Scotland deferral

[othellooo]

My son will be 5 in July 2023 so due to start primary one in August. He has been at nursery for two years but missed a huge amount due to his chronic illness. I really want to defer him but unsure if it would even be considered. Does anyone have any idea if it's likely due to health reasons? I've asked the question to the relevant people in the school and nursery and waiting to hear back but wanted to see if anyone had any experience of this

Never heard of a July birthday being deferred esp. as your DC will be 5 before the start of the school term it may be challenging to get a deferral. The council shd put in provisions to help your DC if needed.

It's normally January and February birthdays that would get deferred as they are only 4½ years old at that point. Maybe there would be a case for deferral for the later months of the year but I'm not sure that a July birthday would be considered for it. All you can do is ask I suppose.

From 2023 any child with a 5th birthday on or after the first day of term in August can be deferred and automatically granted an extra years funding. I think a numbers of councils are rolling this out as a new policy.

But OP's child wouldnt fall under that if they are 5 in July so would already be 5 when starting school.

He'll be towards the middle/older end of the class as a July birthday, as not all of the January/February birthdays defer.

I'd be surprised if deferring would be allowed - there is a lot of flexibility in curriculum within classes though, much less rigid than in England (where children his age would be going into their second year of school).

I was just putting out the new policy for a Stirling Council as context. As deferral will be easier you’ll likely see a shift to more children outside Jan - Feb bring deferred.

Since my DC started there are def more Nov/Dec.

So overtime a July birthday could become the youngest rather than middle.

There is no harm in asking. Ask for criteria from council, try health visitor too

Would also read through the GIRFEC documents and frame your request using that .

Good luck

My sister had to fight a couple of years ago to defer my nephew's school place and he's a December birthday. It was due to illness as well. At one point they even told her she would need to fund the additional year at nursery!

The new rules for this year are that any child who is under 5 when the new session begins in August, can defer. This would obviously not include your child but there is no harm in asking.

In Scotland, school early years learning is now play based, so I wouldn't be too worried about him missing a lot of nursery to be honest.

I’m wondering the same for my DD, she’s showing a few developmental delays (also health related) and I’m keen to defer her although she will be 5 well before the term starts.
I’m meeting the nursery next week and we’re going to talk it through. They have mentioned getting extra help for her, so not sure if that’s to try and bring her up to speed rather than thinking she needs another year to catch up.
Anyway your nursery is probably your first port of call to see what they think.

Thanks for all the replies! I had a meeting with them yesterday and the nursery and head teacher believe it will be approved (which was a pleasant surprise) so I feel a lot more relaxed about it now