Is my daughter who was premature and born in August ready for school

[Sophie2712]

My daughter was born 8 weeks early in August 2015 (Was due 4th Oct) she is due to start reception in 2019 and applications open at the end of the week. I would like her to have a review of some kind to see if she is ready for school or if I should defer her to start Sept 2020. I know August born children are at a disadvantage academically and i feel she's behind in some areas. She isn't yet potty trained, activities don't hold her attention for very long, she can't dress herself, she won't drink unless I put the cup to her lips (still a no spill munchkin cup) etc etc. I've contacted everyone I can think of to try and arrange a review but I'm hitting a brick wall being told it's my choice. Does anyone have any knowledge on this? Thank you :)

personally i would hold her back, she doesn't sound ready to me and she is still only very young. however, everyone is right, it is your choice. all the best

She’s not sounding ready for primary. Has her development been assessed by a paediatrician? Might be worth asking for a referral to ensure a support plan is in place, if necessary.

Hold her back. She should have been October anyway. There is no rush.

If you hold her back will she have to go straight into year 1. If so I would send her to reception on time as she will have to catch up and year 1 is more structured. It is tough as she is very young for the year but she has another year to go and she will develop a lot in that time. Does she go to nursery or preschool at the moment. If so I would have a chat with them. If not I would see if you could get her a place.

You may find things will change in the next year? Does she go to Nursery?

There is a year to go before she can start. Why not put your daughter down now for next year and reassess nearer the time? That's what most people do. A year will make a lot of difference, it's a long time in the life of a very small child. Don't worry about her being an August baby, I've known a few who've done really well. All the best to her.

I would hold her back if possible. The issues you’ve describe would all be things that we would work on in nursery, teachers in reception wouldn’t be able to provide her with as much support in these areas due to the ‘formal teaching’ pressures most schools are experiencing as soon as their kids hit reception. Hopefully she will be emotionally and academically more ready by next year. You may be able to discuss her current progress with her nursery teacher but it’s unlikely they will commit to recommending either option and say it’s your decision

I would apply to defer. My DD (14) was 7 weeks prem but oldest in school year and has still struggled (though there are various other circumstances that may have affected her too). Some of the advice here is outdated. For up to date info post on Primary Education and title something like 'Admissions rules and advice needed re deferring Reception entry'.

It is at the schools discretion whether she is admitted to reception or year 1. If she can defer a year and start in reception then I would defer but if she will be in year 1 I would not defer. You need to find out the policies of the schools you are applying to.

Thanks everyone. She has a review with a doctor next week and we are going to have a look round our nearest school so I'll speak to the head. I'll also chat to her key worker at nursery. I worry that she will be bored of 2 years at nursery but I think i would rather that than have her struggling for years at school. Just need to try to get some evidence now so I guess the gp and nursery will write a statement?

Have you asked the LA clearly what evidence they need to allow you to permanently defer? By permanently, I mean stay out of year group throughout school all the way to 6th form. Might be worth being clear before you go to the doctor .................................…....................................................................No reason for her to be bored if the nursery is decent. you can always start her on phonics etc in the second year if she is ready.

We thought about deferring our DD but we were told that if you defer for longer aptgan a term, you have to accept a place at whichever Primary in your area has a space and obviously, it’s not the popular primaries that have the spaces. I would apply for the primaries you want now. Arrange visits, view ofsted reports then go with the ones you feel will suit her best. We were told deferring permanently down a year wasn’t an option but we didn’t push it and like Teen says, you could talk to the LEA about this. A year is a long time though and they do spend a lot of time in Reception learning through play, you might feel differently in 6 months

A summer born can delay start until Easter and keep their place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . But what the OP needs to investigate is deferring permanently for a whole year. Relatively recent guidance has allowed for LAs to be more flexible on this than in the past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I am going to tag a couple of admissions experts. @Admission @prh47bridge

From an admissions perspective you have two choices - deferring until later in the year or postponing entry for a whole year.

Deferring until Easter is your choice. You apply for school in the normal way this year, get a place and then tell the school you are deferring. They have to keep your daughter's place open for her. They may try to tell you that you can't defer or that you can only defer for a term but paragraph 2.16 of the Admissions Code is clear. It is your choice, not the school's. If you do go down this route, you also have the right to insist that your daughter attends school part time until September 2020 and the school must comply.

