Holding back a year?

[kmummy]

DS is due to start Reception in September. I don't know if we're able to but were thinking of holding him back and starting next September. I just know he will not cope this year at all. Has anyone done this? Will the statement he's getting now go on hold so to speak?

When does your DS turn 5? Legally children do not have to start school until the beginning of the term after they turn 5 so this may come into play for you? You could put him into school part time if he isn't going to turn 5 until later in the school year and gradually build up to full days.

Or depending on when his birthday is you could skip reception but that would mean putting him straight into year one.

If you did want to delay his entry into school so that he doesn't miss the vital reception year then it can be done but might involve a bit of a battle. The LEA will probably want him to move back with his age group at some point so it could mean him missing out on year 6 of primary. You can get it written into his statement that any offset is permenant, meaning that they can't make him miss out on year 6 but will mean that he only gets 2 years in sixth form rather than 3.

You will need a good argument as to why you want to do this and if you can get the support of the school and any professionals such as the Ed Psych then this will help your case.

We have managed to get our LEA to agree to us doing this but our son is an August birthday which helps. We haven't got it in his statement yet though and we won't rest until we do!

I did delay my boy a year, but by starting him in nursery when he was reception age. I made the case and they agreed, plus gave me part time school and part time ABA. I think I was just very lucky with a sympathetic head of Sen at the LA, and this was all before the cost-cutting/recession. Make a powerful case why, in particular how you are aiming to get him mainstream-ready for the correct year as soon as poss. The point is tht they do not want to keep him in lower year for good. But you are effectively asking them to pay or an extra year's schooling, so gather lot of evidence. A good legal advocate, to show you mean business, might help (or you might be better trying solo first). Best of lucky,

Agree with above, only way to guarantee that staying in the year below is permanent is to get it written into the statement, at AR maybe. You could call an emergency AR. It will mean still leaving school/college at the 'normal' time, though.

Some primary schools that aren't oversubscribed will happily, informally teach a DC in the year below, but they aren't allowed to deny a DC of the 'correct' age a place because your DC is in the 'wrong' year. This is only really a big problem in infants because of the infant class size rules.

The SS that my DS went to was an early years SS. In the past it regularly had DC spend their reception year in the SS, then repeat their reception year in MS. This was before the infant class size rules came in and also during the transition time of that law, when exceptions were still allowed. These DC often were on SA+ only and they were allowed to remain in the year below throughout their school career. It worked really well and often meant that their difficulties were a lot easier to deal with in the early stages. After a few years it makes little difference, though.

LAs often come up with reasons against being behind a year, such as:

They might get teased for being older. (Small problem in the grand scheme of having SN, IMO.)

They may develop and hit puberty much earlier than their peers. (So what, there's already more than a year's variation in that anyway.)

They will miss out on a year of schooling at the end. (Up to you if that bothers you.)

Good luck.