Sending my child to school once he turns 5 and not 4..

[Dreamymama]

Hi guys my sons born in July which means he could start reception this year, however I decided to keep him in day care for another year and start school once he turns 5. Reason being I think he’s not ready for school just yet he’s quite an active baby and has issues with focusing etc, the nursery also suggested this. I am a bit confused now as a fellow mum said the transition between daycare and school will be too big for him but I thought reception is pretty similar to year 1 he’s also quite attached to few of his friends at day care who will be starting school once they turn 5 so thought if he can stay at his nursery for another year it’s okay. Any opinions??

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There was a child who started in year 1 having never been to school before in my DSs class. I don’t work in the school but my friend did & told me that a TA had to sit with her 1-2-1 to attempt to catch her up. There are obviously limits to that so she really struggled. Her attendance was terrible and she eventually moved school so there may be other factors involved.
My eldest is summer born & went at the normal time & was fine. It doesn’t suit everyone though. If reception when he is 5 isn’t an option then I would try to send him now. Many of the transition days and settling in will have happened now though I expect.

be aware that if you keep him down a year he will either have to miss a year somewhere or always be in a year where he is older than his peers. How does it work for secondaries in you area - would he have to miss y6 (which would be awful)? Be aware that if he is old for his year that can cause issues with sports teams later if you think he might be sporty.

Andtheend - parents always know best is easy to say but very clearly not true.

This isn’t true at all. He will stay in his new cohort throughout his school career.

Yes, and he may not be able to be in sports teams with his cohort as he’ll be too old.

He will go from being the eldest child, and likely the biggest, in his nursery setting, where there will be much fewer children in his room, to being the youngest in a class of 30. It will be much more formal than he is used to. He will miss out on having a teacher in Reception compared to an Early Years practitioner in nursery on not much more than minimum wage.
Transition from reception to Y1 is generally less stressful if it’s in the same school because the children are used to the school. The size, noise, assemblies, different staff, lunchtime etc. In Reception, children are more separate from the rest of school and tend to participate in whole school things gradually. In Y1, not having experienced school, he will be thrown in the deep end.
Our Reception children have a music teacher, a French teacher, daily phonics, daily maths, daily focussed teaching tasks. Unless you’re paying a premium, you won’t get that in nursery. Plus it’s all free!!!

Not necessarily. Also, imagine Year 6 when he’s actually 12. Will he really want to be with children a year younger than him? Age matters very much at that stage of development.

The only problem with this is that we are NOT Finland! Trying to individually fit into one education system by copying a different country’s system won’t work. That’s not to say that the Finnish system isn’t better than ours.

Hello, I work in keystage 1 and the jump from preschool/daycare to year 1 would be huge. Reception is vitally important in building the foundations to his learning.
I also deferred my child and they started reception age 5 years 2 months. It was the best decision and he's now in year 3 and thriving.

As pp have said, join the Facebook group 'flexible admissions for summerborns' and find out how you go about requesting a CSA (compulsory school age) reception start. Some areas of the country it's a blanket yes, others you have to fight a bit for it.

To the posters saying he can't be in sports teams with his classmates - all school teams he will be able to play with his year group. Outside teams like football you can request permission from the FA to play down a year.

Also saying that in year 6 they will hate that they are 12 and now one else is ...kids love to be the oldest! My child is so excited that he'll be able to drive a car before his friends, that he's the oldest in the year etc.

Also deferring/delayed start is becoming much more commonplace. In my child's year group alone there are 4 others and at least 1 or 2 in every other year group.

Completely your choice! But something I’ve seen as a professional working in schools is them starting in reception as normal but if they are struggling to allow them to repeat reception for another year and joining the year belows cohort I have seen it work really well! I have also seen children go into reception being deferred and seen this work well too. I haven’t seen children go straight into year 1 I think this would be a massive transition.

Being summer born and starting reception the year after I think isn't an issue

If starting in year 1 - in theory it shouldn't be an issue - but you have the fact that the other children from the class will all know each other and have formed bonds the previous year - so personally I wouldn't. Not because I don't think children thrive starting school at 5 - just because of the social aspect and that it can be a struggle inter grating with a pre formed group

Reception to Year 1 is a massive jump. Pre-school/Nursery to Year 1 is impossible and it’s one of the reasons why kids this age from India really struggle in UK schools even when their maths / english skills are advanced. Reception is when friendships and connections between parents are formed, when kids get to settle in and get to know the school via play. Year 1 things begin to settle down, friendships are formed and there’s little tolerance for kids learning how to settle into the academic environment.

If you think your son’s nursery can give him a sufficient reception experience fair enough. But most can’t.

He will be 11 when he comes year 6 and will turn 12 in the summer holidays before he starts high school.

Thanks guys, I have joined the summer born delay page and a lot of parents have done exactly what I wanted to and there children are thriving. The only mistake I made is that I didn’t get his place at a school to agree he can do a delay start in reception next year. I will now get in with this on Monday and wish me luck I can find a school who says yes

If there is a way you can get him to start in reception when he is five?. Not sure if this is possible
My ds is a Summer born child ( end of August) He started reception a few days after he turned four.
He was definitely not ready. He spent the first six months sleeping at his table because he was used to having regular naps at nursery.
I wish he had started reception the following year.
I wouldn’t advise you to go straight from nursery to Y1 though. The jump would be too much for your ds.

Are you paying for the nursery?

Depends on the school authority. At ours summer borns can only have reception with a younger year group but they do return to their cohort the following year. So they jump to Year 2 part way through Year 1 which isn’t as big of a jump.

Dreamy - you will need to be very clear as to why you have left it this late. Just telling them that you didn’t apply for a school place doesn’t seem like a great reason to me and may raise concerns. Did nursery not advise you? I’m surprised they haven’t asked where he’s going to school / taster days etc as they will have been expecting to leave in September.

My dd went straight into year one as we had been overseas but i prepared her extensively for it, taught her to read, maths etc. she was also at a structured part time preschool who had checked the uk early years curriculum to ensure she met other non academic requirements.

I personally wouldn't recommend it though, I had no choice, February birthday, but in your situation i would either send to reception this year or send to reception next year and keep a year back throughout.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a school who will be happy for him to start reception after he's turned 5. However, you might have to accept that you won't have much of a choice in which school he attends. As a late application you will be accepting a place at a school because they have a space, rather than choosing a school you want and then going deferring a year.

This is against national policy and could/should be successfully challeneged.

My the way the "Finland don't start school until 7" isn't quite true, I know someone who teaches preschool in Finland, they are taught a very similar curriculum to our infant schools reception- year 1 and every kid goes. One of the many myths of Finland that I hear in the U.K. that they laugh about

The rules nationwide changed relatively recently and schools should no longer do this.