August born child - starting school at 4 or 5?

[August21yellowbaby]

My son was born in august. Meaning when he starts school he will only JUST of turned 4. Whilst some of his class mates could be close to turning 6

I feel quite strongly about not sending him to school until he is 5 but my questions are

How hard is it to defer ?

Will there be any negatives of holding him back a year?

I don't want him to miss reception but I know on gov website it states they won't miss reception they will just start reception the next year

And will it affect when I do his high school application?

Hoping someone with experience can fill me in 😊

You can start him part time you know, or after Jan. Children don't legally have to be in school until the term after they turn 5, you may have to push but you could if felt was in DS best interested.

My daughter was a June baby and v young for her age so when she started reception (2019) she started on a four day week and we felt that she was ready to go full time (she asked too) after the Oct half term.

I had no problems from her school when I asked, they said not many people did it but we were welcome too. Her teacher just made sure they didn't cover anything new on a Friday so she didn't miss out.

It was def the right decision for her. But my third is an Aug baby (6th) and so will have just turned 4 by the Sept , and he will be totally ready to start school next sept. But I wouldn't have been able to make that judgement re him a year ago. Very much depends on the individual child.

Transferring from the Scottish system to English, I jumped from primary school straight into year 8. It was London Boroughs policy not to allow defer in secondary except for SEN. So it is possible that this may happen to OPs DS.

My school were really helpful but I did need some catch-up classes, and some of my teachers and peers made me feel stupid (I won my primary school's Dux medal for top of school and passed my 11+, so not so), but I ran behind in some subjects all the way through. So from personal experience, I would not recommend. (My sister, September born, had the luxury of being put back a year, as she had gone to school early in the first place.)

I think you need to look at your own child. If they are showing signs of being slower at grasping things or developmentally behind it may be best to defer. But failing that, im certainly wouldn't (and didn't) i would have been doing our DS a massive disservice keeping him back, he would have been so bored. He is thriving.
But it depends on the child.

My son is August-born and he only attended Reception very part-time as he wasn't emotionally ready for school. I was on the fortunate position at the time to be working only one day a week as a primary teacher.
I strongly believe children start school far too early in the UK.
In terms of what he's achieved... he's taking 4 A-Levels and predicted grades good enough for both Oxford and Cambridge so don't think it's done him any harm!
To add, I also separated from his dad when he was 6 but like heck was that going to get in the way ❤️
I don't accept that summer-born children always struggle to achieve!