General support thread in relation to school starting age

[lingle]

A general thread with the aim of gathering and sharing information on the options available re school starting age in the UK.

I'm hoping that parents of summer-borns can exchange useful information on their options here and that parents who have deferred or not deferred as the case may be will report back on how things have gone for their children.

To kick things off, here is the background to the debate.

[http://www.ifs.org.uk/docs/born_matters_report.pdf]

Good luck with that lingle. Not sure our LEA would get the heads around a request like that! I think it is down to the individual child too. I (and his nursery) thought that my ds was more than ready to start reception this term but he has really struggled. Think I have solved the issues now by getting his teacher to talk to his nursery teacher (which imo she should have done without my written prompting). He is now getting homework appropriate to his ability which makes my life easier (he wants to do it now). It will be interesting to see where he is developmentally in a year's time. This time last year the last place I could imagine him was in reception.

Not read the whole thread but if some schools are letting deferred children go into reception and not straight into year one it should be the same across the country!!

also what happens when they go to secondary school and are a year behind? do they have to go straight into year 8?

Mollie and Nappy

In Bradford (and, I believe, Leeds but that's just hearsay) you can defer children born between April and August by a year but then enter them in reception.

I do not know what happens re year 8. But I think that by the time DS2 gets there, the tide will have well and truly turned. Put it this way, I figure I've got a good 7 years to prepare myself for that battle if battle it turns out to be.....

New pupils don't go into yr 8 at secondary school whether they've deferred a year a not. They'd miss too much of the curriculum.

My DD1 turned 3 on 29 August so I'm looking at schools now. Local school has a september intake for all pupils, staggering it over a few weeks so she would be starting full-time at the end of september next year.

I think she'll be ok, she's able to concentrate on stuff and is getting on really well at pre-school. She is quiet in groups though so I do worry whether she'll join in. Also worried that its just going to be too tiring for her.

Haven't made a decision yet about whether I'm going to defer. My council (Essex) says:

"Where community and voluntary controlled
schools offer 'early years' admission, parents
are able to defer entry until later in the school
year. This means that the place is held for the
child and is not available for another child. It is
not possible to defer entry beyond the
beginning of the term after the child's fifth
birthday, nor beyond the academic year for
which admission is sought."

Early years means the terms before the child is rising 5.

So I have the option of holding her back a term or two. I'm meeting the head next week for a tour of the school so I'll discuss it with him then. I think I'm most likely to push for a part-time period, particularly if she's gettig very tired.

Excellent thread (thanks lingle). Just wanted to make a few points /advise parents of summer borns:

I think for the first few years of education are vital. A child can only learn the key basic skills (reading, writing, early maths) when their brain is ready. If your summer born is not ready then you could look at home schooling or private schooling as a short term option. Once they've got the basic skills in place you could move them back to the state system.

Educationally, it could eventually be an advantage to be summer born in a state school. Once the basic skills are sorted DS or DD will be stretched and stimulated (not bored as for some autumn borns).

The children who really suffer from being summer born (and impact the pretty scary stats out there) will come from homes where education is not a priority (i.e not anyone reading this thread ). Supportive caring parents will do whatever they can to mitigate the disadvatages of being summer born. I read somewhere that summer borns who get to university do better than the autumn borns as are used to working harder and respond well to being stretched.

Message withdrawn

DS started this year at 4+2 weeks.
I'm happy with what he seems to be learning/absorbing and his enthusiasm for school.
BUT, at nursery all children in the year group played together. Now, with the younger ones going home at lunchtime, there is a definite divide. DS has already said that he daren't play with one boy he'd like to be friends with because he's "one of the older ones". My worry is that he feels intimidated by older children where age has never been a consideration for him before. Will this make him shy? Affect his confidence?

The younger ones are also put together in the smaller learning groups with the assumption that younger=lower ability and while movement between groups is possible, only one has moved out of DS's group so far. I'm assuming their group will get more attention and help, so I'm happy if that's so. However, it does mean more separation from the older children.

I'm just surprised at ds's reaction to the older children when many of his nursery friends were Oct - Dec born.