Year change for my child

[avgoldsmith]

My son was born on the 23 August and the youngest of the class. I feel he is not ready at school he is in year 1 now and has sen needs, I want him to stay back a year but the teachers say it’s not a good idea is this true

My August born now teen woyld have been better kept back a year. It wasn't an option when she started school but I would keep her back if starting now. However now he's started I'm not sure. What's his social circle like? I have known kids repeat that first year but not swap back later. Could you change his school to drop him down the year (different kids). It's not as easy now he's in.

Unfortunately they are right. The decision to defer entry until the following year needed to be made before he started in Reception in order for him to be considered to be in that year group by the local authority. Now he has started, he will be expected to transfer to secondary school in September 2029 regardless of whether he's moved back a year now to support him. Essentially, he'll end up missing at year of primary if he went back to Reception now and continued to follow that cohort up. It will also affect the schools PAN numbers as he won't be officially registered in that year group, meaning if they currently have only one space in Reception it could eventually be filled by another child moving in to the area, as your child won't officially be enrolled in that year group, meaning he'll likely end up moved around back to his original year group again.

I believe that's right anyway. You need to meet with the SEN team and discuss how they can help your child in the year group he's in, and whether he's a candidate to be assessed for an EHCP if there are SEN needs.

Sorry it's not a simple fix for your boy :-(

It’s extremely unusual for a child to be kept back a year once they have started school. They are expected to move on with their peer group. The issue mainly comes when it’s time to move up to secondary as he would be expected to move with them and so at some point would need to rejoin them and will miss a year.
I’ve only ever had it happen twice in the whole of my 20 year teaching career. Both of those children had EHCPs. One ended up in specialist provision and one had to skip year 4 in order to rejoin his peers and prepare to transition to secondary.

DD is now in Year 1, reception last year. 2 boys from the reception year group didn't move with their peer group into Y1. However, they're both non-verbal so not sure if this might be why?

Join Flexible School Admissions for Summer borns on Facebook. Ask your question there. There’s some really great members with such knowledge about the system. They will be able to advise.

private schools allow this.
you know your child best, certainly advocate for them if you feel this is in his/her best interest.

A child in my school repeated their reception year. It helped him a lot.