Has anyone had success requesting early Reception admission for a September born child?

[edelweissss]

Just wondering if anyone’s had any luck getting their child into Reception early when they were born shortly after the 31 August cutoff. We completely understand the rules, but it feels tricky when a child seems ready and just misses out by a few days. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s tried this with either state or independent schools was there any flexibility? Also, is it possible to ask for an assessment outside the normal age group, just to see if the school agrees the child is ready, without it affecting the usual application process? Any experiences or advice would be really helpful

I was delighted my DC were born in September so that they had the advantage of being amongst the oldest in the year. Why on earth would you want them to be the youngest?

2 perspectives here. My DN is Sept 1st and started a year early. She has just started high school and doing incredibly well. She is mature beyond her years. (In Wales though, so not sure if that makes a difference). However my DD is also early Sept, it never crossed my mind to send her to school early, I cherished the extra time at home with her. She was more than ready to start the Sept she turned 5 and was very bright and mature. However as she went through school, it became clear that even though she was the eldest, and appeared mature, she was actually very immature and had various learning difficulties, which as an adult now really affect her decision making. So my point is every child is different and even though they may appear mature and clever for their age, it could all change. I would say enjoy the extra year with your DD and have fun. They grow up very very quickly.

My sisters birthday is the first week of Sept and my mother persuaded the school to take her as "she was ready". She wasn't ready and ended up repeating her first year of school, and was devastated to lose her friend group. Of course, that was a million years ago when rules were different, but I still think it's not a good idea.
Find a different sort of preschool or nursery for him to explore for the year?

Hey Op
Both my boys are Sept babies. My eldest (10) was born 2/09 and my youngest (7) 15.9

Have to say I'm very 50/50 on this subject myself (both are in appropriate years for age as per usual process). Both my boys are very advanced for their age / school year and are country miles ahead of their peers academically. Which is great in many ways BUT I have also seen the negative to this and continue to do so. As they are so ahead they tend to finish work a lot quicker than the rest of their classes and this can cause some issues with them becoming bored and fidgeting/swinging on their chairs etc so I have an ongoing battle with the School to keep them occupied and learning. I didn't notice too much of a difference until year 2 with my eldest though and my youngest I knew what I was looking for so I become aware in year 1 with him. It's taken to this year fully (year 5) with my eldest for the School to document keeping him occupied and have now started to do this he is also taken out from his class maths lesson for "greater depth learning" once he has completed his usual work and had it checked. This has been great for him so far after a rough year last year with a (useless) Teacher. I'm fully expecting to have the same with my youngest now too so I will be pushing for him to be encouraged and pushed with him capabilities.

The other negative I have started to notice with my eldest the last 6 months is, he has outgrown some of his friendship circle, he is nearly 12 months older than a lot of the children in his class and he finds them to be immature and his interests don't always align so this was a bit of a bump in the road.

On the whole though I just think that it is luck of the draw with the School you send them to and how well your child performs academically & socially in order to get them to push the child and engage fully with them. The Education system in state schools is fairly rigid in my opinion in the UK but that isn't the Schools/Teachers fault and I guess unless you can afford to send them to Private School it is something you are stuck with.

As for success on getting your child in a year early so to speak I haven't heard of this even being considered, I think it would be beneficial for some children but I feel if it was an option it would be something that would need to be monitored and a way of assessing each child on a case by case with criteria to be met.

For my eldest I think he would have been fine if this had been an option, however, my youngest I'm not sure on as I think due to Covid it affected his social skills somewhat so he benefitted from having the pre school period.

Ultimately though all children grow and learn at their own pace and make their own way eventually. If their bright they will flourish regardless and if they struggle then they will find their feet and any extra support can be brought in.

Just to put another perspective in the mix: I'm a July birthday and was moved up a year when I went into reception (private prep school). So I was nearly 2 years younger than September birthdays in my year group. I don't believe it had an overall detrimental effect on me, I always did well at school and look back fondly at my education experience. It's impossible to know whether I would have had more friends etc in the correct year group.
This was 30 years ago now so whether a private school would do so now I don't know, I certainly think that children above their age groups was more common back then. I know of a few children who are in a year below their age group for social/academic reasons, but none who are above. I think it's worth asking though if you think it's the right thing for your child. If she was allowed to and you felt it wasn't working out, she could always stop and join next year with her age cohort.

So starting when they are still 3 for a few weeks? I can’t imagine this being allowed, and don’t think that would really benefit them.

As the mother of a summer born, I strongly advise that you don’t start them early.

We already start them too young in this country, it puts them at a disadvantage.

My daughter couldn’t cope in school so we home ed but I believe a large part of it was starting school when she had only just turned 4.

I’m sure you’ve got your reasons but there is no benefit to starting young and many, many benefits to starting older.

What I meant was that there’s no need to label or judge people you don’t really know. Everyone’s circumstances and ways of thinking are different. This comment came across as much more understanding and kind. That’s what I was referring to.

