Is anyone else thinking of deferring their reception child's entry till January/Easter?

[IngridBergman]

I realise not everyone is aware of this but you can now accept a reception place and not send your child till the term after they are five - or the summer term if they have a summer birthday - and the school is obliged th keep the place for them.

This came into effect for this year's intake though it was put through very quietly and schools aren't all aware of it either afaik - well our HT professed ignorance, anyway.

I'm not sure yet whether ds2 will be ready or not in September - he's four in June.

I wondered if anyone else is thinking of deferring? I think it should be better publicised that this is an option as so many kids aren't quite ready in September, but might well be fine by Easter next year.

Preschool has said it's absolutely fine to keep sending him there till he starts school.

I didn't know you could do that. I had read that you would lose your place.

I don't think my DD is ready for school- she was 4 in March. Trouble is that if all the other children start in September all the friendship groups will be set up and it might be difficult for a new child to fit in. Also all DD's peer group from nursery will obviously be gone and she'd be left with the younger ones..

Still it's worth bearing that in mind as an option.

I do think friendships are still very fluid at least till the end of reception. You might be fine.
If more people did this then it wouldn't be such a problem - as our HT said, she doesn't think children should start so young but when all their peers are doing so, they might miss out.

We need to work to change that I think...but in reception a lot of the kids start off still playing alongisde the others, not really interacting that much, while by yr1 they are much more aware of each other.

I started ds1 in yr1 in the October, (complicated!) and yes it was harder to fit in but I do think had he been there in the summer term of reception it would have made a huge difference.

I've done it - our London borough made it very clear that we have the choice, and we will defer our July born dd til Jan (she's in the preschool and I'd rather she had afternoons with me and her dad (both part time) for a while). Head of the school and of Recep and preschool all very, very supportive and will work on her having time in Recep, integration etc, and we'll keep up the playdates with the girls in her class who are going up. It's the head's preferred option for summerborns and I'm happy to take it. Other schools in the area have v different ideas though.
HTH

Sounds brilliant SB and it sounds like you have the friendships thing sorted, too. We don't have an affiliated preschool but a lot of us do know each other and ds2 already has friends in the school playground from having an older brother there. So hope it won't be hard for him to fit in.

My concern is that he might not be allowed to start on half days when he does start.

My ds is 8 now and its always been the case around here once the place is excepted the school can not force you to turn up at school until they are 5 years old, on the day though not the term after I thought, but could be wrong.
I kept my son off every friday for the first 2 terms, also didn't send him in if he was really tired, we had toileting issues as well so we often went in late, It was never a problem for us, the school couldn't force us to go in but he settled and when he was ready went full time.
He was my 3rd child, the other 2 went in as normal.
This is gloucestershire and its always been the same in worcestershire but often the schools have told parents different.

"its always been the case around here once the place is excepted the school can not force you to turn up at school until they are 5 years old, on the day though not the term after I thought, but could be wrong."

In England and Wales education is not compulsory until the term after the child's fifth birthday. However, the LA was not obliged to keep the child's place waiting. That meant that parents who had secured a place at a popular school felt under pressure to send their child early in order not to lose the place to someone on the waiting list.

Now that has changed, and LAs are directed that they MUST allow a deferred start for those who want it. I still don't think the law is clear enough, however. It says that parents must be allowed to defer their child's start until later in the Reception year, with the place kept waiting for the child, provided that the child starts school before the end of the Reception year and before he reaches compulsory education age.

The reason I think this is not clear enough is that some LAs claim that "later in the Reception year" means that the LA gets to choose when the child is allowed to start. Some LAs are saying that parents may defer only until January. They appear to be sticking to the letter of the law, as they HAVE allowed children to start school "later in the Reception year." But I think the intent of the legislation was that it should be the parents' choice when the child started.

Another thing which is unclear about the new legislation is that it says parents have the right to request part-time attendance until their child reaches compulsory education age. It does not say that such a request must be honoured or even given serious consideration! I would argue the intent of the legislation was that such a request must be honoured, and that to do otherwise is a perverse interpretation of the law: you don't need any legislation to say that someone is allowed to request something! After all, there's no reason why I couldn't put in a request for my child's teacher to wear purple sparkly shoes if I wanted. So if I wanted my child to go part-time and the school was reluctant, I think I'd point to that statutory guidance and argue that it would be ridiculous for them not to honour my request.

My son is in the pre-school attached to the school we hope for him to go to next year. His birthday is in August so he is likely to be one of the youngest. When discussing the chance of him getting in to the school (we are slightly out of catchment and it is a fairly popular school) the head said that last september 2 pupils who did not get offered places stayed on at the preschool and were then able to take up a place when others moved house.

I think we will chat to his pre school teacher nearer the time and decide whether we think he will be ready for full time or not.

We are thinking of doing this too Ingrid. DD is an August baby. Don't think that making friends is an issue but would be worried about her missing out on things like the phonics and number lines. Just remembering how much DS learnt in his first year. By Christmas he was reading.

