deferred entry to reception

[boristhebold68]

Hi all ,
DS2 is due to start reception in Sept 2012 and has an August birthday. I have accepted a place at the local primary but as he will only just be 4 when he starts I was hoping to request either that he attend part time , or defer his entry until the summer term ( ie after Easter hols ) so that at least he gets a term of reception before starting Y1.

Although not looking forward to having this discussion with the head I was fairly confident ( thanks to mumsnet info re schools admission code para 2.69!) that even if the school were not happy with deferred entry that the LA was obliged to hold my sons place and therefore I would have been able to send him in the summer term.

I contacted my LA just to check the position and I was pretty gutted to hear that the schools admission code has been updated as of Feb 2012 and that although I can ' request' deferred entry , the LA are no longer obliged to hold my son's place.

This means I either have to send my son in Sept or the other option is of missing reception altogether and taking a chance and reapplying in Y1 ,

I would be very grateful if anyone has any more info regarding this change in legislation and if they know whether the LA interpretation of the code is correct . It seems crazy that I cant choose to send my son later in the year but if this is correct then I just have to accept it

thanks v much in advance

No other info sorry but part time sounds a better plan to me. He will settle quickly with all new friends but will have time at home to recover from the tiredness! if they didnt go until the summer term would they go to nursery at all?

experts! please! is this true!

just checked my education authority website - and they state clearly that parents can delay (not can request a delay) until January 2012/January 2013 (depending on child's date of birth). The implication is that the place will be held open - and they would say something if it would be palmed off elsewhere as all but the most dire scoolis over-subscribed where I live. So, one of these two education authorities is wrong... I hope it's yours!
BTW: your school will fight April entry as they don't get any money if your child is not on the roll in january.

The admission code was updated in February and will be in force for entry in september 2013, not september 2012. The admission code that is pertinent to entry in sept 2012 is the 2010 version.

I don't know who you have been talking to in the LA but they need to go back and have another look at both the 2010 and the 2012 code because they are wrong. In the 2012 version it is paragraph 2.16 in the 2010 version it is 2.69. They both say the same thing and that is that the school must provide the place from September but that you can defer or attend part time till their 5th birthday.

There is however a fly in the ointment and that is funding is dependent on the pupil actually being at the school. Previously funding from April was based on the pupils in school in a date in January, so most schools were happy to defer till after Christmas. The problem is that the date is now being changed to October and therefore schools are going to be keen to have the pupils in school in the Autumn term.

Do you have particular reason to think that your DS might find it difficult if he starts reception?

I have a summer term DS who is currently in Reception. If he had missed Reception, then he would have missed so much. He's not an August birthday though so I appreciate that there can be issues there. DS has a friend who is August birthday - he has struggled to start with but is well settled now. Although DS is young for year, he is doing so well and would have found it much harder to settle if he had started later than his peers, partly from confidence/shyness.

Our school has a policy of deciding with parents after the first couple of weeks if children need a longer period to settle in. Does your school have similar?

I wouldn't delay, he'll miss out on the social aspect and the settling in. The first term in reception is all about settling in, they don't do that much academic work.
My DS was 4 end of May and I was worried too about him being mature enough for full time school. In the end I just rung in sick for him when he was too tired and we had an extended (unauthorised) half term break in the feb half term.
DS2 is 4 in July and starts school in september and I'll do the same for him.

They won't defer entry, but there's very little they can do if an under 5 isn't attending school regularly. Although for most schools if they haven't attended for more than two weeks without a very good excuse they can remove the place.

Admissions: does this also mean that children have to be in full time attendance after October to get full funding (at the moment, as I understand it, a child who is going part time after the January roll receives only part time funding)?

Boris: It's unfortunate that the school will loose out if you are not there in October. That is not really your problem, though. You can't sacrifice your son to the admissions code (particularly if you believe such early admission is bonkers). However the school might be persuaded to agree to part time attendance until April if they know the alternative is your son not coming at all: that way, at least, the school get's some money and you get to keep him out of full time education in accordance with what you believe are his best interests.

thanks for replies so far - yes dancingwithchoc - am sure problem is with my LA .
Admission thank you- I have looked at SAC 2010 para 2.69
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

and SAC 2012 para 2.16

2.16 Admission of children below compulsory school age and deferred
entry to school - Admission authorities must provide for the admission of all
children in the September following their fourth birthday. The authority must
make it clear in their arrangements that:

a) parents can request that the date their child is admitted to school is
deferred until later in the academic year or until the term in which the
child reaches compulsory school age, and
b) parents can request that their child takes up the place part-time until
the child reaches compulsory school age.

but in 2012 version it does not state that '' where entry is deferred , admission authorites must hold that place for that child ".

But if, as you point out 2012 code is not applicable anyway for 2012 intake I should still be able to defer . How does LA get away with this ? I will point this out to them but I imagine I will still have a battle on my hands . How would you suggest I go about it ?

thanks

Boris. I delayed my son for a term. He was absolutely fine when he started school in January. Admittedly, and this may be key, his best friend also delayed so they went in together. However, another little boy also joined the school late, transferring from a different school, and he also settled in quickly.

Can you consider sending you DS part time to school. That way you bagsy the place but only attend school a three or so days a week. ESW's won't be interested in low attendance of reception aged kids. I probably would just let the class teacher know in September that he will be part time.

Once you have accepted the place it is up to the school whether or not they will let the child go part time. It is not a parent's right to send a child part time, only their right to request it. Part-time attendance v. deferring should definitely be sorted out before starting school.

