Delaying Summer born boys entry to Primary School

[Suedoo]

Hi

My second son is July born and will be 4.2 when he is due to start school. The school he will attend is a village school teaching 7 years across 5 classes. So he will stay in the same class with the same teachers for both reception and year 1, but during those 2 years have a mix of different aged children including some a year older and some a year younger.

My eldest son's experience has been to struggle socially particularly because his reception friends stayed in the same class and as he was older he moved 'up' to another class. He also says he bored (but I think this maybe to do with friendships) and last year he was cross to be put in the bottom group (which he had identified as such)for phonics which included all the summer born kids so there maybe confidence 'labelling 'issues already.

We are considering whether to delay 2nd sons entry to school for either:

• a full year using nursery and also perhaps home education where we have to ,
• or just delaying until easter

Both of these come with risks as we have been told that if you do not take a school place in the september you may lose it.

Research from other countries shows that delaying education for boys can be beneficial as they are not programmed to sit and learn at the same age as girls (our son likes lots of active play) and as the social relationships set out in Sept in his school don't necessarily carry through to Year 1 these feel good reasons to delay.

Has anyone done this and can advise of their experiences? Or know of any relevant research? Are there any teachers with views?

thanks very much

This is really interesting and I'm looking forward to hearing others' experiences. I have a July baby and she's my first so can't help but I have been concerned about her being the youngest in the year and therefore, at a disadvantage. I've heard that they all catch up academically by the time they're 7 although this can seem like miles off. Have you got time to sit and read much with your youngest? This could really help with his development if he's given lots of practice before he starts.

I work 3 days so have a couple of days spare to help him with learning basics if necessary. More of my concerns are around his emotional ability to cope and whether developmentally at that age teacher led instruction is appropriate.

At the excellent nursery he attends its a 1 to 6 ratio with adults compared to 1 to 30 (+ teaching assistant)and I feel there is less tolerance of bad behaviour (probably because theres more adults to watch and correct) - I'm not sure at 4.2 he will be able to cope with the bad/'pack' behaviour (I know this sounds really negative! and I'm portraying school worse than it is but don't know any other way to explain.

Also at this young age learning is best done with some child led activities for their development which happens constantly at nursery but not at school. I also think from this years intake the majority of his class will be boys which will be may unruly! - and pack like!

Caroline Sharp from nfer has an interesting research paper into delayed school starts compared to Europe which is worth a read and can be googled.

i dont know if this discussion is still going but i am currently in a battle to get m y son a reception place this september instead of a year 1 placement at school and is only 10 days over the cut off. he has social communicatio issues and delayed evelopment so i have repeaated nursery where he is on differentiaded leanring plans and interventions are in place to help him catch up with the other preschoolers who are techniclly a year below him and have all rights to apply for a reception place this september.
i am part of a campaign group on google groups "Campaign For More Flexible School Admissions For Summer Born Children" and we have a facebook page too.
we had a meeting yesterday up london with the Department for Education and what we have established is that 5 is the COMPULSARY school starting age and 4 years old is VOLUNTARY. there is a section in the admissions code which was updated feb 12 that states that reception class is mainly for 5 years olds and those turning 5. august born children turn 5 at no point during their time at school if admitted into reception at 4 years old so there is a LEGAL OBLIGATION to have them into reception in the term aftwer their 5th birthday.

also i can qoute from david laws that the admissions code is not prescriptive and common sense is expected of the local authority to not use it word for word but to apply admission arrangements in a case by case basis with the individual childs needs being put first.

i was given a copy of the new report into statistics hat the dep of Ed did that confirms that not just across the country, but internationally, summer born children on average perform worse than their autumn peers and although the gap in performance is almost closed by university age, the majority of the school key stages show a difference.

it would be extremely advantagous to your child to be admitted to reception in the following year and although your onwt be able to apply online due to entering incorrect date of birth, download and print and return by post an application stating why you are applying out of year and that just by sticking to the statatory starting age , your child should not miss a years worth of education.
is your school supportive? because ultimately it is at the head teachers discretion to allow a child to be out of thier year group in is/her school.

ALSO REGARDING SATS. these are NOT sat by age, but by completetion of the course leading up to them.
regardless of the age of your child, if they have only just finished year 6, whether they are in the right year, up a year or down a year for their age, that is when they sit their SATS. the only thing you cant do qith regard to sats is sit them , then repaet a school year then sit them again.
you only do them once but you do them when your new year group you are placed in does them not when the year group you are technically supposed to be in does them.

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