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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Deferring entry to the reception class by a whole year in England.

53 replies

Hope88 · 05/10/2011 17:22

Hi, my son was born in July so he would be 4.1 years when he is supposed to start the primary school. Does anybody know whether it's possilble to defer the entry by one year and start the reception class when he is 5 ??? I cannot find any information anywhere. I know you can defer by a few months (i.e. start in January/April) but that does not really appeal to me as he would miss out on forming friendships at the begging. Thank you for your answers.

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IndigoBell · 05/10/2011 17:27

Normally you can't.

He'll be fine. There will be other summer kids in his class, his teacher will be used to teaching 4 year olds.

Recpetion is very very similar to nursery - just 9:00 - 3:00.

peggotty · 05/10/2011 17:28

I'm pretty sure that if you defer reception year, that he would then go straight into year 1 when he does start. Legally you don't have to send him to school for full days until the term after his 5th birthday, so in theory you could just have him going part time in reception year perhaps? You may have trouble persuading the school tho'! HTH

mrz · 05/10/2011 17:28

You wouldn't be able to defer for a full year and enter reception. Your choices would be to defer to the summer term of the year before he turns 5 or to defer a full year and enter Y1.

sleepevader · 05/10/2011 17:30

You can't defer reception just start at year one instead.

Your concerns about friendship would mean he's going straight into year one with lots of friendships between peers already made.

prh47bridge · 05/10/2011 17:40

I agree with the other posters. If you try to defer for a full year your son will go into Y1, not Reception. So he would still have missed out on forming friendships at the beginning, although I wouldn't stress too much about that - friendships are very fluid at that age. You will also have a limited choice fo schools as most will already be full.

Bonsoir · 05/10/2011 17:42

There is no point deferring - as other posters have said, your only option would be for your DS to miss out on Reception altogether and that would not be to his advantage, educationally, in any way.

virgiltracey · 05/10/2011 17:47

Yep the others are right. He'd start at age 5 but he would be in year 1. The English system does not allow children to go into the wrong year group for their age.

I would avoid this unless absoluetly necessary since the other children will have had a year of structured education (well as structured as it gets in reception!!) and will have formed friendship groups and be comfortable with the school routine.

Giddly · 05/10/2011 17:48

Depends on the school. You can in ours. It's a small village school and each year a number of the less mature kids do a second year in reception, and a child with delayed entry could join them. The next class up is combined years 1 and 2, so it wouldn't even be like they would need to go from reception to a class of all year 2s.

notso · 05/10/2011 17:58

You would have to lie about his age.

I did consider this for my DS, he was 4 and 6 days when he started.

mrz · 05/10/2011 18:03

How can you lie about his age when you are required by law to produce a birth certificate?

roisin · 05/10/2011 18:04

I disagree with Bonsoir, deferring can be good for a child and not necessarily a disadvantage educationally.

My ds1 (also a July birthday) didn't do reception year at all, he went straight into Year 1 (with an established class of pupils), when he was 5 + 2 months.

He's now 14 and so far has done very well academically: can't post details on here for fear of being accused of stealth boasting, but I do mean exceptionally well.

So not doing YR doesn't seem to have done him any harm educationally.

mrz · 05/10/2011 18:06

With respect you can't possibly know had he not missed reception if he would have done even better

PandaG · 05/10/2011 18:09

hyou could always choose for him to start in Sept, Jan or even April, but to start part time. You now have that option. He could then make friendships but have the chance to relax at home in the afternoons,

Bonsoir · 05/10/2011 18:09

roisin - actually, that was quite a long time ago and the curriculum has evolved since your son was of Reception age.

notso · 05/10/2011 18:19

I have never been asked to show a birth certificate for my DC.

notso · 05/10/2011 18:25

DS did settle in really well though despite his young age. He has found it more of a struggle starting the juniors but I feel this is more down to the leap from foundation phase to sitting down doing work.

mrz · 05/10/2011 18:44

Parents should take their child?s birth certificate to the school when they register. At the same time as registering, parents can get information about making a request for a place in another school of their choice

Parents should take their children to the appropriate local primary school. Birth certificates must be produced, together with proof of residence (e.g. utility bill or child tax credit form).

