very youngest in the class. All the evidence is being oldest in the class is beneficial to kids so I would definitely wait.
Find a pre school that is school preparatory.

She will start reception at 5yo

I really didn’t think you could do this. I would send her in her correct cohort especially as she’s in nursery with 3-5 year olds anyway. 3 year olds need lots of play really. You can do writing and numbers at home if she’s interested and I’m sure they do a bit at nursery too. School will differentiate appropriately. But there are so many skills that are just as important (if not more) than academic skills.

Delaying Reception is only possible for kids born in the summer months (April to August)
Your dad will be 5 when she starts Reception.

If you are in England then you have to go by the admission criteria. There will always be children born 24hrs after the cut off date. School admissions: School starting age - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Better to be older in the year than the youngest. I k ow not everyone gets a choice of course!

It's not really a "deadline for admissions" but a cutoff date to determine which year she goes in. My friend has a DC who started Reception when she was 5 as they have a 1 Sept birthday.

It's not just academic ability though. It's how they cope with a school day. My late August baby struggled with getting changed for PE, managing his lunch, being as 'capable' as they need to be.

He never struggled academically.. in fact quite the opposite.

If she’s in nursery with 5 year olds I’m sure she will be “ stimulated “ enough.

The school year is children born from 1st September - 31st August. Some children will be just turned 5 and some will be just turned 4.
It's normal for one child to be the oldest and it's much better for them to be the oldest than the youngest.

DH is August, I am July, dd is June. It's never held us back.

@Sunburymum your dd has missed the cut off for September as she wasn't born on 31st August. She will start just after her 5th birthday with all the others who are rising five.

I don't live in the UK. My son has a September birthday and started school at 2 weeks short of his 5th birthday. My daughter has an early July birthday and started school at 5 and 2 months. Both thrived, and in fact I think it benefitted them be the older ones in the class.

It will be an advantage to your daughter to be the oldest in the class if she starts reception when she is 5 rather than just 4. It isn't a particularly unusual scenario . I would not be pushing to get her into school a year earlier .

I'm surprised you can do this. I've only heard if it once before and it was at a private school.
Tbh I always thought it really unfair on summer born babies to start school before they were ready and barely 4 . DS is a July birthday and he really wasn't ready for school, the disadvantage really followed him all the way to.secondary school.
Autumn born DC have an advantage and do better academically. I wouldn't rush her into reception.
DD is a September birthday and in some ways she had outgrown nursery but still preferable than putting them into school really young imo.
A good reception class will cater for different abilities.

Better to be older, by far. Reception seems to be a big leap from playing at day at nursery - it is play based but there is a lot of structure. My son started this year and has struggled, despite being academically ready (ridiculous for a four year old, but he's smart). He's not enjoying it as much as nursery.

My DD was due late August but arrived 15 days late. At the time it seemed like a good thing, but once she got to 3/4 it became clear that she was more like the children in the year above than in her year. We didn't have the option to put her up a year. She found primary school slow and quite dull and was picky about friends as she was more mature than the average. The only benefits have been that she has developed some leadership skills and she has probably settled into secondary school more easily than she might have a year earlier.

I would probably have chosen to put her in the year above, but it's a tough choice.

Send her next year - I'd always choose oldest in year over youngest in year. Think about the knock on consequences - if she goes to school a year early she may not be in the right year for sports teams etc., and will she be able to stay with her cohort throughout her school career. She also wouldn't turn 18 until she'd left school, so her social life in y13 might be quite curtailed.

Any nursery worth its salt should be able to challenge her and provide opportunities for her even as a very old in the year child

Sending a just four year old puts her at a disadvantage throughout her schooling.

Entering secondary a year younger, exams etc impacts on their capacity.

Can you change nursery to more of a pre-school for the last year? That really helped my October daughter as she'd been in "Butterflies" at nursery for ages! So a year in the pre-school that was attached to her actual school was really helpful

DCs friend was youngest in their class (I have a DN who was also youngest & struggled) friends was at a big disadvantage through all of primary and most of high school. Better to wait.

Mine is oldest in the Yr and it held him back in reception. I think he'd be academically further ahead within the cohort were he now yr8 instead of 7. It set in some habits of lower work ethic that were not there before. But then covid too so who knows. Doesn't seem to have affected my other 2 who are both mid year though.

This is possible - I’m a school governor - but note that once the local authority / achool
have agreed in principle the normal admissions rules apply. So if the school is normally oversubscribed and your child gets a place a normal age child might not

Some primary schools have a pre school nursery attached and sometimes the preschool children are mixed in with the reception children. This would probably be a better solution for the final year of nursery if there is one in your area , even if it doesn’t end up being at the school she goes to for reception

My DD has an early September birthday, so will be 5 within days of starting reception. I intentionally held of TTC until December to increase the chance of her been autumn born, as they're more likely to have an easy and enjoyable school experience, relative to summer born's who are only just 4.

Most people aim for a Sept baby OP! Let her be the oldest!