Hold child back in Reception

[shellbells12]

My 4yo is in reception. He is an August baby and also has epilepsy. When he began having seizures at 2yo he regressed in his development by 6 months but once medicated he has been thriving, he has been seizure free for 1 year and is learning well, is very social and loves being outdoors. He most definitely is neurodiverse, but is too young for a diagnosis- he gets assessed / checked every 8 months as a result of his epilepsy. We noticed since he started school that he is about 6 months behind where he should be in terms of academic ability. He is just learning to write his name. And can only recognize a handful of letters in the alphabet- he has been in school since he was 3 and is finishing reception in July.
I think if he repeats reception that he will be in a better position to thrive as he gets older in school.
The school have been amazing at providing lots of support for him and are offering to continue that all the way through, but I think he is an August baby, and with his diagnoses that maybe treating him like he is 6 months younger would be better:
my only worry is that he will miss 1-2 friends that are in his class- but we can maintain those friendships outside of school.

I would love to get some advice, has anyone been in this situation? What was the impact on your child?

I think I would go with what the school thinks tbh.
Most primary schools are quite flexible these days so will give children work based on their ability rather than age so just because he's in year one he might still be doing work at the same level as reception, similarly the more advanced kids in reception will be doing year 1 work.
There's a massive range of abilities and maturity levels at that age and it's not always the summer babies that don't do as well. So I don't think it matters much what year they're officially in, he might as well progress with his friends.

Is he on an EHCP pathway? It isn't clear from what you have said so far? Are you expecting him to get an EHCP?

Children should not be moved out of chronological age without a good reason. Look at the reception deferral guidance (not relevant as he has already started but it gives broad advice)

www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission/summer-born-children-starting-school-advice-for-parents

SEND is not a compelling reason to move a child out of year group. As academies are their own admission authorities there is a real and probably increasing chance that he will go from Year 6 to Year 8 (or Y5 to Year 7 but that it less likely). You will not be able to get a reassurance on this now- as admissions can be changed in the future.

If school readiness has been delayed by a medical condition or developmental delays that may have been a reason to defer last year but is less compelling once children have started school.

Educational outcomes for out of chronological age pupils at GCSE are not good (but that may be SEND related as the data doesn't really look at that). They can leave school when 16 and so some (many) don't complete GCSEs before leaving.

If you are looking for an EHCP and/or specialist that can be harder as they will be seeing the child with younger children, rather than with their peers and so the evidence for an EHCP MAY (and I stress MAY be weaker).

4 is not too young for assessment and diagnosis for many conditions. Have you pushed for assessment?

The main consideration is probably whether he will be accessing mainstream until the age of 16 or going to specialist (unit in mainstream or special)

Requests/suggestions to keep a child in reception would typically come from the LA SEND team and not from a school (unless the school had asked them for advice). If a parent requests then the school would typically seek advice from the LA SEND team and make a decision based upon that. In many ways it is a much bigger decision than asking to defer a reception place prior to starting.

I agree, it really annoys me when people say always defer a July/August baby! I'm a July baby and dod great at school thanks, I was quite mature for my age and would have been extremely bored if kept back an extra year!
Similarly my best friend was an August baby and is a doctor now, got straight As at A level

Your LA will probably have guidance- an example is attached

It will probably say that they child should be back in their chronological age by the end of they key stage and/or that it will be for only 1 year etc.

https://www.havering.gov.uk/downloads/file/1593/guidance_on_the_education_of_children_out_of_their_chronological_year_group.pdf

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/12582/FINAL-Children-out-of-chronological-year-guidance-26092022.pdf

Thank you for all this information, the school and I have been discussing this for months and I’m confident that we will be within “process” - which may result in him continuing into year 1.
My son has so much support from medical and educational experts so they will ensure we do the right thing for him.
My question was to ask from the social side regarding friends etc when I have the choice to make. Appreciate all this information, it will be super helpful for other parents looking at this thread!

Thank you, at the Easter parent teacher meeting I was given homework that he cannot do, and I asked for more specific/ achievable homework for him- the teacher advised that the work I was given was nursery level and that the expectation is he would have it before coming to reception.
there is a very mixed level of ability in his class and I totally get that they do their best to support all levels! Honestly the school has been amazing!

I get that, my brother is July and one of the cleverest people I know. I shared the month because that combined with my son’s epilepsy regression I was explaining he may just be a “Feb baby” ( 6 months forward) but I could be wrong- he might never catch up/ be able to learn in the conventional sense. The possibility to give him another year to learn to learn made me hopeful!

I disagree with a lot of Sleightly's links.
One is from 2017.
Kids dont have to move up at the end of key stage. Im sure the latest info was it would be unusual so only if it was in the child's interest.

Any new school does have to agree though (or la).

I think its ridicu!ous to refer to lower expectations affecting summer borns in year below when some are days older...

My csa child exceeded in ks1 sat for maths. Their sibling only just passed.

Schools may be able to adjust the work --but how exactly would that help.a child who is then further behind their class.

That is the current guidance for that LA. The legislation hasn't changed since then and so no need to update any guidance. Most LAs have guidance- I chose the 1st 2 that came up but they all have something- whether on line or not.

The other is the DfE current guidance?

What exactly do you disagree with?

Some more
https://www.leeds.gov.uk/schools-and-education/school-admissions/starting-school-later-or-part-time/start-school-later-or-part-time

https://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/file/8581/guidance-out-of-cohort-january-2022

https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/education-and-learning/school-admissions/guiding-you-through-admissions-process/making-request-admission-out-normal-age-group#:~:text=If%20your%20child%20is%20not,one%20full%20academic%20year%20later.

I'm not a fan of the trend to delay July/August children from starting school in general. I don't think creating a wider age range in a class is a good thing as then the June children just become the new August children. I support it in the case of prematurity and developmental delay however.

In this situation, I would agree that it's best for the child to restart reception as one of the eldest. He sounds like he is at the developmental level of a nursery aged child, and many nursery children starting this September will have already overtaken him.

I have some friends whose children are in the current nursery class who are also “summer babies” so a year younger than my son and they can write their own names and recognise numbers to 10, which my son cannot do- however he keeps making progress every few weeks we see some new development and we are so happy for him- we do have a tutor once a week at home and we are learning how best to help him learn! I’m ever hopeful!