Will have to give it some more thought.

Ah cb that is exactly our situation too - can you go on a waiting list then? That has given me some hope! In all the schools we put down they suggest summer born children start mornings only for the first term or so. Talk about the least convenient option for working parents!

Hardwork - yes they do have a waiting list once places have been allocated next month.

The preschool has a staggered intake so DS would still be with friends who started this January.
They do lots of number work and phonics there too so wouldn't be worried about him missing out.
Not sure we would like to wait til Easter though, hopefully a place would be available by January

Saracen - that's an interesting point about requesting part-time.... My dd2 will be 4 in August, so one of the youngest. Ideally, after the normal half days settling in period, I'd like her to do three full days a week with 2 days off to recharge her batteries. I feel this would allow her to make friends and settle in without becoming completely exhausted. I'm not sure what the HT will say though - dd1 is there already and the head is not known for being hugely flexible - I'm going to wait until dd2's place is confirmed then book a chat with the head regarding the options.

March born Ds started in Jan, he stayed friends with the sept starters from preschool with play dates, meeting at park, sunday school and ballet class .
Jan start was right for him, the extra term at preschool gave him time to grow more confident and we had energy and time to work on his Speech therapy which we did not have once he started school. One term in and he's fine, learning to read, every one understands his speech and he enjoys school.
DS says the best bit of school is having 3 play times. The worst bit is doing writing when he doesn;t want to. Or so he says- I've just asked him.

I thought you could always do this - its not new, is it? A child does not have to start school until the term in which they are 5 - thats always been the law.

I would like to do this. My youngest son turns 4 in late July. I'd ideally like the school to allow him to attend mornings only until January. I've asked around and all the other children that I know of who are young for their year, are going to start school in September.

It makes far more sense for the child to attend part-time than not at all until later in the year, doesn't it? It sorts out any potential social alienation and means the teacher can make sure the part-time child is taught broadly in line with his peers. Why could that possibly be a problem as far as the school is concerned?

SurreyDad: "I thought you could always do this - its not new, is it? A child does not have to start school until the term in which they are 5 - thats always been the law."

Term after they are five.

You're right though, children have never been required to start school at a younger age. But until now, the LA wasn't required to keep the place waiting for the child. Parents who had been offered a place at an oversubscribed school felt they must take it up in order not to lose it.

Onky, you might have trouble with the part time thing. Our HT was OK about starting later full stop, but she said they could only get funding for three weeks of part time, whenever the child started.

I don't know if this is correct but she seemed in a better position to accept a late start than an ongoing part time situation.

Still haven't heard back from her since emailing about 6 months ago to ask if starting later was Ok...she said she hadn't heard about it and would get back to me when the LA got back to her.

We've kept DD part time in Reception for the past two terms (she's 5 in the summer term) and the school were fine about it (a bit perhaps, but they've got used to it).

She's ahead academically, but full days are still going to be hard on her (she'll be exhausted). I might have kept her off entirely (at preschool) if that had been an option.

It's absurd to use funding as an excuse. If they're legally obliged to hold the place - then 'not being funded' is not a sensible excuse.

The HT of my son's nursery told me he can stay at nursery for another term or even two more terms and the school would have to keep open his place. As the nursery and the school are both funded by the same LEA, I see nothing but benefit in the school accepting him part-time instead of him attending nursery and there being an empty seat for him in the reception classroom.

We have to wait until 29 April before we hear which place she will be offered. Think I'm going to leave it until the Summer term before we decide what to do though.

Anyone know the situation if you want your summer child to go full tme from the start. The school normally make them attend half days until after Christmas on top of a staggered start in September, meaning she wont start until late.

DD2 is a summer birthday but attends a nursery at the school 4 days a week and does a school day already. Reverting to half days would just frustrate her. I have heard rumours that we are now to be given the choice but have just found out about the place so not sure about this aspect yet.

Onky, I'm with you - it doesn't make sense, as far as I can tell. I'll let you know if I manage to find out any more about it.

JJJ, I'm thinking I'll wait to decide as well. They change such a lot at this age and to decide now would be pointless as ds might be ready by September, or might not! Hope you get the place you want on the 29th.

Thebird, hi, well I'm sorry not to know how the ground lies with relevance to starting full time, but do bear in mind that a nursery day might be less demanding than a school day iyswim.
I'm sure you know the set up where you are though, so good luck whatever you decide to do.

Thanks IngridBergman - I just wondered if the legislation change had something to do with this perhaps? Maybe giving parents more choice over what to do for the best for their DCs. I know some children are not ready and they do get tired but I also know some summer kids get very frustrated by being sent home early and feel left out by not staying for lunch. I know DDs playschool is quite structured and works closely with reception within the EYFS so I am hoping it will be ok....bar a few tantrums!

Does anyone have a link to the legislation itself?

Might be more useful than various HTs' interpretations of it.