Summer born children, delay school start year?

[Sunshinelife9891]

Hiya!

Looking for other people's thoughts / experiences, please. We have been told that our child can start school in 2026, rather than 2025 because they are summer born (June). The school has said they will join reception in 2026, and so will carry on their school journey in the school year under where they would ordinarily have been able to join.

Has anyone done this, and is your child now older and in hindsight would you still have made the same decision to delay the start year?

We haven't specific reasons, not developmental etc, more just having the choice, supporting the child from an emotional POV etc. Our child will continue to attend nursery until attending school.

Thanks!

Yes we did, and don't regret it yet (though dc is only yr 7).

Opinion on here is quite polarised going off previous threads. There's a fb group which is a mine of info (though admittedly quite biased).

I chose not to as my dd was definitely ready for school and would have been sad to wait another year and would've been bored of nursery. I think it depends on the individual child, you probably know them best so what do you think will be most beneficial for them?

I've done it for one child and decided against it for another.

Quite simply one was ready and the other wasn't.

They're both high school age now and it's proven to have been the right call for each of them.

I definitely wouldn’t if no delays or concerns.

I think it’s good that we have this flexibility, but I don’t think it’s something that should be done ‘just because.’ I honestly think a June born, normally developing child would be bored and held back by mid autumn.

My children are both the youngest in their classes and they were more than ready for school. They would have been bored to have been held back. I was born prematurely in August myself and wasn’t held back and never had a moment where it would have been beneficial.

It such an individual decision - we were undecided for DS (August baby) but eventually decided not to defer. For him, it’s been absolutely the right decision and he was so ready for school. He absolutely loves it. He also has a friend who was deferred a year and I can absolutely see it was the right decision for her.

Interesting to read as im in this position now.

I delayed my Aug born son he's in year 6 now.

haven't had any issues with getting High school place but I'm worried he could be bullied if kids become aware he could of been in the year above .

my daughter is 3 in July and I dont think we will defer her as she's a totally different temprement.

I have a summer born boy. He was more than ready for school and we had no major concerns developmentally .

He was 'behind' with his reading level at the end of reception and really struggled with phonics, I remember being concerned at the end of the term how far he was behind the expected levels.

He's in Y1 now and he's come on leaps and bounds in this year. He's very strong and ahead in maths and his reading is where it should be, he's made a huge amount of progress and caught up to the early bloomers.

You might notice a difference in the maturity in the younger years, but it will become less and less obvious as they grow up. I wouldn't hold back if you don't have any other concerns developmentally.

My boy is a summer born due to start September 25 but we have delayed.

Opinion is divided but for me I couldn’t see any downside. I want to give him the platform to thrive, and not have to work super hard to just attain average grades through. I fault of his own. He is very clever but socially the other children have almost a year on him and I worry about him being bullied, thus impacting on his overall happiness.

i looked at the attainment levels and overall satisfaction from school, and the other statistics and it totally swayed me. I also get another year of my boy before to goes into school so we can make more memories!

My eldest is an aug baby. I didn’t defer him as it wasn’t an option. If it had been I probably would have because he had a speech delay at 3. I’m glad it wasn’t an option though because he’s about a foot taller than most of his year and would have really really stood out in the year below. He’s also doing fine academically and physically. He plays football with lots of his school friends outside of school in a team. If he was deferred, he wouldn’t have been able to be in the same team as school mates in the deferred year and I think that would have upset him. I think if you can see your child isn’t ready then defer but if they seem fine then just keep them in their normal school year. June isn’t that young in the year so I’d be leaning towards not deferring. It would be different if they were late August.

Being the oldest in a class is always an advantage vs. being the youngest.

Totally agree!! I think the statistics on bullying comparing older children to the younger ones was evident of that too.

We also have this, despite the summer birthday , physically my son is much taller and bigger than the vast majority of his year group.He would have stood out even more if we kept him back a year.

I didn’t but we had no issues or concerns about being ready and they are getting on very well at school.

