Deferring primary 1

[LikeAnOldFriend]

Hello all, haven’t ever really found the Scotsnet corner before (away to enjoy reading blether chat now!) but just thought this might be a good place to ask about deferring primary 1 options? We are in one of the local authority areas that funding has just been extended to to allow all children under 5 in the August of their planned start to defer with an extra year of funded nursery, and are in the early stages of considering it for our daughter born in mid December. She was always 2 weeks short of the date funded deferral was available from and we always knew it was something we might have considered otherwise. She seems very ready in some ways, miles from it in others and we’re just at the very start of mulling it all
Over. Thought I would see if anyone else has had similar experience and any advice? Thanks so much.

I don't think it would do any harm a child staying at a good nursery until 5.5. It could do harm them starting school too early though.

My nephew started at 4.5 and was ok in p1 and 2 as it's mainly play based. Now he's in p3 and still only 6 and he's struggling with having to sit down for much longer periods of time and finish set bits of work etc. Another year to allow him to mature probably would have made a big difference.

Ds2 is winter born and I plan to defer him.

I’m sure I read on the Scot Gove website, a few years ago now when I was thinking about deferring my son, that it’s a middle class habit.

And that some 12% of every year are deferred.

Perhaps if I get time I’ll see if that statistic still holds true. It would be interesting to know current numbers.

We moved up to Scotland when my DD was 7. As a late January birthday, the school automatically deferred her but she was streets ahead of her cohort and she was moved up to her non-deferred year.

She absolutely excelled throughout school and went to uni aged 17. It wasn't an issue for her at all. Alcohol was only a small part of her social life!

She will be absolutely fine for p1 in August. But she will only be better prepared the following year. We did it for my Jan child. Our thought process was

Pros:
Even more ready for school
Older child in year tend to better equipped to handle peer pressure.
More mature by the time self motivated study required.
Older for each stage of life (first time walking to school alone, going to park with friends, first boy/girlfriend, friendship group think about trying alcohol/drugs, going to festivals)

Cons:
Bit bored last term of nursery.

However I realise there are likely to be other down sides I haven't thought of. At the time I did think about it a lot but 8 years ago now and never regretted it.

Posted too soon!

I guess it really depends - she would have hated being in the year below but thrived where she was. You just can't predict it.

A friend didn't defer her Jan-born daughter and from P1 she was one of the most confident, happy children in the class. She's in the top sets and I can't imagine her being in the year below. She'd probably be bored.

Another friend's Jan-born p7 was deferred and is self-conscious about being the tallest girl in the class, first to visibly hit puberty etc.

Kids change a lot in the final term at nursery. Unless your daughter isn't keeping up with her nursery peers I'd let her start school age 4.

It's a very individual thing. What does the nursery staff think?

BTW it's very difficult to find any research on oldest vs youngest in class but what I did find was something from one of the Scandinavian countries, by the time the children were 30, it was something like the youngest 20% were out earning the oldest 20%. Those percentages might not be right but it was definitely the youngest did better over the long term.
But in England the youngest do worse in GCSEs but I couldn't find anything beyond that point.

You have to make the decision based on your child. But don't think being the oldest is always a good thing - something things can be very babyish for them.

I deferred dd2 and it was the best choice I ever made. Like yours she was more than ready in some ways but not in others. Anyway the downside of sending her to early could have been huge where as there really has been no down side from deferring and I'm not sure potentially what that could be. Yes she's one of the higher achieving dc in the class but that's been great for her confidence. She certainly hasn't been and won't be 'bored' as lots of people like to trot out who think you are 'holding them back'. I also work in a primary school and see the benefits of being older myself, both starting p1 and going to high school. Dd2 is a February birthday so doesn't exactly answer your question however Dd1 is an early December birthday so it was never an option to defer, she was my first and incredibly confident aged 4 so it probably wouldn't have crossed my mind. In hindsight it would have been hugely beneficial to her to be in the year below. She's in high school now and still only 11. Will be one of the younger ones sitting exams. Her confidence has lessened as the years have gone on and an extra year would have probably helped that.

If you are curious I have seen the stats on what percentage of kids born in each month are deferred by council. For an October birthday in our area only 5% are deferred. Can't remember where I found it, though.

It's been really difficult to get finding agreed for a pre January deferral previously. Needs a whole panel to agree and lots of support and evidence from nursery and other professionals (and ime nursery are generally keen to move dc on). There also won't be data on the new free choice deferral so it won't really be relevant what happened before

In my sons primary class more than 30% of the boys were deferred from the year above, so almost a year older than him- none of the girls were deferred and so there was a 13-14 month age range in the class. I don’t think I’ve ever heard locally of a girl whose birthday was earlier than jan/feb being deferred but if it’s becoming routine to defer Oct-Dec kids that might change.
There are some pros to being young in the year - my son is very sporty and will get an extra year playing at U15 U16 and U18 age grades compared to his spring/summer born peers.

