Delaying starting school until term after 5th birthday - anyone else?

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Just wondered. Have been told by our LA that ds is the only one in the whole county and that he'll be so very behind when he starts.

Sorry for confusing everyone - I mean the girls would be 5 years 6 months and going into Year 1.

Your children must be in full time education by the term after their fifth birthday. If you intend for them to have their education in school rather than Home Ed you could delay until Easter but not a full year.

Ah.... I see Mrz. They would be 5 in the March so I would have to send them to school for the summer term (after the Easter break). Tis obvious I'm an old bag and started school the Sept after turning 5! I am completely confused by all this Year 1,2,.....etc. I started in first year infants and spent 3 years in infants and then into juniors, years 1-4 then seniors years 1-5. I really need to get my head around all this.

You can start them in Yr 1 when they are 5yrs 6 months BUT that would mean HE them from their 5th birthday (which actually could look pretty much like what you are doing already) BUT you will lose your right to a place at any school and thefore they would only be able to attend the school of your choice IF they happen to have a space available.

Starlight - Would that mean that the LA could just allocate us a place at virtually any school in the borough which has spare places?

Yes, although if you are willing to wait for a space you could go on a waiting list and HE until one comes available where you want. But it could be years.

You would need to re apply for a "in year place" for Y1 if you decide to HE until next Sept, but depending where you live you may struggle to find two places in the same school

It's less about the school (most in the general area where I live a ok and only issue is I would prefer a non-faith school. It's more about the bloody cost of the afterschool clubs - I'd be paying out £160 each week for the twins. Also, I'm not generally in agreement with the British model for education. I must prefer the European approach which has children starting formal school later.

My ds went Full Time to a Special School 25 miles away when he was just four. He did five mornings when he was just three. (birthday in July) He really thrived on being in the school enviroment.......

much prefer

Mrz & Starlight - I have read the schools admission code and notice it says "they must allow parents to request that their child?s entry be deferred until later in the same school year.

Is allowing a request very different to agreeing to a deferment? On all the schools websites in my area, they all say the same thing..." our admissions policy will be changing to fall in line with the Government's target for one start date (September) for all Reception children."

Do this mean I can request all I want but to no avail?

MagdaMagyarMadam I think if you read some of the contributions from mums who have children in the European system they consider the UK system much gentler overall in comparison.

My DD has a statement and my understanding from my LEA is that I can defer her for a complete year i.e. start her in Reception in 2013, rather than next year when she should start. Is that an option for you Star (if your DS has a statement) or are you satisfied that a term will give you the headstart he needs?

Deferring a year unfortunately isn't something that many LAs allow even with a statement Norks

I suppose if it was WRITTEN into the statement it would work. But you have to convince the statement writer to do it.

My LA won't support it at all Starlight. We had huge issues when a child moved from another area having been allowed to start a year behind. There was a discussion about whether she would miss her first or final year of secondary school when she transferred from us. I think you need to ask questions about the long term implications if you decide to try.

My LEA told me that it would affect my DD's last year of formal education which they stated meant her 18/19th year (age) they also told me that whilst they allowed it they didn't recommend it and I suspect that if I request it, they may all of a sudden come up with a whole host of reasons why not. I wasn't clear whether they meant she would not be entitled to statemented support when she's 18/19 or whether they meant she would actually not be allowed to attend an educational setting at that age. I will need to ask more questions but very interesting to hear of your experiences mrz. My DD only 3 at the moment.

The parents of the child I am talking about (obviously older) were told she would either have to transfer into Y8 missing out Y7 or miss her final year of compulsory educationand at one point it looked like she would have to transfer from us at the end of Y5 rather than Y6 so it is worth looking at the long picture rather than an immediate solution.

Blimey, I'm glad I deferred now. Just found out today that his teacher isn't going to be there until well into October, and someone is covering the first few weeks of term.

No wonder the teacher didn't want to arrange a meeting about social skills and targets etc. with me before half term.

So if he attended we'd have 'he's settling in' followed by 'his teacher has only just come back and getting to know him' followed by 'he's had a lot of disruption' followed by 'it's the run up to christmas'.

SO glad we made the decision we did now.

which LEA is it Norks.
This would be fine in Bradford with the support of your health professionals. We started DS2 in reception at 5.0 and he's started Year 1 today at 6.0.

starlight, why on earth didn't they just tell you?

lingle it's Bucks. Think I will write to them asking them to clarify in writing what the policy is and how it may affect DD as she reaches secondary school and beyond.

starlight so glad your decision was vindicated even if for unexpected reasons. Now you can focus on the work you want to do with him this term without worrying about whether you've made the right choice

I dunno Lingle.

Perhaps they genuinely didn't know. Or perhaps the teacher did, but the HT didn't. They haven't given a reason. Perhaps an operation or adoption has come up suddenly or something.

yes do Norks - I'd be tempted to set out my understanding of the position then say "please confirm this is right" rather than to ask an open question. you may of course not want to take the deferrment in a year's time but if you do decide you want it it would be great to have some reassurance that it will be there for you.