Devon County Council: deferring a place in reception

[Amykins]

The school my daughter has been offered a place at is offering a "single entry" so theoretically just September for everyone. There is a possibility of deferring for another year on "exceptional medical, educational or social grounds". Does anyone have experience of this?

My daughter was born right at the end of August, is tiny, very, very shy and has some trouble with Asthma, eating and allergies.

You need to check whether defering would mean she would go straight into year 1, and also at junior (if you change schools) and secondary, whether they would accept her a year late there.

If they will then I'd have thought it can only be a good thing.

She can defer for a year but would g into Year one. However, if there are exceptional grounds etc, it would be reception. Thank you for your reply.

Another option would be to keep her home until Easter of reception. As I understand it, school are now required to keep your place as long as you take it up sometime in the reception year and before the child turns 5. We seriously considered this for Aug born dd2, (small, young, super-clingy...) but actually she has thrived at school and thoroughly enjoys it.

Thank you.

A friend of mine did this (we're Devon) and her DD went straight in at year one. Honestly, I don't think it helped her - Reception is so play based and relaxed that she thinks her DD would have been better going in then, with hindsight. That way she'd be with friends, used to the rules and the structure of the day with no pressure.

Another friend put her DS in to Reception but with very sketchy attendance and some half days for the first term - school were fine. Or so she says

I would accept the place and/or go to speak to the school - stress your concerns from a medical angle and speak about half days or what the procedure for low attendance would be. My friend was told that ft attendance was only compulsory for the term after the fifth birthday - so with the school on side you could play it by ear for the whole year. That's only anecdotal though, do check it out.

"nor beyond the academic year for which the original application was accepted"

So for a reception place, you would need to start at some point in the reception year, or else reapply for year1. Personally, I think from the child's pov, the latest sensible start point would be the beginning of the summer term, as otherwise there would be very few weeks of school before all the weeks of the summer holiday and it could become a tad confusing.

Thank you everyone. Yes, the school say they would be fine with half days, at least for the first half term. It does seem to be possible to defer for a whole year and STILL allow your child into reception in "exceptional medical, social or educational grounds", that's what I wondered about.

I'm sure you're right. My little pickle will have to start school, I'm just finding it hard too.

I'm in Devon and you can defer but they must start in that academic year or you will lose your place, so she couldn't go straight into Y1.
For what it's worth I have 2 late summer born dds and the same doubts as you but both thrived at school and loved reception. It's all play based and very much like nursery/preschool whereas Y1 is much more formal and would be a much harder transition for a child not used to school.
Just remember that dd doesn't legally have to be there so you won't get into trouble if she only does mornings for as long as it takes her to settle but she may surprise you and love it from the start

Thank you, I hope so.

Hi, yes, we did it, have you seen my (numerous!) posts on this topic?

started language-delayed DS2 at 5.0 in reception, his education is to be "offset" till 18 (nothing to do with delaying, just to do with giving him a chance in life).

It has transformed his life-chances.

A good teacher can adjust the curriculum.

Not even the best teacher in the world can change a peer group that is inappropriate for your child.
Yeah for Devon that they've had the guts to publish the truth which is that you can year-defer but that it's probably best to limit it to children who really need ot be the oldest in their year.

should add that DS2 is August-born. If he was born on 1st Sept. it wouldn't be worth posting about! His default year was the year before. Those kids aren't his peers though. The ones he is with now are his peers.

In Devon you can defer term by term fairly easily. They keep preschool funding if you do this.

I'd be surprised if "some trouble..." was exceptional enough a medical reason. I know of two children who have been deferred on social grounds - starting school in UK coming from a country with a much later school start age. So they went to Year 1 rather than year 2 after being at kindergarten only in previous country .

Sorry , my second paragraph refers to whole year deferment. ( or back yearing)

Schools nightmare, note that your rule is about extending an existing application beyond the academic year in which it was made.

We never applied for the default year, I think people who want to year defer have to drop any application they have made for the default year.

they have to start again the following year with a new application.

We did it - dd started reception at 5.2. Was not as impossible as we had been lead to believe. Ed Psych said 'parents who really know what they want and insist on it often get it'.

ok, not "your rule", "the rule you cited".

what I'm trying to say Schoolsnightmare, that the rule you cited is being consistently misinterpreted as meaning that it is forbidden to allow a child born in August to start reception at 5.0.

see EdithWeston's post above as an example.

always interesting to find someone else. what were your reasons and has it been of benefit for your dd?