I have a friend whose baby was due in September but they wanted to induce her very end of August. She refused and waited a day, the induction still took a couple of days though. My friend really didn’t want to disadvantage her child by being a summer born as she had been.
Autumn term - born children on average fare better all the way up to GCSE and beyond. I would have given anything to delay my August born daughter to starting in Reception the following year but it just wasn’t possible when she was 3/4… it is now though! There was a study published a few years before the law changed showing that on average children’s GCSE grades suffer by 1 % for every 2 months they are born after September. There will always be exceptions but on average being September born is a huge advantage.

Embrace your good fortune OP!

My friend was in this position with her son, he'd been in a school nursery so the school knew he was 100% ready to start school

The primary school said they would accept him, BUT the high school wouldn't, so he would have had to repeat year 6

Obviously this would have been dreadful, so she kept him in nursery for an extra year

No lasting damage, she did workbooks with him at home so he wasn't too bored, and he settled in to school when he started and did great

Do not do this. You can’t send a 10-year-old to a secondary school, the schools won’t take them. They have to repeat a year in primary.

Don't do this. Being the oldest in the year is a huge advantage. Being the youngest is a huge disadvantage.

As some who has sacrificed a lot and been "creative" to keep my now Year 11 daughter in private education since Reception, I can honestly tell you it is absolutely 100% not worth it. Don't do it.

Do you really want your kid working and paying taxes one year more?
I wouldn't.

I really appreciate your thorough feedback!

I asked and was rejected. It's all well and good people singing the praises of childcare but there are cost implications. When you have an older child who's at school and have to pay nursery in slots 8-1 and/ or 1-6. So there's a top up fee.

Both mine are mid September (13 and 18)
DS was 3rd oldest in the class at least 10 were September/october babies and DD was 8th out of 30 children!
They were both more than ready for school, it wasnt an issue. Both very intelligent/bright in g&t classes etc.
The biggest issue we found was actually year 6 when they were emotional ready for the challenges of secondary school not necessarily academically.They were ready for the independence that primary school didnt give them.

On the question of starting them a year earlier, my answer as others have said, you have an significant advantage that money can't buy, use it and stick to the proper starting year.

I have 2 children in private school and was interested in how they have been suggested as a solution...in all honesty my eldest had a very structured pre prep and it was almost an extension of reception, by the time my youngest started pre prep, they had changed to child led learning...you can imagine the difference...so actually if you want a setting where your child is stretched it isn't necessarily private school and you need to do your homework on each setting.

I have a youngest in the year, academically he is fine but there is a clear difference between the eldest and youngest in the year emotionally and physically.
He also hates being the last one to reach the next age every year. For example, everyone is 10 and hes still 9.
I wouldnt recommend it.

I have never heard of a child being admitted early - and it's hard to imagine it would be in their interests. Someone has to be the youngest in the year but it is a disadvantage and I wouldn't go out of my way to choose it.

We were at the other end of this decision, with a child who was very young in the year and a choice of whether to defer their school entry or not. Absolutely everyone we spoke to (teachers, health visitor etc) recommended deferring entry to avoid being young in the year because it makes such a significant difference.

Also one more distant thing to think about. I spoke to my cousin as her son had his sixth form prom at the end of last year. Most of them had turned 18 and so were allowed to drink a set amount of drinks, but the ones that hadn't had to wear a wrist band and were forbidden from alcohol, obviously as they arent legally 18. But I am sure that would be very annoying!!

Yes DS is in reception and there’s a girl in his year who turned 4 first week of September. It’s a private school. I’m also a September and started early back in the 1990s. However based on my experience I’d never consider it for my own kids because it’ll likely cause problems down the line. I couldn’t do the 7+ out of year group so had to do year 3 twice to get back into the correct cohort in order to move on to a better school. It also might cause issues with some sports where playing out of year group isn’t allowed and they’d need to join the year below and if you want to reenter the state system.

Far better I think to look for a private prep with a nursery class that’ll really stretch them. DS left nursery knowing all his phase 2 phonics sounds and reading/writing CVC words.

My son is an early October baby, he simply went to pre-school for 2 years, rather than the 1. I've never heard of a child being allowed to start school early, because their birthday is in September.

Read up on the stats on the advantages conferred by September birthdays. Higher attainment, more confidence, over representation in youth sports, more prestigious unis …

These are the type of reasons people go for private school aren’t they, hoping for the above. I would embrace the birthday!

Agree. Let them enjoy that extra year of pre-school! They’ll be super super ready when the time comes x

Private nursery attached to the private prep is the way to go as others have suggested.

Do take a look at fees, and calculate costs for the next 12 years of education, be realistic. Factor in CoL increases and year on year fee increases....YR can be as little as £6k p/TERM but private 6th form is £20k p/TERM, The costs really rise and this does not include flexi boarding,