When you return your application form, the school or Admissions Team will need to see all of the following original documentation (please do not post the original documents to schools or to Unity House).

<strong>Your child?s birth certificate</strong>;

An0therName · 05/10/2011 18:57

in my view there will be loads of other summer born children - the vast majority do fine in reception - and as someone has said you could start him part time if you are really concerned

MigratingCoconuts · 05/10/2011 19:08

I was asked for a birth certificate.

IMO reception is great and well worth attending as soon as possible

HooverTheHamaBeads · 05/10/2011 19:44

You need to be very careful about deferring entry ecause as far as I am aware if you don't take up the place in year R you can lose it to someone else.

I'd suggest half days for the first term or so and just see how it all goes.

My BF has a son born 13th Aug and he has coped very well and really enjoyed his first year.

mrz · 05/10/2011 19:50

If you apply for a place in reception but don't start within the year you need to reapply for Y1 as an in year admission and risk there not being a place.

Every child is different some 5 year olds (September birthday) are very immature while some August borns are much more mature

4madboys · 05/10/2011 19:53

i had this issue with my eldest two boys, one a late aug bday, the other july, in the end we opted to home ed for a few years, they started school aged 9 and 6 respectively, went in the right yr group for their age and have never looked back.

schools will simply put your child in yr1 if you defer for a whole year. i did find a primary that let them attend on a flexi school basis for a year or so, then it got a new head who wasnt happy to continue with it and at that time they were 6 and 9 (almost) so i found a school i liked and they started in the sept.

most primaries will let your son go part time at least till xmas, mine did with ds3 (dec bday) he did mornings for a while, then mon,tue,, thu and fri having wed off as otherwise he was too tired. not all school like this tho, so you may have to have the odd 'sick day' if they are too tired etc, its your call to make tbh. i know what we did was right for the eldest two, but all kids are diff and ds3 was ready for school when he started reception, and my ds4 (3yrs) is desperate to go, he starts next yr and i cant see him doing part-time for long tbh.

kateecass · 05/10/2011 19:53

I live in Trafford where you can actually hold a summer baby back a year. Instead of starting Reception in 2012 my DD could have waited to start til 2013. My DD was born end of August and I seriously considered it. I decided against it though as there were several drawbacks.

Apparently once she went to secondary school she would have had to go up 2 years instead of just going up the one, so wouldn't be with her friends etc etc
She'd be the eldest in her year instead and might not be pushed etc
Would she be able to do 2 years at preschool?
She'd made good friends with children who will be in her year at school.

You can do the starting in January thing at our school but I won't be doing that. DD is absolutely loving the school nursery is already enjoying learning. There are also at least 3 August birthdays in my DDs nursery class.

MY DS is also a summer baby and half his year have got their birthdays in June and July. I have spoken to the teachers about this subject and they say they don't really notice the difference in age.

The school didn't asked for DS's birth certificate but are now asking for DD's for admission next year!

If you lie about your child's age what happens when that child is asked their date of birth at school? Think that's a bit risky!

4madboys · 05/10/2011 19:55

roisin my two have done brilliantly after starting at 6 and 9 in yr 2 and yr 5 and you certainly cant tell, they are both academicaly well above their peers, suffered no prob socially etc and fitted in well from the start, you would never have known they had been home-schooled, apart from comments from teachers that they both had very good general knowledge and seemed very 'rounded in the knowledge in a way above their age'

its not commonly done but i think its fine to do :)

4madboys · 05/10/2011 19:56

i just applied for ds4's school place for next yr, NO mention of birth certificate from LA or the school and there wasnt for my elder two either.

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