Skyblue - yes definitely part time would be my ideal , its just that I feel pretty sure the head will not agree to it .
So if as you say I just bagsy place and DS does 3 or 4 days a week do you know that the ESW wont be interested ? Even though he is below legal school age I had heard that they still chase you as DS will be on the school register and this would adversely affects school's attendance figures?

You may be completely surprised. DD2 was 4 on August 12th, so a real summer baby. She started in September last year, and her school have 2 weeks of part time school before school becomes full time. So by the middle of September she was doing 8.50-3.10. She is fine.

She's doing really well and apart from being 'very young' (behaviourally) in the first term, has had no issues at all.

My ds is an August born and was the youngest in the whole school during his reception year.

Having seen what sort of work they do (I go in and read) and how well he did, also the fact that ds2 is now in reception - I would NEVER of delayed his start and especially would not start him in year one.

I can only speak from my experience and others will have their view but my son found there to be a big "Jump" from the expectations and work load from Reception to yr 1. Both my boys will be going into yr 1 being able to read and write. If they had missed that year they would have been seriously behind their peers.

As much as pre-school and home encouragement is great - they learn and gain so much from reception year - even just learning how to behave in a school environment (which again is very different to a nursery setting) - and reception children are given a bit of leniency in terms of behaviour which they wont get in yr 1 as they will be expected to know the "rules" by then

Have you asked the Headteacher what he/she thinks? I know of cases where a summer-born child has attended part time for the whole year, or started after October half term.

Deferring altogether is, IMO, not in the child's best interests particularly re friendships, learning. It is better that they are there every morning, for example.

My DD is 31 August and started school aged 4y 4 days. She had two weeks of part time then went full time along with everyone else. Emotionally she struggled at times...but she's now 14 and still does, so I think that's just her personality!

My dd2 is August born and in reception and I had the same dilemmas as you this time last year. I ended up saying that I would call in sick for her on random days when I felt she needed a day off, rather than say missing every Weds for example, so she wouldn't miss the same activity each week.

In fact, I have only done this once, in the run up to Christmas. APart from that she has been absolutely fine and loves school. It did take her a long time to be happy going in on her own in the morning, but that had always been a problem at pre-school too, so I was ready for that. She has made lots of new friends, although interestingly, most of them are in the younger half of the year. I would have preferred to have kept her home another year and be starting her in reception this September, but this wasn't an option available to us. It hasn't turned out to be anywhere near as problematic as I thought.

Exactly what myboysraebonkers said. Ds1 is an end if August baby and I was a little concerned about him setting in full time school. I was told by the reception teacher that he could do part time, but to see how it went with full time first.

Well, it was great. He loved it. A couple of time outs but nothing serious. Now he's in yr one and in the top six kids in his class. There is no way he'd be that settled if he'd missed reception. It's so important. Really think about the reasons why you wish to delay his entry and whether they are worth it.

I have an August born son too.

I'd push for part-time rather than deferral.

At our school, the school happily allowed summer and spring borns to go home after lunchtime if the parents wanted. The little formal learning they did like phonics happened in the morning and lunchtime is a new social experience for children like mine who had only been to nursery or pre-school.

If you prefer not going daily then I'd tell the school or just not send him in. Schools only stress attendance because it's good for OFSTED. Reality is lots of kids get ill or have to have duvet days in Reception.

Although ddtwins are January, I remember 3 of their reception class of 16 were part-time for the first term, and one August birthday one didn't start full days every day until April. The reception class had a wendy house with lots of cushions, there were frequently sleeping children in there after lunch... are you sure the head won't consider some flexibility?

I dont really understand holding them back, unless your ds has other issues.
Do you think he will suffer? Why?

My DD is end of August born and started reception in Sept. I was really lucky - the head was willing for us (in fact she offered as a suggestion when I explained I was concerned about her being so young) to do half days or part weeks. As it was DD settled in fantastically and had been full-time from the beginning.

Personally, I wouldn't defer - I would worry that my child was missing out on valuable social skills and, whilst friendships are very fluid at that age, the rest of the class will have bonded and made friends. But, I know it's a difficult decision to make and, ultimately, you know your child best.

My DS is now in yr2 and has a 31st August birthday and I did not even think of asking for part time tbh but just thought I would keep him off on random days as and when he needed it if he was so tired etc.

He was fine (although was going to bed at just gone 6pm some evenings for the first term).

Academically he struggled till maybe Easter time and then things clicked and he has not looked back since.

Personally I would give full time a go first and he how he gets on, you can always talk to the teacher later on if he is struggling.

OP - what are your concerns ? My b/g twins were born on 28/8 6 weeks early . They started reception a few days after their 4th birthday and did struggle but not excessively and life is not always fair and you can 't always fix it for them and also sometimes they surprise you. So depends really.

thanks very much for all your replies so far . Its also reassuring to know that other summerborns have been fine starting FT and in SEpt.
Tiggytape - do you think many Heads are aware of the parental right to defer ? I am going to approach LA again tomorrow to point out the fact that 2010 code still applies. I just feel that if I know the LA have to hold DS place then I will feel less nervous about approaching the head .
When I see the head I will explain that I would prefer that DS go part time for first 2 terms and if they are not happy with this I would then request deferral until summer term.
Presumably the Head will not want to do this for reasons of funding mentioned earlier , but other than this does it cause a problem for the school in any other way?

I feel like I am about to cause WW3 by doing all this but actually I just dont want to spend the next year with my son being permanently tired - like his brother was!
thanks again