Deferring P1 start - Scotland

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My DD is born at the end of January, and so will be able to defer her start into primary one, if we wish.

I'm not sure how to make the choice.

I have one child in primary school already, and there is no-one in her year born after mid january who didnt defer.

On the other hand my DD who is in primary school is also young for her year, she was born in late december, but being our first child we werent very aware of the issues around starting school and so just started her when she was 4 1/2.
She has done really well at school, top groups for everything, doing well socially so I am really glad that we didnt defer her.
This makes it hard to decide what is best for my other DD - DD1 has done really well though is young for her year. Obviously a lot will depend on how youngest DD seems nearer the time, but I'm not really sure what factors to consider when I make the decision, and how much weight to give them.

I'm aware though of the evidence from England about children who are "young" for their year doing less well academically.

Is there any reserach in Scotland about whether how well children do is related to thier age at starting school?

Does anyone have child in scotland born in the deferrment period? How did you decide when to start school?

I don't know of any research, but my mum who was until recently a primary teacher specialising in early years says that she would defer or advise to defer in all cases and can't see any advantage to the child in starting school over an extra year at nursery.

I suppose if you felt your child might be bored or was socially mature for their age you might feel it was appropriate not to defer though. As you say, I believe it's fairly unusual for parents not to nowadays.

my dd started school in august at 5 and a half, she was born in feb, i dont know about any research.

I went with my gut instinct and that was that she was too young, children in scotland are entitled to 2 years of pre-school education and i decided that she would have them, i thought that she'll spend enough years sitting behind a desk and another year having 'fun' would do her no harm, thankfully the nursery agreed with me and they said that they dont like kids born in jan/feb going to school at 4 1/2.

the downside was, her last few months at nursery she was bored, she was telling me she was bored but i'd rather that than her struggling in P1 because i had put her too early, now she is loving school and coping very well.

I do think it depends on the child. My dd was born Hogmanay, and went to school aged 4.6, but she was desperate to go, and I felt she was really ready. She now loves school, and is doing really well, but I think different kids will be ready at different times. One of my friends (Feb birthday) started school at 4.5 and struggled, to the point where they made him repeat P2, so he ended up in the younger class anyway, but with a huge dent in his self-confidence , so it doesn't always work. i think your gut instinct will serve you best in making this decision.

I think you need to bear in mind that the curriculum in scotland is actually changing. P1 is going to be less sitting at a desk and more learning through play, this has been brought in this year and there will be more with the P1 next August. My ds is 4 on the 14th February and it has been quite a dilemma for us. However he has a fantastic nursery teacher who's professional opinion I really trust and she thinks that he will be socially and emotionally ready to start school next August. He is actually quite a different child at nursery, far less needy.
Here they want children to be assessed in some way if the parents want to defer school.

There was some recent research that showed very young boys were often at a disadvantage. This disadvantage tended to stay with them throughout their schooling and did not level out come high school.

Firstly, you should speak to your dd's nursery teacher. She/he should be able to give you good advice re your dd's maturity and readiness for P1. Every child is different and your dd could well be ready for school come August.

Active play and smooth transition from nursery to P1 are very important in Scotland so find out what will be expected of her and ask about play in P1. Teachers should be able to advise you well and, of course, ultimately the choice is yours.

also, i started school at 4 1/2 (i'm a feb birthday) and i did great at primary school but really failed when i was a teenager, thats when i first 'felt' younger than my friends, i didnt want my dd to feel left out and behind

Thanks all. Its so hard to know what to do for the best.