School agreed to delayed entry!!!!! Questions on admissions

[MuddlingThru]

DS has cerebral palsy and significant SALT delays. He is also an Aug birthday. He 'should' start school this Sept and has a place at our local MS primary. I had previously spoken to the head teacher but at the time she was not in favour of delayed entry. The statutory assessment process is ongoing (request for assessment approved, proposed statement deadline 3 Sept). However the head teacher has today given me a letter agreeing to a delayed entry.

The letter says (amongst other things): I am prepared to agree to your request that DS delays starting primary education at our school this Sept. If you wish to accept this decision, then you will need to sign the form below indicating that you wish to withdraw from the place at our school currently offered to DS. I must make you aware that as this place cannot be 'held' for DS, if you choose to do so, you will need to apply again in the Autumn term for a place in Foundation for Sept 2013. I understand that this application must be in writing and cannot be competed using the on-line service available to parents.

I guess I just want to double check what the process would be when I apply for his place next year. I don't want them turning round and saying 'he is too old' he must go into Year 1. If I have the above letter will he get a place based on the usual admissions criteria, ie as a child with siblings in catchment?

Being cynical I am just concerned that if I apply for a place next year they could turn round and say he must go into year 1. He would be unlikely to get a place at the school as it is oversubscribed so would in all likelihood be full from this year's intake. He would then need to go into Year 1 at another school. Please tell me this isn't going to happen.

I would talk to the LEA. It is up to them to allow delayed starts to Reception and most don't. They will expect him to go straight to Y1. If however you want to start I. January or after Easter then that is a different matter and he can start YR then and the place will be held.

That is certainly the case in our, and most Lea's. I think Birmingham may be different but check with them, not the headteacher.

I would defintely get it clarified, the letter does say foundation in 2013 but ime it would be unusual for a child to be entered into reception after the correct year of entry.

Is the school an academy, independent or catholic?? Because the governors and heads have more freedom in theses schools.

Be very careful to check and double check before you turn down his place for this year.

The school is a standard primary school.

I am now drafting an email to the Principal Admissions Officer at the LEA (the headteacher mentioned her by name in her letter) asking how exactly his application would be processed.

As you say I want to check and double check before I turn down his place for this year. I would hate for this to be a way of the school trying to avoid taking DS, ie make me turn down a place this year and then turn round and say that they are full next year.

I would be very careful. Your DS doesn't have to start school until Sept 2013 legally, due to his age, but would normally have to start in Y1. In this case the school would be holding a place for him, and would get no funding for him for the whole year. (So they would be reluctant to do this.) If he started at school at Easter, the school would still be funded for him, I believe, for the whole year. If you decline his place this year, the school may offer his place to another child and would possibly be full this time next year and would make admission more tricky.

If you get it written into his statement that it would be in his best interests (and obviously it would, as he's an August child) to start school a year late and in the year below, and to stay in that year group throughout his school career, and name your preferred school in part 4, then he should be able to start next year with no problem. The school have to take him at the top of their admission criteria unless they can prove it would be to the detriment of other children (very unlikely unless his needs are very extreme.) Getting this written into his statement isn't always easy going, however. You would have to get the EP to put this in their report, probably. It would be worth discussing it with the EP and the LA asap.

Declining his place at the moment, when you don't yet have a statement, could be risky. The school obviously want their funding and have children waiting to join this Sept, I'd guess. The school isn't normally allowed to let a child from the 'wrong' year take a place from a child who wants it who is from the 'right' year so you may end up in a dodgy position unless it says in his statement that he should permanently drop back a year. If the school is usually undersubscribed then it should be easier without a statement. Sometimes DC are required to 'catch back up' before moving to secondary school unless you have it written into a statement, which can be detrimental.

This is my understanding, as I know of many DC with SN who are in school a year behind. It used to be much more common before the infant class sizing laws came into play. Some DC moved from reception straight to Y2, some from Y5 straight to secondary, but those with statements only have remained in their dropped back year group.

Crossed with everyone. I think we are singing from the same hymnsheet!

I think it is safe to say that I won't be signing the form withdrawing from his current place in this September's intake until I am much more certain that there will definitely be a place for him in the Foundation class in 2013.

I have now emailed the Principal Admissions Officer for clarification.

I will continue with the statement process as if I can get the delayed entry written into it then it obviously puts DS in a much stronger position. The EP and PSNO already know that I am seeking a delayed entry (I managed to write nearly 4 pages in my Appendix A 'General Views' section countering every argument against delayed entry that I have encountered so far).

Muddling, I wish I could understand the logic behind refusing to let DC with SN drop back a year. My DS went to a special early years school and it used to be common practice for DC to do preschool and their Reception year at the SS, then to integrate into MS, repeating their reception year in the MS school and remaining in that year group throughout school. This extra year often meant that children who were delayed developmentally needed very little extra 1:1 and fitted socially much better into the younger peer group. I suppose there may have been occasional teasing for being the oldest, but it seemed so beneficial.

I think there are so many barriers placed these days to allow this, schools SATs results are affected if a child isn't in the right year, infant class sizes are affected, children seem to drop off the education system at the end of their schooling, maybe having to leave school too early.

Good luck with everything. I was lucky that my DS is an Oct birthday and coped well enough in his own year group. If he had been a summer child, I would have been doing exactly the same as you.

I am very pleased to report that I have it in writing from the LA's Principal Admissions Officer that they will process ds into Foundation in Sept 2013! :-)

Well done, so glad they haven't been jobsworths about it!