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 have been told that from this year onwards summer born children will be able to choose to stay for a full day if they wish. Having trouble getting it confirmed anywhere though as it all seems rather new (in our area anyway).

'Deferred entry to primary schools
2.69 Admission authorities must allow parents of children who are offered a place at the school before they are of compulsory school age to defer their child?s entry until later in the school year. Where entry is deferred, admission authorities must hold the place for that child and not offer it to another child. The parent would not however be able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child?s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the original application was accepted. This must be made clear in the admission arrangements for the school.'

There is far more about all this here - you need to click on the first link on the right, Schools Admission Code 2010, and scroll right down.

this looks interesting too though I haven't read it yet.

and a very good article about the fact that this 'choice' we have isn't a real choice as such.

This illustrates why more people need to be made aware of the delayed start option.

Great thread. My ds is an august birthday and although he's only 18 months at the mo, I'm already worrying about him starting school after just having turned 4. It is much too young. No other country starts kids that young. I'm a teacher too, and feel very strongly about it. I will be finding out where I stand in terms of him starting later nearer the time and will be doing what I can.

DH actually brought up this again last night, saying "how can she start school in September when she can't talk or eat properly yet"? Think she will really struggle with things like choosing her own lunch and just the shear tiredness of going full time.

My friends dd is in Reception now. She has a June birthday and for the first term she fell asleep at 5 and they couldn't wake her again until morning. She had done 3 days a week at pre-school previously too.

If we do decide to defer her how much of an impact on her education do you think it will have?

I don?t think deferring will have a negative impact myself, apparently the reception at our local primary (nor sure what they are like at others) is very play based ad similar to what they do at pre-school anyway. DD is already looking at word shapes the like. It?s just the routine and timings that they like to get them settled into, but the bigger they are the easier they would find it to adapt IMO.

I?m interested in Danthe4th approach, I think DD is ready enough for school on Sept, she just has no sense of urgency or need to be anywhere yet. I?m not sure we?d make it by 9am day in day out! I am torn, I was going to send her very late and home ed until she was at 6 or 7, she?s a live wire though and wants to be on the go and out with her friends, I?m due my 3rd in the summer and have not got the energy to keep up with her.

I was just thinking of how much DS progressed really. Although our Reception is play based too he was reading by the end of the first term.

I don't know JJJ - all I know is that sometimes a child just isn't ready at the age of just four, but by nearly five they are.

My first wasn't ready at all at four, and his birthday is at the end of May. He was constitutionally just not built for it. The difference between him at four in reception, still needing an afternon sleep, still forgetting to eat or drink or use the toilet all day, getting so frustrated and angry and overstimulated with the rules and information he was being bombarded with, and him at five when he started again in year one was mASSIVE. By five he could properly look after himself for 6 hours, well almost, including getting a drink, eating his lunch and just not getting completely overwhelmed every single day.

My second is far less able in terms of speech development, which ds1 mastered very early and was well ready for school with at four, even three - he can't use cutlery, can't use the loo by himself, can't get his needs across to a stranger. I just look at him and think 'what the heck will they do - follow him around one to one all day?'

it's a ridiculous thought, sending him to school in 6 months' time. He may have developed in those ways before then, but if he hasn't then I really don't see the value in putting him through a 6 hour day where he's basically at the mercy of a school day which will happen whether he is keeping up with it or not.

It doesn't actually matter if they learn to read at 3 or 7. A bright 5 year old who isn't spending time reading is likely spending time doing other things which will be of benefit. And being socially confident and understanding your world when you're 5 is something that will have far more bearing on how well you fare in life than working through the Oxford Reading Tree.

I don't know why people are so obsessed with reading and writing -- reading (and writing) is wonderful and can be enormous fun but it's not the only thing there is to learn.

My daughter isn't the most advanced reader in her class by any means but by the time she arrived at school she could swim, ride a bike without stabilizers, navigate a map, knew all about the planets, could whisk up an omelette, work the washing machine, plant seed potatoes, fly-fish for trout, climb a Munro, chat readily to strangers, set a table, catch a bee inside the house and release it unharmed, set fire to leaves with a magnifying glass, sew on a button etc.

I think children are only ready for school once they've gained a bit of confidence and they don't generally gain that until they've spent time making sense of the world around them and mastering the odd thing. So many children arrive at school almost dribbling with fear and blinking back tears.

I really resent the way reading Biff and Chip is rammed down her throat.

Well this is it. Your attitude will see her through the system; plenty of children dont have the advantage of a parent who feels strong enough to resist the pervasive feeling that most schools promote which is that school is THE important thing in their life.

I remember one of my friends standing with her little boy who was crying every day in reception, and telling him to be a big brave boy because 'this is what we do, we go to school, and when we grow up we go to work'. It was just her being kind but I felt so sad for him that there was such a long, endless road ahead of seeming misery that morning.

School should be fun and helpful and if it isn't at any stage, well we shouldn't make them go. imho of course.

Agree Ingrid, Onkys attitude is fab.

Can remember when my DS was in pre-school and I felt under pressure from the Pre-School and other parents to sit with him and teach him how to write his name and his alphabet. I flatly refused as he wasn't interested in the slightest and instead we spent all our time going to the park, baking, playing trains etc. By the end of his first term at school he was writing sentences and reading. He is 7 now and the teacher has commented more than once on his good knowledge of nature and the local environment, something he wouldn't have if I'd spent all that time forcing him to write.

Feel under the same pressure now to get DD to start school one month after her 4th birthday.

On Friday she fell asleep again and ended up doing the afternoon school run with her asleep in her pushchair. If she can't even manage a day with me, how is the poor mite going to cope with a full day at school?

My DD started school in Jan as we didnt feel she was ready for school and greatly benefited from staying in nursery for that extra term. The school were quite honest and told us that they were awarded funding for ever child that they had on role on a specific day in Janaury (about the 18th I think) and so they said that they would like her to be in school full-time by then. We agreed that she went mornings up until that day, then had the occasional afternoon off if it got too much. We told then what we wanted, then negotiated.

We are thinking that we might do this anyway as we haven't got into any of our schools for Reception class and are now on the waiting list. DS is also born in August and would benefit from waiting till January to start school.

Sorry to resurrect an older thread but did the op manage to defer, it's something I'm looking into at the mo& getting loads of conflicting advice

It is slightly different in Scotland, but youngest DD got a years deferral for primary 1, starting at 5 1/2 instead of 4 1/2. Now she is 8 and has flourished in most things. I think it did her no harm to wait an extra year before leaping into formal education (well, compared to nursery or just playing with friends in the park).

Hi,

Try to figure this out!

My child started in Year R at school A in September 2010. School B was our preference but we decided to keep her on it's waiting list until the end of term.
We then submitted a continued interest application to School B which she has remained on ever since.
I was aware that a place became available for Year R in mid-June 2011 (last year). Unfortunately my child was rightfully outranked by another child using the published admission criteria.
I only found out last month, the child's parents that had been awarded the place, chose to defer until the start of next term which was also the following academic year (September).
Everything that I had read previously had stated that parents cannot chose to defer their child's reception place into the following academic year.
After various email exchanges with Essex County Council Admissions, I was told that normal rules do not apply as it was not an application made during the normal admission rounds.

Discuss?

Danni x