To delay or not

[Coldilox]

Struggling to decide whether or not to delay my son's reception entry for a year. He is August born, and due to start in September 2018 but we're considering starting him at CSA in Sept 2018. As well as being August born, he was slightly premature (September due date) and he has a mild speech delay, currently under SALT.

I've done my research, and my LA do seem to allow delayed reception entry, in on a FB group and a few people on my area have done it recently and it's been fairly straightforward.

Everything tells me delaying him is the right thing to do, I think 4 (and even 5) is too young to start school, he will be at a disadvantage being one of the youngest, it would give him an extra year to catch up with his speech etc.

But...other people's reactions is bothering me. I get lots of "I'm sure he'll cope" "He might be fine" etc, and people refer to it as holding him back, which is a very negative way of looking at it.

We want to make a decision soon as nursery have said they will support whatever choice we make, but if we aren't going to delay him he would be moving up to the pre-school room in the next couple of months, but if we are they will keep him with his younger peers. So we would want to get the ball rolling soon.

If you had a choice, WWYD?

I would defer. We are in Scotland so it's slightly different here as quite a few children defer a year but I don't know anyone who has deferred and regretted it whilst I know of two parents who didn't and wish they had.

I would delay, I have a son born late august (just finished his GCSE's) and although he was fine academically, emotionally he struggled and was always smaller than his peers.

He caught up eventually in about year 10, but always felt inadequate.

Always delay. Apparently ( can't remember the newspaper name) the difference in attainment for the youngest children in the class can be measured and seen right up to , and including, university level.

*where I read the article online

Thanks, that is what I feel too. Just getting annoyed by other people's reactions I guess

Does your LA allow you to defer a year and then enter Reception year or would your child have to go straight into Y1? I believe you can delay Reception entry in Scotland but in England and Wales it depends on your LA.

If you have to delay, would he be allowed to go into reception or straight into Yr1.

If he can go to reception then I'd say delay, if it's straight into year 1 then definitely don't delay as it's such a massive step change from reception.

If you defer, the worst that can happen is that you spend a year regretting it. If you don't, you risk spending the next 14 years regretting it.

Oh and as an August born child myself I'd say delay. Even though i loved school and did well academically.

He can go into reception a year later

I'd stop listening to people saying - 'he'll cope'.
Or even tell them - I don't want him to COPE, I want him to enjoy school and so as well as he can, and grow into a confident child.
(Not the one who'd spend the first few years of schooling playing catch up game, and taking longer to learn things that kids a year older than him take a lot less time to learn)
And especially, since he is not only an August born, but also a premature baby at that....

This might sound absurd but what's his physical development like? My son is the tallest in his year group and the youngest...when he stood next to the year below he looked massive and I think that would have been difficult for him. A whole head higher than the next person.

I'm generally up for delaying but I'm glad I didn't for my son. Physical development isn't something that often comes up in these threads, they often focus on academic and social.
Obviously that's a very individual thing!

I would definitely delay. He may struggle, and having an extra year of play at nursery will be more beneficial.

I'd definitely delay. Tell whoever is saying it that you want more for your child than for them to just 'cope'.

He is very tall for his age, definitely looks older than he is. But I worry that would make it worse, more would be expected of him as he wouldn't look like one of the youngest.

I definitely agree, I don't want him to cope, I want him to do the best he can. If he's not destined to be academically gifted that's fine, but I don't want him to struggle purely because he'll be so young.

Coldi - don't worry!!
More will not be expected from him because he is taller, if he starts a year later.
He'll just be on par with the other Sept. children - and he was supposed to be a sept.child anyway, wasn't he?

All studies that I've seen say that the academic performance gap (summer children, and def. August one) - persists all the way to GCSEs....
And I often wonder - is it because the summer kids's expectation of how 'smart' and 'academic' they are are formed in the early years - when things were tougher for them....

