Delaying primary school entrance

[NoWomanNoCry]

I wondered if there are any mumsnet readers out there who had attempted to delay their DC primary school entry for the year (i.e. to hold the child back a full year so they join the year below). I know people will say not to do it but there are specific reasons why in my case. The council say they do not allow this, but I'm sure you could try and appeal. I just wondered if anybody had done this before or would know how to start going about rasing a case?

In England it is very hard to do so unless they have severe SEN (and often even then). A child who defers entry will rejoin their age correct year group. Even if you did manage to keep the child back a year (eg. Brent allowed this a few years ago) when they get to secondary they often have to join the correct year group. There are also all kinds of potential problems when your child reaches sixth form age.

Could you tell us whqtnyour specific reasons are? I honestly think that the cons of doing would always outweigh the pros-and there are ways round the perceived difficulties.

We were thinking of doing the same but our area has the same policy as yours. Ds has SEN.

We have been offered flexi schooling instead so Ds will basically dictate what he can cope with.

It might be an option to try and put it in place in case they do reject any appeal you make.

seeker - sorry I would rather not disclose the reasons. But I know it is such a big decision. I can see there are lots of cons involved as mummytime pointed out some which I hadn't thought about. I know I need to do alot of thinking.....

I held mine back a year but they did hve to join year 1.

And that was because there were still spaces at the start of year one. If they are full in reception, then that is your lot.

not sure what happens with regard to actually starting at reception a year late though.

Legally they have to be in school the term after their 5th birthday - this could of course be home schooling if you felt it was more appropriate. The general rule is that if you have a summer born child you can defer the whole of reception year and enter into year 1 - but the school clearly needs to have a place. I think you probably need to speak to the school you are hoping to send your child to and see what provision they make for the special circumstances your child has. They may be able to reassure you that entering in reception may be the best thing for your child - or not! I think unless you have a very strong case you would be unlikely to simply defer a school year and enter in reception.
I teach in a prep school and we do allow children to repeat years if they have special needs and it is in the best interest of the child. We have also sent them on to state secondary and they haven't insisted they return to the correct year group. So maybe if it is an option you could look at a local prep school who may be more supportive of defering a year - however you would have to homeschool once your child turns 5 until they started formal schooling.

Is your child at nursery currently? I kept mine on at a fantastic nurdery for what would have been reception. You can still use your nursery vouchers up until the term after their 5th birthday, so think about that too. If they are happy at nursery and have a ratio of say 1 to 4 or 5 in the case of our local montessori, it was obvious to me what the choice should be. A further year of small group education or large reception class with one teacher andTA.

And if you home ed, that doesn't mean you sit at a desk 9 to 3 either. It is education, not schooling which takes many forms. just out and about and chatting to your child, they are learning etc.

I think you will struggle greatly within the state system to do this. I was going to say a prep school would be a better choice to bend to your request.

even the kids I know with severe learning or physical disabilities who are at special school are considered to be in their "year group" by chronological age- even though they may be taught in ability groups regardless of age. Interestingly those with severe disabilities tend to be in "proper school" earlier and also have official home teachers too eg for the deaf .

If you intend to educate at school they need to be in school from the term after their 5th birthday. If that is the September term then in theory they should go into year 1 but with a very late aug birthday/prem baby you might be able to "swing it".

There are much longer term funding and insurance issues for schools though and you need to ask the implications of starting a year later on these- will Junior school insist on transfer at 11 as they aren't insured to teach 12yr olds? Will funding run out when he's 18 rather than 19?

The son of a friend is repeating year 13 due to illness- he spent the time after AS levels to Xmas mostly in hospital , and had no chance to do his A2s on time. Even that was tricky to arrange (not to mention how horrible it will be for him when his mates move on and he doesn't)

A private school may be more accomodating if you are considering that. There is one child out of year in DD's yr 1 class (2 weeks too old). But there are still implications if child rejoins state/moves school.

It is illegal for the council to have a policy of refusing ever to allow children to be placed in a different year group. See the School Admissions Code:

"2.17 Admission of children outside their normal age group - Parents of
gifted and talented children, or those who have experienced problems or
missed part of a year, for example due to ill health, can seek places outside
their normal age group. Admission authorities must make decisions on the
basis of the circumstances of each case, informing parents of their statutory
right to appeal. This right does not apply if they are offered a place in another
year group at the school." (You can download the document here: www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schooladmissions/a00195/current-codes-and-regulations)

but I doubt this will help you much. Once you have waved the legislation at them, they will back down, agree to consider your child's particular circumstances, and then more than likely they will say that they have looked at the matter and decided it is not in the child's best interests.

Based on the experience of the school I was working in when the "big reshuffle" happened and all the children were put back in their correct cohorts, there were certainly some children who had been put down a year who had not been given appropriate support. Particularly in the lower end of primary, it's easy to "loose" the extent of learning delay when a child is working with children a year younger. So I think it's good that the whole thing is much more tighly controlled now.

That said, I have worked with children with Downs and with ASD who fit in well with a cohort a year younger than them. These children were placed in a class not because of their SEN, but because of how elements of their SEN affected their ability to learn/attend school. So it's do-able if you think it's best for your child, but you need to be able to demonstrate very specific reasons why.

There is a child in my dd's school who did this. They live miles away. You can't reserve a place if you delay for the year so basically have to take a place where there is one. In most areas this would be the less popular schools. Not only would you have a long journey, but chances are it wouldn't be your first choice of school.

If I rember correctly, you can apply in normal process and then defer to Christmas without loosing your place.

mnistooaddictive - I think you have misunderstood the OP. I believe she wants to delay entry for a whole year and still go into Reception. As others have said, most schools and LAs won't allow this other than in very special cases.

On you point about deferring, the last Admissions Code gave you the right to defer until later in the academic year but not for a full year. So you could, for example, defer until Easter. The new Admissions Code has modified it so that you now only have the right to request deferral, which is a return to how things used to be. I suspect this was not the government's intention.

But you would still have the same issue as you would becoubted as an in year application surely? Even if the school let you onyo reception your application couldn't be considered with all the applications for that year group as it would be too open to abuse.

The other problem is that even if you are allowed to do this at primary you may find they will not continue it at secondary and then you have to jump a year then.

My advice would be move to Scotland

The OP wants her child to start in a different year so it wouldn't be in year application. Very few LEAs allow children to be educated out of year, it isn't the schools decision. Deferring a whole year usually means missing reception and starting in Y1.

mnistooaddictive - No you wouldn't be considered as an in year application if you are deferring within the year. You apply as if your child is going to be admitted to Reception in September. Once you have got the place you can defer until later in the academic year and they have to keep the place open for you. You cannot, however, defer for a full year.

Deferring for a full year and then going into Reception, if allowed, would again be an application as part of the normal admissions round.

Yes. We did it. Bradford LEA, state school. Late August birthday, receptive language delay, started reception at 5.0, now in Year 1, education to be offset throughout school career.

Transformed his life chances in the opinion of head, nursery teacher, reception teacher, speech therapist and paediatrician, Oh, and me and DH!

best fight I ever fought - but it did help having school and health professionals united with me. The sad thing is that this used to be available in Bradford as of right (as in Scotland). Then parents started to use it as a way of getting children a second chance at entry to the fashionable school. So Bradford dropped it. I managed to get them to retain a special needs exception.

A friend delayed her son's entrance to school for medical reasons. This has followed through to secondary school. I don't know what problems there might be in sixth form, as there are potentially students there repeating years anyway (is that still allowed? It was when I was at school).

As you can't be specific on details, it's difficult to get an general answer. Obviously depends on the specifics and the LEA, by the sound of it.