Deferring for a full year is more problematic. Admission authorities are required to look at each case individually rather than have a blanket policy. However, despite guidance encouraging them to be sympathetic, some schools and some LAs are still very resistant to a child starting in the "wrong" year group. In this situation the child can still start school a year late but will be going into Y1 rather than Reception and there will be a limited choice of schools. You also need to check what happens on secondary transfer as some secondary schools insist on putting the child back into the "correct" year group at that point, resulting in the child missing Y7 completely. I should emphasise that this is the worst case. Many schools and LAs are now willing to allow summer born children to start in Reception in the September following their fifth birthday and remain with that cohort until they leave school. Hopefully you will find that your LA and your preferred school will co-operate and allow your daughter to start school in 2020.

I was going to reply, but saw that prh47bridge is here!

Personally, if I was in your position, I would try really hard to get her into the year below, so starting reception the September when she is just 5. You need to check she can flow on through to secondary though, and do be aware if you are close to a county boundary, that the county next door may not allow it (my kids go to school in different county to the one we live in)

Her birthday should be October, so she developmentally is more likely to be on a par with the kids in the year below. Being so young in a year group is going to disadvantage her. Being the oldest, with a due date Oct, means she will be nicely placed in with the others

Thank you so much everyone for your advice. I spoke to her key worker at nursery today and she told me that they'll do a review in 4 weeks as standard practice, but she thinks Isabelle will thrive and that I shouldn't worry.

My gut feeling is to hold her back so that there's no risk of it being the wrong decision, but I can't see it being approved if the nursery deem her ok. (I haven't seen the gp yet, I'm assuming I'll once again be told she will catch up.) If there is the risk of her school year being adjusted again later down the line though I would rather not mess around with it as that could be more detrimental to her.

From what I've read and I hope I have interpreted it right, is that I will need to do 2 applications. 1 to defer and 1 as normal so she still has a school place if the deferral is rejected.

I'll be speaking to the gp on Monday and the school next Friday. For now I feel like we should apply to defer and let the aurhorities decide. There's just no clear cut answer :/

If you're on Facebook do a search for the Flexible School Admissions for Summer Borns group. There is a lot of useful information on there.
Personally I would keep her back a year (as long as the school and LEA agree to a CSA reception start) so she's with the correct year group for her original due date. Good luck with it!

Hi I volunteer for a national multiple birth charity as an education advisor and this is one of our number one issues that we deal with (as multiples are often premature) firstly defering a year is fairly new (as in the rules changed recently to make it easier) lots of misconceptions around. Firstly summer born children should not have to go in to Y1 if you defer although it isn't a given also they don't have to catch up later. Many authorities just don't automatically if you ask so you might not even need a written report from a professional, her being born in August is enough. Some might be a bit trickier and you might need to convince the head. You are right about how to go about applying though. We also published a document on school readiness which is really for twins and triplets but would be generally useful too so if you look at the TAMBA website I'm pretty sure it's there. In addition there is a really good summer born deferals Facebook group apparently. It is called something fairly obvious so might be worth searching for.

The poster above me best me to it with the group...that's the one!

Thank you so much everyone for your advice. I really appreciate it

I have a 5yo DS who was born at 27 weeks at the beginning of August. His due date was 31 Oct. He wasn't ready for school last September, so we didn't send him. We are home educating him instead. I knew there were various options around deferring, but he had no paediatric input past two years of age, and I had read that it would be unusual for an LEA to allow him to be permanently a year behind as he had no lasting effects from his prematurity. He definitely wasn't school ready last year... Only just toilet trained, socially and emotionally very young.

Home schooling is working for us atm and my aim is to get him into his original year group in a couple of years time when I think he's ready. If there isn't a place for him, we'll carry on as we are.

I know home education isn't an option for everybody but thought it worth mentioning. You know her best. If you doubt she's ready, defer. We applied and got a school place and chose to not take it. This had the added bonus of being on the LEAs radar, and not being a "hidden" home educator.