Of course - many people with examples of bright and capable August children will say - well, it's not true for my DC!!!!
And it is case by case, of course.

But - 4yo is young to start school in any case. He can get another year in the nursery, be a kid for a bit longer.
There is no rush. No downside.
Only upside.
And it used to be not possible, and people used to fight for it. Now - you are lucky...

So - why not???

To delay and start Reception a year late is not down the LA the Head needs to agree. Plus when they go to secondary you need agreement again or they could go from y6 to y8 and most HTs at secondary won't agree with it. Just food for thoughg

The decision taken by the admission authority, in our case the LA - there are no academies in our area. They can take the views of the head into account but the decision is ultimately theirs.

MM - I meant I was worried about him being big if he starts at 4 - he will not look like the youngest so will have more expectations. I would be less worried if he starts at 5 even if it means he's even bigger in comparison.

My gut is telling me we should do it. My other half is less certain, but coming round to it. I guess ours are the only opinions that matter

I would delay. Check thoroughly that the local authority will honour this into senior school too.

Head teachers are consulted by the Local Authority, that is how it works in practice. Nothing to do with academies.

You have the right legally to delay a summer born to start school but not to defer Reception. You need to prove exceptional grounds in most circumstances and as national offer day has gone by you might actually have missed the boat, however nobody can stop you delaying and your child starting in Y1 with his chronological peer group.

Have you considered that you'll have to go through it again for Secondary and as I said that's highly unlikely to be agreed?

Or what if you move to another LA? They don't have to honour the agreement.

Have you considered that once the child starts school, it becomes the HT decision on where they are educated so if they make progress the HT has the right to move them to the right class regardless of your wishes?

I'm not disagreeing with your wishes, I am just pointing out what the law actually says rather than what people think it says and I talk as someone who is involved in this for their occupation not someone who read a couple posts on a blog or a forum so thinks they know everything (as I so often see on here regarding any schooling)

loves - l am fully aware of what the law says. It is not black and white, and is interpreted differently by different LAs. Academies are their own admissions authority so they make decisions themselves, for LA schools the decision lies with the LA as the admissions authority. They can consult head teachers but they don't have to. I have already consulted with local admissions and they don't necessarily need heads to agree (as you don't know which school you would get allocated). Some LAs require exceptional circumstances, some will agree to any request to delay a summerborn, and some are in between. As I have said I have already consulted with the LA and they ask for reasons but do not require supporting documents form professionals or exceptional circumstances and a September due date has been enough in the past for them to agree, as have mild developmental delays.

In terms of secondary, or heads deciding to move kids up a year, they can only do this in consultation with parents, and they would have to show that it would be in the best interests of the child - I think anyone would be hard pressed to show that missing a year of school is in the best interest of a child. And in our area they allow children to continue with adopted cohort into secondary.

We have no plans to move, and if we did we would not move to a area where we couldn't continue with the agreement. With our jobs we can live anywhere in the country.

I have done my research, as I said, and this isn't just reading a few forum posts. I also used to work in education so do have an understanding of what is involved. Nick Gibb has already stated he wants to give parents of summerborns the automatic right to delay entry into reception, and has urged LAs to change their policies ahead of this.

We also haven't missed the boat. He is still 2, he is due to start September 2018, we want to delay in 2019, which was in my OP.

I'm in Scotland and deferred my January born Dd. Have never regretted it. She's 17 now and has done brilliantly all round.

Nick Gibb's proposals have not been accepted into law though. In my LA, for example, the admissions booklet states that deferral is at the discretion of the head teacher if the school. If it is permitted in your LA and you definitely aren't going to move, it shouldn't be a problem. I would probably try to get a written assurance from the LA that your DS will definitely be allowed to remain out of year for secondary school.

No I know they haven't, and LAs are still making their own rules. It's ridiculous. But I am lucky that I do appear to have the choice where I am.

Thanks all for the very helpful advice. I will try to stop second guessing myself!