Want to reject reception offer

[blueblizz]

I home schooled my first child for most of reception year and started her for summer term when I felt she was ready (she's a July birthday .) she settled fine and I'm happy that I did the right thing in waiting. Therefore I never applied for a school place before reception year started. Now with my second child I did apply for a sept 2018 school place and have been given 1st choice (same school as other daughter.) I wanted to cover myself as she is an October birthday and therefore will be almost 5 when starts. However I still feel she won't be ready for full time class teaching and want to home ed her for a bit longer too. I haven't accepted the offered place yet but will have to act quickly. Could anyone advice me on best way to turn place down. Do I just ring county and write letter explaining to school? With thanks.

Your daughter still has 4 months of development to go before September, which is a long time at four years old. I would not turn down the place, it is quite possible that your daughter will blossom in the time she has before school starts and be ready for school in September. It would be awful if you then discovered that all the places had been allocated and she did not have a place at her siblings school.

How does the school deal with induction? some schools have a very gentle lead in period to full time schooling, others are a bit quicker. Maybe wait until the visiting days to discuss this with the school.

What are you saying to your daughter about school? Presumably she visits to take and collect her sister, does she or you talk about going to school, playing in the playground, the classrooms etc? If she has an expectation of joining the school then if there were no places left for her this could be very upsetting.

I would hold your fire, accept the place and see how things go.

Given that you do want her to go to that school eventually, if I were you I would defer your daughter's start in order to keep hold of the school place. The longest you can defer is until Compulsory School age (term after the fifth birthday), or the start of summer term, whichever is earlier. In your daughter's case, that would mean you can keep the place waiting for her until January.

Of course, by home educating, you can wait as long as you want for her to start school, as you know. However, if you do that, you'll have to take your chances on whether there will be a vacancy available at your preferred school.

If January rolls around and you are sure school isn't right for her yet, you can tell them you don't need the place after all.

Thank you both for your replies. I think they make perfect sense and the deferring idea is the sensible choice. I agree that the gap between now and then is still quite a way off and I remember my eldest daughter had quite a jump after she turned 5. I think I will put down to start in January. Sorry to keep asking, do you know the procedure for deferring? I think best I chat to the head teacher as I know I'm legally entitled but need to know how to request. Really appreciate your words of advice. Thank you.