Northern Ireland deferral

[Sadiegirl87]

With the new deferral legislation in place is anyone in NI deferring or not this year and why?

My eldest is April-born and was in the first year, we didn't defer her as she'd been in private nursery FT since she was a baby and then nursery school so we felt she was more than ready. We were right - we do occasionally notice her immaturity compared to older classmates, but she's where she needs to be academically and loves school socially so it was the right choice.

Her younger sister has a birthday a few days after the cut off, if she'd been born a week earlier I probably would defer.

Do you want to chat through your DC's situation?

Thanks for your response, my DS is born in June and I feel worried I've done him a disservice by not deferring. The legislation came out when we were applying to nursery and at the time the information provided made it seem he avail of the free hours once when now I realise he would have been entitled to two years if we had defffered at that stage.
We have got a place in P.1 at our first choice school which is attached to his nursery so he knows the other ones going into his class and has had settling in sessions etc and they don't have a place for him to continue at his current nursery anyway so he'd be attending some type of part time playgroup for a year and then there's no guarantees he'd get back into the school next year. Plus he'd see his friends in p.2 and probably be confused.

Everyone says he is more than ready for school, he is bright and compared to other children around his age I would say he is advanced but compared to children who have turned 5 over the summer I worry. On the flip side I don't know how he would handle another year of playgroup/nursery. Also my DH is not on board with deferral and feels that it would be detrimental at this stage to change things up for him.

I also suffer with anxiety and part of my symptoms is to hyperfixate on something and unfortunately this is what I'm fixated on at that moment. I suppose I'm looking for some reassurance either way what would be best for him but no one can really say.

Honestly, if he's getting on well in nursery school and has friends going into P1 then I'd leave it. There's a boy in my eldest's class whose birthday is 30 June, and he's a shy wee thing but he's getting on very well and making friends.

The teachers are used to balancing lots of different levels of academic and social abilities, all in a day's work for them. Just be aware yourself when you're comparing to others that they may be much older than him!

Thanks, yes sometimes I think I'm mad to put him in a random playgroup for a year and then start him next year but just worry about the future and those big exams. I more worry about him comparing himself to his classmates as I don't think he'll realise about the ages and I don't want to draw too much attention to him or make him feel different either, the never ending guilt of being a parent. Glad your little one is enjoying the school, that's the main thing that they are happy and like to learn

Hey,

How have things faired out for your lottle one? We are in a similar situation with an April birthday and considering deferral options. Any insight would be helpful with regard to deferring or not derring. Thanks in advance xx

Hey
So in the end we decided not to defer for many reasons, he knew he was going into p.1 and was excited, we had no suitable alternative for a year to support his learning and we were concerned we wouldn't get back into his first place school as they had to turn away children who had placed it as first choice and he wouldn't be at their nursery to meet that criteria.

Our little boy is doing fantastic, we had a parent teacher review and were told he is very smart and in the top group for reading and maths. The teacher reassured us that he is socialising well and confident in speaking out in class. I feel we made the right decision, can't imagine him being nursery again this year now. A lot can change between now and September for your child. What does the nursery he is in say? If there was any indication from anyone we should defer I probably would have done but everyone was really positive about him.

If you do defer just look into what your options would be for that year, we had already had our funded place so he wasn't guaranteed another place for the year. we do know someone who deferred and their child had speech and social issues (now being assessed for ASD) and it was the right decision for them