Delaying preschool, how?

[DaddyIsHere]

Hi,
Our son is 3.5 now and is a summer born.
Due to various reasons from COVID to waiting until he is more advanced with his language we delayed day care, and now he struggles and hates it with passion.
We'd really like to delay his reception year, especially since English is his second language,
and for now is at the level of few words here and there.

We already applied for school just since the deadline was there (jan 15).

How can we delay his reception year?
Do we need to discuss with school that he will
be admitted into? Do we need the borough to agree?
If anyone with actual experience doing it would greatly appreciate the advice on steps to take!
Btw we are in Greenwich if that matters...

Thank you!
D

[1AngelicFruitCake]

I assume you’d need go get in touch with your local council. Just make sure he’d go into Reception and not straight into Year 1.

What are you doing to address this now? How has Covid had an effect? I’m only asking because we’ve been relatively back to normal for quite a few years now so make sure you’re enabling your child lots of opportunities to socialise.

[DaddyIsHere]

Hi , covid meaning we did not start day care at 1y, so now at more mature age its harder...
Now we're out a lot of course, but he is good with kids one on one, but not in large groups

[CaptainMyCaptain]

Reception isn't pre-school BTW. It's school. I think going into Reception with his peer group would benefit him and Early Years teachers are trained to deal with his kind of problems, he won't be the only one.

[Caspianberg]

I’m not sure why you want to delay? My son is similar age, born peak covid lockdown, living in a country where main language is his second language.

We started him at local nursery around 2.5 years so he can pick up the local language. If anything he needs to go more often.

[HamSandwichKiller]

As he's speech delayed you want him in school asap. Appreciate you want to protect him but unless your plan for the year involves a high volume of speech therapy vs hoping he improves just by the passing of time he really is better off in school.

[MangshorJhol]

Weren’t almost all nurseries and daycares in the UK open in September 2021 around the time your child was 1? But also many kids stay at home till 3 and do a year of pre school when the 15 hours kick in and then go to Reception. I don’t think your son will be unusual in that. Maybe the nursery setting isn’t right for him and he would benefit from a different one.
Also there is quite a while till September. He might be a different child by then.
You have to speak to your LA but if he’s speech delayed is he having speech therapy or other professional input.

[DaddyIsHere]

@DaddyIsHere

Hi,
Our son is 3.5 now and is a summer born.
Due to various reasons from COVID to waiting until he is more advanced with his language we delayed day care, and now he struggles and hates it with passion.
We'd really like to delay his reception year, especially since English is his second language,
and for now is at the level of few words here and there.

We already applied for school just since the deadline was there (jan 15).

How can we delay his reception year?
Do we need to discuss with school that he will
be admitted into? Do we need the borough to agree?
If anyone with actual experience doing it would greatly appreciate the advice on steps to take!
Btw we are in Greenwich if that matters...

Thank you!
D

Hi All
Appreciate the opinions, though the question is "how to do this" not if we should or not.

He is not speech delayed, and no point comparing your own children to our case.

If you have done the delayed reception for your little one and can advise how you did it, this is greatly appreciated 👍

[Caravaggiouch]

Covid is completely irrelevant as nurseries were open from summer 2020 onwards and didn’t close again as schools did. It’s just a standard request to defer a summer born child, no need to dress it up as anything else.

You apply for a reception place with his normal cohort and request to defer at the same time - check your LA’s website as there will likely be another form to complete alongside the normal one.

[WellOneDoesWonder]

I have done this. Firstly you need to see what sort of school your chosen schools are (academy, VA etc). Then you need to see what the process is. For me, I had to get the permission of the headteacher and governors as it was an academy school. You then wirhdraw the child's application and reapply the following year for a reception place.

Join Flexible School Adminssions For Summer Borns on Facebook

[titchy]

Just look on Greenwich's website. What setting will he be in instead though? As others have said removing him entirely is likely to make things much worse.

[octoegg]

If you're on Facebook, the group 'Flexible admission for summer borns' can give very good advice.