Jan/feb birthday starting P1

[Clairejay34]

Hello, I am just looking for some opinions and personal experiences of those that have children born in late January or February? Did you send them to school at 4.5 years or defer until they were 5.5 years?
Was it the right decision or do you have regrets?
Posting in scotsnet as I am aware the English school system works differently.
Thanks in advance :)

@Woeismethischristmas

Most people defer now which makes it tricky not to as they’d be in class with last years deferrals and who are a year plus older. Our school has always been supportive of deferrals. No issue with getting an extra year nursery funding for my dc.

This. It's now been made very tricky not to.

It’s not true that everyone defers now. I manage school enrolments for a local authority and many Jan/Feb children go in their designated year.

This is a good report - it shows the picture up to 2018 I couldn't find a more recent one. Not everyone defers but the trend is upwards. More boys are deferred than girls, with nearly 60% of Feb boys deferred vs 42% of Feb girls deferred.

www.gov.scot/publications/deferred-entry-primary-school-statistics/pages/2/

@Yellowsubhubabubbub

What happens with free child care funding if you do? My DC is end of March and already I’m worrying about it all !

January and February children automatically get funding if they chose to defer. From August 2023 August to December children will automatically get funding too if deferral is chosen.

Deferred winter born DC…. No regrets at any stage. Both academically able to go to P1, but felt they would benefit from not being socially youngest all through school - high school especially. Never regretted it. Cannot understand why people feel need to push kids academically etc… they will find interest and learning in every opportunity… in my mind deferring isn’t ‘holding back’ it’s just giving them more time as a young child. Appreciate everyone has there own experiences.

We deferred DC2.Academically they were ready to start school at 4.5 yrs but we felt they were still young emotionally.
Never had any regrets. DC was never bored at nursery and the nursery staff made sure of that.When DC started P1 aged 5.5 they were occasionally sent through to read to the nursery children while the rest of the class tackled their letters and reading.
I know a few people who have regretted not deferring their DC,mainly parents of boys.

Thank you for all the replies. My dd is only 3 at the moment and her birthday is end of January..I am just thinking ahead to decision I will need to make next year. Obviously alot can change in the next year but at the moment she is a really confident wee girl and I don't think she would struggle on that sense but thinking ahead to high school etc i don't know if giving her that extra year would be more beneficial when it comes to exams, leaving school, starting uni etc.
My DN is a December birthday and is 14 months older than my DD and my sister has chose to defer her. They will be going to the same school and could possibly be in the same class if I chose not to defer. I also worry that this may be a bad thing and she may feel she is constantly playing catch up to her big cousin throughout school, they are very close.
Definitely alot to consider over the next year!
Thank you.

I have three secondary aged kids, lots of children in their years with Jan/Feb birthdays. I'd say at least 90% were deferred.

Deferred DD2 with late Jan birthday. Now in P7. Definitely the right thing to do for her.

My eldest was March born so oldest in the year at 5.5 and was very able, got through work quickly and was then bored (and stroppy). My youngest was February born and nursery advised was ready at 4.5 and not to defer. Very sociable child and managed fine throughout primary.

I think it’s at secondary level that it might be more problematic - taking Nat 5s at 15.5 and Highers at 16.5. I think that extra year of maturity might come into play.

We moved to a different system when DC2 was in S1, and effectively went back a year. With hindsight, I’m happier that they had that extra year to mature before important exams.

I wish i had deferred my son his bday is feb is doing his exams this year has just turned 15 whilst all his friends are 16. I have found that he did struggle abit and think its to do with being in the wrong year.

Defer, defer, defer!!
It's always a good idea. Think ahead to teen years, all your friends starting to experiment, going out and you're too young or too young to cope.

Didn’t defer our end of Jan daughter, no regrets. We had no option childcare-wise, it was a luxury we couldn’t afford, I needed to get back to more work

She’s a teen now, and despite having at least one friend who’s over a year older than her (they were deferred, early Jan birthday), her position near the bottom of the age group hasn’t made a blind bit of difference. I was one of the youngest in my year, and always liked that, so I don’t understand people’s problems with it. I would say unless you actively have concerns about readiness, just go for it.

Didn't defer DD, she would have been bored out of her brain at nursery for another year, plus all her social group starting. I couldn't hold her back when all her wee pals were starting school. No regrets here at all.

Defer.

I've been a primary school teacher in Scotland for more than 20 years. I have never met a parent who regretted deferring.

I have met plenty who regretted not deferring when faced with the P7/S1 transition.

The govt will completely fund an additional year at nursery because they recognise the importance of the early years experience.

As @stargirl1701 said it’s often not the potential boredom at the start of schooling, it’s later on that issues can arise- transition to secondary, sitting formal exams and potentially going to university at only 17.5 years old.
Mine were deferred, as were a few in the year, they found it quite easy to make new friends and the school nursery was 2 year groups mixed in anyway so they were already familiar with the year below.

@Whattochoosenow

As *@stargirl1701* said it’s often not the potential boredom at the start of schooling, it’s later on that issues can arise- transition to secondary, sitting formal exams and potentially going to university at only 17.5 years old. Mine were deferred, as were a few in the year, they found it quite easy to make new friends and the school nursery was 2 year groups mixed in anyway so they were already familiar with the year below.

This.

You have to look at the bigger picture. It's not just about starting P1 - it's about their whole journey through the education system.

I know a fair few people with kids with Jan/Feb birthdays. Of those who deferred, not 1 regretted it, but of those who didn’t defer, every single one regretted it.
These kids are all adults now, and being the youngest follows them all through school/higher education, it’s not just a P1 thing

Got a Jan and Feb baby. My eldest (Jan) was more than ready and I didn't even think about it. My youngest (Feb) I wanted to defer but the nursery talked me out of it. They are doing brilliantly academically but are probably less emotionally mature than their classmates.
As a teacher it is much more noticeable in boys. And the gap becomes clearer in secondary than in primary.

@Direwolfwrangler

It’s not true that everyone defers now. I manage school enrolments for a local authority and many Jan/Feb children go in their designated year.

I've found it quite school based. My local school is very supportive of deferrals and the nursery is lovely so it seems like a no brainer to give them an extra year. Same local authourity but another local school seems quite anti deferral unless extreme issues.

Do you find there's more deferrals in certain schools or does it average out?

Our girl is 27th Feb birthday. Didn't defer.

High school was not a positive experience for her, turns out she's got ASD and leaving at 16 was a relief. School were very good, she was just not the right type of kid for high school because of her ASD, nothing to do with being young.

She got AAAAB at 16. Took a year out to work related to her uni course, partly because she is studying in England and so she'd have started at 16.5 with school leavers of 19, which is a huge gap.

I want to stand up for the "didn't defers" because if your kid's keen to learn and nursery says they'd be best moving on, then why hold them back? Someone's got to be oldest and someone's got to be youngest. Most of my peers raised eyebrows at me sending my girl at 4, but she was ready and keen. Primary school was a dream, high school was fine til S3 and then it was a disaster, year out was brilliant and uni is (so far) amazing for her.

Everyone makes the best choice they can for the child they have. If deferring works out for your kid then you will tend to recommend deferring. I didn't defer and it worked out so I'd always say "don't assume it'll be harder because they're younger"

Take your advice from nursery, they have a good handle on whether the kids will cope with the school system. A year to "play with" at the other end can be a real gift. Honestly, the only real issue we had was her being too young to drink in the student union (solution is to smoke weed in halls and drink coke in the bar, apparently)

Probably wouldn’t affect many deferred children, but anyone wanting to study medicine has to be 18 by 1st November of the year they start the course.