SN DD, Composite YR/Y1 class, straight reception, or half Reception half Nursery?

[NotMamaBearMamaPigeon]

DD is turning 4 soon, starts school in September. She is developmentally delay in all areas but only by around 6-8 months. She also has periods where she appears "normal" and then will stall again for awhile and get behind. She doesn't struggle at Nursery, is able to focus on activities and while delayed the Nursery say she copes with the environment (Private Day Nursery).

She's not legally required to be at school until September 2020 due to where her birthday falls so the school are offering me some flexibility on where to "put" her from September.

The options are:

1. Go into a composite YR/Y1 class - They want to mix the younger Y1s with the older YRs
2. Go into the reception class
3. Go into the reception class but spend part of the day or week in Nursery

The school will be a completely new environment for her, and it's so hard as i don't want to inadvertently make her situation worse. The classes will be no bigger than 25 pupils per class no matter which option I go for. All reception pupils (between 40 and 50 expected so far) will get together for a Reception only Assembly once a week, and they will also all do PE and Forest School together twice a week.

I am leaning towards option 2 and seeing how she manages but maybe her going into Nursery if we find some things she's not quite ready for in Reception?

HT is completely flexible and guided by me and DD (lucky I know) so if there might be another option I can discuss with her that we haven't thought of I am open to ideas.

Thoughts please.

Extra info: I have no-one else to ask, I am separated from her dad and he doesn't care what class she goes into as I chose the school (he wanted her to go somewhere else but as the RP I got to decide) and he won't have anything to do with it petty I know

If she doesn’t need to start school until 2020 is there a reason she needs to start this September? Personally I’d give her an extra year in nursery and start school in 2020.

I can't afford to keep her in the private preschool for one and two because when I spoke to the council about delayed entry they stated she'd go into year 1 in any school in the area with spaces, which could be disastrous at least this way I have some control

The first thing to recognise is that this is also for the convenience of the school. They have to abide by the infant class size regulations which limits the number of infant pupils to 30 with one school teacher. I would expect that the PAN is 45, which invariably means having a reception class of 30 and a mixed class of reception / year 1. The option for a pupil to spend sometime in the nursery early on in their school career is quite common.
Option 1 is a non-starter for me, why would you put her with the elder children when you are talking development delay.
I would go for the reception class option and if your daughter is finding it difficult then you can discuss the option of time in nursery as and when necessary. Many children with the kind of delay your daughter has will suddenly catch up and as such I think assuming there will be an issue is making an unnecessary barrier for you and your child.

PAN is 60 but they have a very low application rate so only have 43 set to start in September.

I would probably go with the reception class full time to try and give her the best chance to settle and be with the same children all the time rather than half reception and half nursery. The reception teacher should be capable of handling all abilities including children with the kind of delay your DD has. And they already sound like they’re on board with supporting her which is great!

I definitely wouldn’t choose the composite Y1/reception class in this case as they’ve said it’s aimed at the older YR children and yours sounds like one of the younger ones, plus the additional delay.

But I would keep open to the option of her spending time in nursery if you and the school feel it’s in her best interests at the time.

I am leaning towards option 2 and seeing how she manages but maybe her going into Nursery if we find some things she's not quite ready for in Reception?

This sounds like the best option to me. Realistically if she is summer born and has delays she won't keep up with the mixed YR/Y1 class. Starting her late is a bad idea as she'd then skip reception, which will make starting school much harder.

Would the nursery option be at her current nursery or a new one? If its her current one that might be a good transition but if its a new one you'd be expecting her to settle in to two brand new settings at once which I think is a lot for any child.

Alternatively could she start out having a longer transition period? So she does say mornings the first couple of weeks and comes home/goes to her current nursery at the start of lunch, next couple weeks she stays til the end of lunch, then some afternoons, until she has built up to full time?

It'd be in the school Nursery class, but could talk to her current Nursery about them taking her back instead possibly, they have a before and after school club that collects from this school and i know of a few children currently at the nursery who do mornings at school and afternoons with Nursery so I can't see it being a problem.

As she's summer born, you can apply to defer her place for a whole year, and start in Reception in September 2020. It's up to the headteacher to give permission to do this, but it seems like your dd's head teacher is very flexible.

I can't afford another year in Preschool for her so deferring won't actually help me, I have to work to support ourselves and over half my income per month goes on Childcare - I mean theoretically I could afford it but I was banking on that extra money per month for extra curricular or just a bit of a buffer which I currently don't have. There is school Nurseries here but of 5 schools in the area only 2 schools have preschools, and that covers 60 places across the two (The 5 schools take 150-200 children in Reception between them so there's a massive difference between numbers of children and actual places most children here do the preschool year in private childcare).

You continue to get the 15/30 hours until they start school.
With a 6m delay is they are aug they would be like a 3.5yo in a class with 4-5yo. If deferred they would be a 5yo like 4.5yo in with 4-5yo.
I would consider what the delays are.

Even with the 30 hours I currently get I cannot continue to afford to keep her in Nursery, she goes 3.5 days a week, Nursery claim the funding between 8 and 12am and 1 and 4pm. I have to pay for her to be in from 7.30-8am (x4), 12-1pm (x3) and 4-6pm (x3), plus her meals. It costs me over £300 a month still. I can afford it, but that's over half my income (work+UC+CB) which could be used to help her elsewhere. I could switch her to packed lunches but she loves the food, plus it saves me a job 3 days a week as they give her a proper hot meal.

Delays are Speech and Fine and Gross Motor. She struggles Socially but does have friends she just doesn't really lead games or initiate them. She's also tiny for her age, she looks like a 2 year old. There is a slight learning delay but this is more to do with the motor skills being delayed. She's deaf in one ear as well which could be delaying her speech (still in a battle to hopefully get her a hearing aid) and adding to the slight learning delay.

HT won't put her into the Nursery class without it being alongside Reception as if she stayed with the younger children she'd skip a year further up the school to move with her peers (long story as to why this isn't suitable), so we'd have to go along the council deferment route which would mean she could end up anywhere in the county.

Birthday in June. She loves Nursery despite her issues, skips in in the morning, and comes out happy at night, all photos I've seen taken by both Nursery and other parents attending events show a happy child. We think with the right balance we can achieve the same at school.

Reception makes the most sense to me. Bring part time in nursery means she'd need to get to know 2 sets of children, 2 sets of rules and routines, and 2 sets of staff would need to get to know her. Friendships could be impacted by her being absent from each class. All this for a child who might need a bit of a leg up on this stuff, not an extra hurdle. None of it's a showstopper, but it all weighs against any benefits of her time in the nursery group.

The mixed YR/Y1 class will be perfect for her in a year. It could be a really great school for her.

It could be a really great school for her.

The way the HT is being about it all I am positive it's going to be a great school, they're so flexible and happy to help, which is massive as I am so worried about this.

Have sent an email off to the HT asking for her to be put into the Reception class with the view that if she's struggling we'll discuss and rethink if/when she spends time in Nursery class. Have CCed the current Nursery SENCO in with a bit about potentially increasing her part time weeks until half term if it can be accommodated.

Best of luck to her and to you Mamapigeon

Update:

Classes have been issued.

DD has been put in the Year R class and has been put with an experienced teacher (been teaching 10 years + been at this school for over 5 years) whose moving from further up the school down to Reception - she taught Reception a few years ago but moved further up the school and is now moving back again.

Think this is going to be a good year for DD!

Great news. Let us know how she gets on!