Advice needed for a June born 2015 Child

[Hkelaine]

Hi all,

We are moving form abroad to the country. We plan to move-in in Jan 2020. We are purchasing a property, which is very close to our target primary school, and we expect the purchase will be completed around Christmas time this year.

Our child was born in June 2015. At the time when she moves to U.K. in Jan 2020, she will be 4year and 7month old. As far as we understand, child at this age would normally started his Reception Year in Sep 2019. However, we are thinking which options below will be the best for her benefits when we submit the admission application in Jan 2020:

A) apply for in-year application for Reception Year 2018-2019. However, she will likely miss our targeted school as the waiting list is full according the school.

B) apply for a late start for summer born child. Then apply for Reception Year intake for 2020-2021. She is not properly undergoing education in English in our home country. So, a fresh start in Reception Year will be beneficial to her. And, we can almost guarantee a place for the target school.

Would you kindly advise which option is more sound? We are leaning to option B. However, as the purchase procedure will only be completed in Dec 2019, we are not sure what kind of address proof will be available by 15 Jan 2020. Will a purchase contract satisfy the admission requirement? If not, what is the quickest way to obtain an address proof?

Will appreciate any advice. Thanks again.

There is a group on Facebook called Flexible School Admissions for Summer Borns. I would definitely ask your question there to get some advice on Option B as it's unfortunately it's not as easy to just get e deferred start. A lot of school and councils are not keen to accept this and there are steps you need to take to ensure your child has that option available to them. In terms of your question...if there is any chance to start in reception rather than in Year I would definitely go for that!

You need agreement from the LA for a CSA start. That would cover their schools but not academy VA or VC etc.
Academy etc ones need HT and agreement from the academy. VA/VC ones that would be HT and governors.
I think many LA want you to have agreement from the HT and then you only can apply to those schools.

So you need to find out what the school you want is. Then likely get agreement from HT in writing.
Then either LA/governors or academy etc.
So basically i would get in yr r 2019 wait list. As there is no guarantees (unless you are in a very permissive la and its one of their schools.)
Even for next yr 2020 admission it's early jan by which time you would have had to have had agreements for all the schools. (Bear in mind no school will be in from 20th dec to almost deadline.). You have a month- but it can take that longto get a response at all from schools.

@LoveWine123 hi, it is actually the Southfield Park Primary school in Epsom. Do you think it is doable for starting late for reception for 2020/21?

@Hkelaine Sorry, I don't know this particular school, but if you join the Facebook group you can ask for advice specifically for the Epsom area. You will need to speak to the council and the HT to get agreement.

@LoveWine123 @Awkward1 - thanks both. I have contacted the council can hope to find the best solution for our child.

Btw, can anyone advice on the address proof? Assuming we can complete the purchase around Xmas time. How can we obtain an acceptable address proof for the application deadline on Jan 15?

You need to ask the council what they will accept. Exchange of contracts is usually sufficient but they will advise you what is best to have in your situation.

The deadline of January 15th is only if you’re going for a reception place for the following September. If you’re are going for her to start straight away in her correct year group for her age then this deadline does not apply.

If it is in year application the deadline would not apply as you are looking for a reception place to start before September 2020. Deferrals are normally agreed in the year you would usually apply ie early 2019 and are still unusual. It might be worth having several potentially acceptable schools in mind as the likelihood of a specific one having a space is small. You can still join a waiting list and may even be placed higher than some of those already on it if you, for example, lived closer, but what would you do while waiting possibly indefinitely for a place?

I think it's worth sending her of you feel she will enjoy it. To be honest it's all play play play. It's like a nursery where my DD goes. Sand, water, painting, reading, role play, abit of phonics and reading etc etc.

My child's a Feb baby and she has just started. She was tired. She does come home sometimes and is tired. She just wants food and Tele. She sometimes gets like that still 2 months on but often is quite happy. She comes home and roleplays being a teacher for hours. She loves the school dinners etc. She's not daunted by anything really but she is shy! She's one of the quieter ones and needs lots of reminders of where to go and what to do. She's slow at learning the routine. So I. Glad she's gone before her 5th birthday as I think she needed the routine and stuff. She was at nursery a little bit but was home the rest of the time. I could tell home was no longer enough for her. She needed to socialise and play and explore more. If you think your child needs a little longer then there's no harm holding her back a year.

I expect some summer babies are still more confident and picking it up faster than my shy winter baby x

Just check the application dates for deferal. I think you need to apply at the correct time, and defer the place. Not just apply 12 months later. I think you are looking at an in year application, so the Jan deadline doesnt apply.

Council tax bill for proof of address. Will you need this with the application??? We didnt need to submit it with the actual application.