Ds(17), February birthday was deferred. We didnt agonise over it as it was so near to the cutoff anyway and throughout his time at school there have been multiple moments that confirmed it was the right decision for him both socially and academically.

A December birthday is a harder choice, but I would fall on the side of deferring if possible.

In my sons primary class more than 30% of the boys were deferred from the year above, so almost a year older than him- none of the girls were deferred and so there was a 13-14 month age range in the class.

Tbf possibly as I have a daughter myself but most of the other dc I know of in her p4 class who were deferred are girls. The oldest is a boy though, however he is 6 weeks off 2 years older. He turns 10 not long after the youngest turns 8 and just after dd turns 9. I'd not consider height difference - the range is absolutely huge especially from p3 onwards. We've got p3's in our school taller than many p7's and they tend to stop and start and over take each other. Dd was the smallest in the year p1-6 then suddenly shot past everyone who had towered above her for years. Some girls start developing in p4 while others in p7 haven't. I think it's more typical than when I was young where the ages for these things seemed more standard

I can understand the height thing but agree after the first year or so they diverge and if it's the right decision on readiness grounds it's the right decision and how it looks is a secondary thing.

@liveforsummer

If you are curious I have seen the stats on what percentage of kids born in each month are deferred by council. For an October birthday in our area only 5% are deferred. Can't remember where I found it, though.

It's been really difficult to get finding agreed for a pre January deferral previously. Needs a whole panel to agree and lots of support and evidence from nursery and other professionals (and ime nursery are generally keen to move dc on). There also won't be data on the new free choice deferral so it won't really be relevant what happened before

You have a point, but it is more relevant in our area because we are not automatically entitled to the funding until the law changes in 2023, and you can also see the percentage of deferrals of the Jan and Feb borns in your area who were entitled to the nursery funding before this change. It probably won't be a massive change straight away I would have thought.

Re height, when DS1 started school I was standing outside school with DS2 and was asked if he was starting the following year. He was 1 at the time (nearly 2 to be fair).

In DC's class there is a 27 Feb girl who was deferred, and a 10 Feb girl who wasn't.

I also know a 8 April girl who struggled to engage at pre-school, especially as all her friends went to Primary a year before she did.

Deferring Nov/Dec children never used to be common. I'm quite surprised it's being offered to Sept/Oct children too.

You know your child best OP.

I deferred my eldest son. He is a Feb birthday and now in P5. I have never regretted it. As kids get older you can see the younger kids in the class. I met 2 parents I knew a few weeks after DS started P1 whose daughters were not deferred that started P1 aged 4 (Jan/Feb birthdays). Both parents said they regretted putting them into school so young as they were struggling and not coping well with it. Ds2 is a late oct baby and started school this year. He was more than ready and it's been good for him. If you have doubts it's worth deffering or put in a school and nursery application and decide nearer the time.

@LifeIsBusy

I went to uni at 16 after 5th year. The only issue I found was trying to get a part time job as everywhere I found was over 18 only.

However having said that I do have an almost 3 year old with a birthday in late December and I'm wondering if we should defer (obviously don't need to make this decision yet but curious as to why others make the choice.)

OP - what reasons do you think are influencing your decision? For us I think it would be his speech.

I wouldn't base your choice on whether you think your dc is ready now, unless there are specific issues, always think long term. ds is a Feb birthday so was only a couple of weeks from the cutoff and a much easier decision. There were absolutely no issues, nursery said he was more than ready to go and were surprised we were considering deferral and tried to talk us out of it.

We would have had no problems with him going, if there wasn't an option, and decided based purely on the gut feeling of not wanting him to be the youngest in the class, we generally think education should start later, boys mature later than girls and this might be better for him in exam years.

He probably would have been fine starting a year earlier, but instead of being fine he did really well throughout school, better than I think he would have done if he was a year younger.

He was in a 2004 footie team, it was a 50/50 mix of his school year and the one above he would have been in. Whenever I compared him (a MN cardinal sin!) with the stage the other boys were at, going through their exam years and leaving school, I always thought ds isn't ready for that and was happy he had an extra year.

We gave deferred two of our DC, with no regrets.
More mature starting P1 and S1, more mature sitting exams and going to university. Even if they don't drink alcohol they can't join in many of the freshers events if they're not 18.

The daughter of friends of mine went at 4. Her birthday is in January.
She's clever academically and will be going to university (she's in her final year of school now), but is emotionally quite immature and has needed a lot of support. The parents are teachers and wish they had deferred.

Of course you don't know how things would have been if done differently!

We were told that no one ever regrets deferring their child whereas some do regret not….. we did and are still glad many years later. It’s definitely to do with maturity, coping with change etc rather than ‘intelligence’ at 4.

My September born DS is thriving in P1, he turned 6 days after term started. Relieved he got that extra time in nursery without added pressures on him in the education system!

Do what you feel is best OP and keep all avenues a possibility.