Delayed admission for summer born child

[SanaImran]

Advise please. My little one will be three in August. I don’t feel he will be ready for school and would like for him to have a delayed start at compulsory school age but still in reception year. Has anyone done this successfully? Any tips on how to get about it.
We live in Suffolk so any local knowledge would be really useful. Asking now so have plenty of time to get organised.
Many thanks.

You need to speak to your LA as a delayed start in my area just means you go straight into Year 1 and miss reception completely.

They are not allowed to have a blanket policy...

Lots of us have done it successfully. There is a Facebook group called flexible admissions for summer borne. So much advice and guidance there.

Starting at 5 for summerborns DOES NOT always mean going into year 1. That is misinformation, often sent out by local authorities.

Do you understand that there are two different routes to this. You can firstly apply to the LA to get agreement not to take up a reception place in the September you would normally which would be 2020 but actually apply for places in reception for 2021. That needs to be agreed with the LA and different LAs as Coldilox has indicates have very different views on allowing this.
The other alternative is that you apply for a place in 2020 when your son would be one of the youngest in the year group but you then when a place has been offered and accepted defer entry until either January 2021 or Easter 2021. You can do this as you do not have to start at school until the term your child is 5.
You are right to assume that your son may, as one of the youngest in the year group, not be ready for school but you are talking about 18 months time and their development over this time may surprise you.

I live in Suffolk.

My friend delayed her son starting school due to his autism and they had a lot of changes going on at that time, he wouldn't have coped well.

He did two terms of reception to get used to the school structure and then moved into year one.

She did homeschool him for the first year though, he was able to read when he started.