Delaying school for summer born.

[Pastnowfuture]

I would like to delay school for my summer born son but I've found the government documents difficult to follow.

Even the basics are confusing me at this point so if anyone could help I'd be really grateful.

1. Do I apply at the normal time even though I want him to start 12 months later?
2. Who decides whether we can delay or not?
3. I would like him to start in reception not year 1 and stay with this cohort throughout education. Who decides this?
4. What is the starting point- should I be speaking to schools to see if they allow it?

Plenty of people here will tell you not to, but if this is what you think is best for your child, then you should.

Depending on where you live it’s not always easy. There is a very supportive group on Facebook called “Flexible Admissions for Summer Born Children” full of people who can advise, and will probably have people from your area who can give specific information too.

I sent my son at age 5 (starting in reception) and it’s the best decision we ever made for him.

Also to point out there is a lot of misinformation out there, and schools often don’t understand the admissions code. People will tell you that your child will have to miss a year at some point, or that they will have to do their SATS in year 5 - not true.

Please do join the group, it’s very helpful.

Speak to LA about the process. Apply on time but discuss potential deferral. Ultimately it is up to the school but you may also need to ask LA about secondary transfer. It might exclude your ds from applying for selective schools for example, or some other state secondaries.

Where you live is the main factor.

Where I am, you speak to heads at the ‘normal’ time to get their agreement to accept an application out of year the following year, and then apply a year ‘late’. Every head I spoke to agreed.

If you use FB, join the group up thread.

Would definitely advise you to join the Facebook group or website ‘summer born campaign’ loads of really good supportive information. If you think it’s best for your child go for it, but you do have to grow a thick skin listening to the opinions of others.

Your first step is to talk to the admission authorities - that is your LA for community and VC schools, the school itself for all other types of school. They decide whether you are allowed to delay entry for a year. They cannot have a blanket policy - they must consider what is best for your child. Some admission authorities will agree to any request, others will only agree if there is significant evidence of delayed development.

If the admission authorities agree to your request, you will not need to apply at the normal time. You will apply 12 months later. You would only apply at the normal time if you wanted to defer entry by less than a full year.

2020 government advice can be found here www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission should answer some questions.

Echoing what others have said, the group is excellent. What i found useful (London) was you can search on specific areas/councils and make connections with those who were going through the same process or who had already. There's also a lot of useful templates plus i was helped by one of the supporters there and easily got the deferral with no real reasons other than prematurity. I didn't end up deferring as an excellent school became available last minute so i couldn't turn it down but my children seem to be doing well regardless (August born).

@Pastnowfuture i visited schools and informally chatted to headteachers to get their feedback on whether they were ok with starting at 5 in Reception. You apply for deferral to the council, get that, then apply normally for school then reject the place. Then reapply for the following year. For me, the local authority decided. This was for Barnet., London.

Thank you everyone. This is so helpful.