Deferral Questions

[feelingpeckish]

I am planning on deferring a place for my ds, who would have been aJjanuary admission has the rules not changed. I am going to ask the school to defer his place until January 2012. One of his friends will also be asking for a deferral at the same school, so they will enter late together.
I undestand that this is his legal right etc. But my questions are:

1. How disruptive is a later entry likely to be to my ds. (My feeling is that the benfits outweight the disadvantages).
2. If we defer a school place are we still entitled to the nursery grant if he wanted to attend a nursery twice a week from September to January? Can someone direct me to the relevant information if it exists on a website.
3. Schools in my LEA have not been at all forthcoming about the possiblity of deferral. Has anyone received informaiton from a school for entry this year, adressing the possiblity of deferral. Has anyone approached a school about it yet? If so, what kind of reaction have you had?

Well, as far as the nursery grant goes, your child is eligible to claim till the term after he turns 5 (when he legally has to be in school)

I have no experience of the rest, but hope this helps

The maximum is 12.5 hours over 2 days though. All 15 hours must be claimed over a minimum of 3 days.

So even though form this year ALL children are eligible for a school place from September, they are ALSO eligible for a nursery grant if they do not take up the school place.?

Hi -
I've just handed in a letter asking that my daughter (July born) start in January instead of Sept. We seem to live in the one London borough which is publicising the choice and asking all parents to make a decision. So we have, but I think we're in the minority by choosing Jan over Sept.
She'll be staying in the school's own preschool until then, so presume she'll be funded for that by LEA - the grant should stand for those outside the state system too.
I've agonised over this for long enough, heaven knows, but the head of this particular school has made it clear she prefers the kids to start Jan for their own developmental reasons, and we're confident in her judgement over her school (which she runs with an iron fist and which has a very good reputation locally).
Interestingly though, other schools in the area have suggested they want all children to start in Sept because they believe that is better for the kids, so it seems not all heads agree on what is best.
Head of our school and preschool and reception teachers seem clear it won't affect my dd in the slightest and that she'll cover the same ground in the preschool. I HOPE I've made the right decision - she still seems so young and gets so tired, and I don't want her to grow up any faster than she has to! She'll still see the rest of her year regularly for play dates I hope, so it shouldn't be too much of a shock when she moves up.
Good luck!

I ask because if a child defers to january and then claism the nursery grant from september to january then they are effectively being paid for twice (the school gets money for the child even if the child does not take up the place before january, plus the nursery provider gets the nursery grant). I wondered if this had changed along with the admissions policy.

I don't think the school does get the money until the term they start (but I could be wrong!)

I have an August born DD1 (now 5) who had a jan start. tbh I wish (with hindsight) that she hadn't I still feel that she is playing catch up with the other half of her class (not helped by a split class this year). She is able and reading well but .... They have gone over to a full september this year for the first time and dd2 (july born ) is starting then, she is incredilble small for her age (2- 9yth centile and has other health issues) and may stuggle physically but if the worst came to the worst I think I would take her out for a rest a couple of afternoons a week if she really needs it.

As I understand it the schools funding is not affected as long as the child takes up the place before january. which is why some schools are now saying, if you want to defer please try and come by january.

I realise that up until this year the nursery grant was available. But i was wondering if this had changed given that the admissions for primary schools have changed.

Sleeping bunny - thanks for that. Was the information provided by your LEA or by your school? And when did you receive this information? (We have heard nothing from schools yet). By what date did they want you to notify the school.
Thanks again.

The letter from the LEA confirming our application/choices provided us with the information that we had the choice. The school asked us to notify them and offered a meeting for all parents of summerborns with the head and head of reception (but I think that was only for kids who were in the preschool, I don't know about those in private nurseries who also have places At a guess the school will now ring the parents of those kids and ask them). As I said, all the schools round here seem to have differing opinions on what is best (and they are mainly a spread of Outstanding/Good with Outstanding Features schools). We have two weeks to decide (just like the place) and once we do, we cannot change our minds.
I'm slightly surprised to have found myself making this decision - I was convinced we would go for September, but I was utterly convinced by the Head, reception head and dds preschool teachers - who know her well. It all depends on how the school does it, I guess. I hope that, unlike Doris, I shan't regret it. But I do feel I'm entrusting dd to a school whose ethos and focus on every child's personal development is exceptional, and I guess because I trust the head on that I need to trust her on this as well.

Could you home ed from January to July so that he starts in September?

no then he woudl loose his place, we would have to reapply and he'd enter year one not reception.

My LEA has a deliberate policy of not publicising this information. This is what I was told on the phone by the LEA! They said schools would actively discourage it as it affected funding. (Is this true. Would like to hear from one of the admissions people!). They said they did give out the information, but on the paper application forms. It's not suprising no one knows then as every single person I know applied on-line!