This is interesting.
My DC in also June born.
Aged 10 now, in year 6.
I absolutely agonised over them starting school aged 4.
They weren't ready. Not emotionally, not developmentally, just not at all.
They've struggled with the pace of work through primary school, and never settled at school until about year 5.
They are going to secondary school in 4 months time, which feels wrong given that they are still as we speak only 10 years old.
I have spent a long, long time regretting not delaying their school start by a year.
Looking back to when DC was aged 4, by far the right thing for them at that point would have been to delay them by a year.
BUT fast forward to now, and my DC is socially and emotionally soooo far ahead of the year group below them. I mean, so far ahead. She is bang on track socially and emotionally with her friends and peers in their current year group. And if I'd held them back a year, they would now be in the year group below, and honestly, they'd be like a fish out of water in comparison to the children in the year below.
I also know 2 boys whose mother geld them back a year due to being summer babies.
Now in school years 7 and 9, they are constantly asking their DM why she thought they were so stupid/thick that she felt she had to hold them back a year, it's become a very serious source of consternation between them, the boys want to go up to the school years they 'should' be in, but their school won't allow it now because they can't just move up a year and skip a year of learning. It's creating quite a sizeable issue for these boys.

DS1 would have benefited in early primary from the academic side of things. But since the middle of primary, he has actually flown. Holding him back would have been detrimental for most of his schooling.

But that is a hard thing to judge when you only know a 3 year old version of your child.

Can you chat to nursery about their thoughts?

I had a summer born before you got this option and I wouldn’t have taken it , she was perfectly ready to go to school . I also had a summer holiday birthday and it was never an issue being the youngest for me aside from when lots of people had already passed the driving tests before I could legally even start . I know on a previous thread about this there was a lot of debate as to where it left you in age group sport / school teams etc , which may be worth considering .

For all the anecdotes about children who would have struggled if they'd been 'held back' - the margins are only a couple of months.

If a child is advanced/ tall/ confident and Sept born, no-one worries they'll be disadvantaged by going to school 'early' - it's just accepted that they're advantaged by being the oldest.

It's so hard to know at 3 years how dc will turn out. We deferred both dc - one now has a diagnosis of dyslexia and adhd, and one is fine, but we couldn't have known that at 3.

Will your DC join year 1 @Sunshinelife9891 in September 2026?

As an experienced EY and KS1 teacher, ex headteacher and adviser, research and experience is that the transition from reception to Y1 is a big change, with schools working hard to mitigate the changes ( curriculum expectations) within their schools.

Mitigation includes knowing their pupils well, planning accordingly including emotionally, friendships etc.

The jump from nursery to year 1 is going to be even wider, how will this be mitigated?

We're Scotland so different timings here but I delayed my January born DD for no real reason other than I could. Absolutely no regrets. A lot of people talk about if they are or aren't ready to start school, my thought was more for later on, giving them the advantage of being a year older and a year more mature when it comes to doing exams, leaving school, going to uni etc. She's sailing through early school, although I don't at all feel like she's ahead or finding it too easy. I would far rather her be one of the oldest in her class with the likely hood she'll find things easier than make her one of the youngest with the chance she'll struggle to keep up.
I spoke to two teachers who told me they'd known parents regret not deferring but never known anyone to regret deferring, that was the decider for me.

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7272/CBP-7272.pdf

Read from page 4 onwards for a summary of the research into this research.

I have defered my youngest. She is in reception now but knowing how much of a jump year 1 is and I know she wouldn’t have coped despite meeting all her milestones within age range.

I have never met a parent who regretted their decision to defer but I met some who wished they had.

I delayed my child. She has SEN. I don’t regret the decision. I think it helped to get her into the setting she’s in now. The school SENCO has said that she thinks I did the right thing.

It is vital that you read the admissions authority policy (LA or trust) in your area.

In my area deferred places are fine, but entry to school out of year group has to be with consent of the headteacher, trust ( if applicable) and only in proven exceptional circumstances. This is at entry aged 5 and again at the start of secondary. A child may be admitted from year 6 (primary) to year 8 (secondary) if the exceptional circumstances do not prevail and are not agreed by the secondary headteacher/trust.

We did this as nursery was expensive. Having a child in school and paying for wraparound care was a lot cheaper. She was a little slower to grasp all the phonics and writing her name etc but soon levelled out mid way through the year so no concerns now. She’s happy and thriving.

We delayed my son last year.
No concerns with his development, in fact he is tall for his age and has always been "ahead" academically.
For us the stats bore out, children who are older in the year do better. So of course we made that choice.

You still get the 3/4 year funded hours so that was of no concern to us

Not to mention they are only little for such a short time I felt like sending him to school at just turned four was robbing him of a year of his childhood.

I actually believe we start compulsory school way too young in this country, and we all know its not for the children's benefit - but that is another story.