Has anyone deferred their summer born child’s school starting year?

[StopGrowingPlease]

My child was born at the end of August so will be due to start school just after he turns 4. I am really not happy with this and I don’t want him to start school until he is 5. From what I have read it seems that I have every right to keep him out of school for the extra year but that he might have to go straight to year 1.
This makes no sense to me at all. I don’t want him to start almost a year younger than he has to and skipping a year isn’t going to help that at all. It would make it so much worse. Reception is a really important experience and I want him to start at the appropriate stage in his development…
He is only 18 months old at the moment but I would apparently have to apply for the deferral when he is 3 in case it isn’t accepted 😩
He is behind on his communication development as he isn’t saying any words yet and I just want him to have the best possible start to school by having as much chance to catch up and develop before he starts 🤷‍♀️

I just wanted to say that I can assure you that won't happen. My summer born DD will start reception this coming September and has come on a lot in the last year - as all children do. I know a few people who made this decision with older children and all of them stated how much more mature and independent their child was a year later. I'm not suggesting that children don't learn new skills and so on in school obviously but just that if they stay at nursery an extra year, they definitely wont 'stay' acting younger or anything. If anything I think being the oldest in the room at nursery has had the opposite effect on my DD.

Can confirm it is your right to defer and you do not need to have one of the reasons a previous poster suggested.

Dd was deferred because I wanted her to be. No other reason. She wasn't behind, prem or dealing with any extenuating circumstances.

Never ever regretted it.

11+ and grammar applications weren't difficult either.

Yes we delayed. They went into reception. Then moved school and stayed "out of cohort". It just wasn't an issue, and can't think why you wouldn't delay.

I think with delaying you have to think about not just the child they are now but the 11 / 16 /18 year old.

Ds1 is summer born and also had a speech disorder. Looking at him now as a 16 year old doing 4 a levels at grammar I am really glad I did not delay him a year.

I deferred my August child. I'm not from the UK and feel they start very young here anyway, and the stats show on balance the summer born kids struggle more.

Of course that won't be every child, but anecdotally I know a few summer born adults who struggled at school and in hindsight feel delay would have helped. And I was thinking longer term, reception may have been fine but if they don't find it easy to "catch up", I didn't want them always feeling behind and this impacting how they felt about school

Our Borough is very accepting and I just had to apply via the LA.

I think a year of maturity when doing life changing exams is only a good thing.

Plus they have more sixth form options due to being able to drive earlier.

For me I can see no disadvantage and only benefits from offsetting but appreciate there might be something I’m missing. More formative education and more play is always a good thing in my mind.

In hindsight I wish I had. DS is a July baby, and is very bright and academically able. When we asked his nursery teacher if we should, she said "I wouldn't, he'd be bored."

Thing is, as bright as he is, he's also very sensitive and emotional. He coped well in Reception, but in Y1 he transformed from the sweet, happy, friendly little boy he'd always been to a very sad, anxious child who lacked confidence and self-esteem. So sudden and dramatic was the change that I actually went to our GP to rule out anything medical.

He's also been periodically bullied throughout school, and the school hasn't been great at dealing with it. Of course this may have happened anyway, but a year later he may have had more resources to cope with it.

Finally, there are two and a half years between him and his big sister, but only 2 school years, so he'll be sitting GCSEs at the same time she's taking A Levels. Another year would've meant we don't have to split our focus in supporting them.

So yes, I wish I had held him back a year, and regret not doing so.

Summer borns “on average” do worse, but not massively, and certainly not all of them. My August born is thriving, and my October born is struggling.

I think it's heavily child dependent. My daughter is one of the youngest but was very ready for school
and has excelled. However if she hadn't been thriving at nursery I would've considered deferring

One of my kids was born hours before the cut off, and we decided to defer entry. They are now having support with their learning at school and, while it may not have been worse if we hadn't deferred, I think I would have felt bad if we hadn't and we had then seen them struggle. I am comforted that we have done what we could.

The one potential downside is that children born before 1 September are excluded from certain sporting events when they get older, and schools can be really inflexible on this. Not an issue for most but just so you are aware, if you have a sporty child or are a sporty family.

Our son is exactly the same, the youngest siblings and very happy being 'the baby'. Did you defer in the end?

No we didn't and he coped really well. It was a good decision for him and he loves school.

I'm a summer baby and I'm glad I wasn't deferred. I won't be deferring my summer baby daughter. I never struggled at school. I was more immature than the autumn born children, but summer babies are usually fine by KS2.

He's still having potty accidents though. He's 3.5 now. Should deferral be based on this?

No

I have 4 summer born and one born in January. My eldest is 18 so deferring wasn't really a thing when he was 4. He did very well academically but struggled a bit emotionally and socially. He was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome aged 9. He decided to have a gap year before university so he could be a bit more mature and have some money saved before he went.

My 16 year old was part time in reception until Easter. He did really well with that and he is now at college doing a levels.

My 11 year old has learning disabilities and preschool recommend we defer him. We thought long and hard but decided not to. He has just started secondary school and absolutely loves it.

My 10 year old struggles emotionally and socially. He is fine academically. He is in year 6 and is looking forward to starting secondary school next year.

Deferral wasn't right for any of my dc. I also think 18 months is to young to tell whether it's right or not. But I've known some dc who it has been right to defer. I also did year 12 twice and that was absolutely right for me.