Delaying start of school for a summer born child with a statement

[Bryzoan]

DD is 3 and was born prematurely in the summer months. She also has a chromosome disorder with a mild global delay and significant delays in expressive language and gross motor. We are currently in the statementing process - we have received a draft and have 2 weeks left to respond.

We are currently looking at mainstream schools and feel very strongly that she stands the best chance of thriving if she joins a reception class when she has just turned 5 (in September 15) rather than in Sept 14 - when she has just turned 4. There is D of E guidance not specific to SEN that is clear that this decision is down to the admissions authority (ie the local authority) and that they need to reach this decision on a case by case basis rather than through blanket policy - but I haven't been able to find any info about how the process works with a statement.

I did include a request for dd to delay by a year in my initial statement request but it hasn't made it in to the statement. I'm wondering if any of you have any info or case studies that may help me make the case when I send in my amends. I contacted the Parent Partnership but apparently they can only really help if we end up going to appeal.

She doesn't have to attend school at all until after her 5th birthday. That's the law.

Hi join the fb group 'campaign for flexible school admissions', there is a lady in this group who has done what you wish to do.

www.facebook.com/groups/121613774658942/

Hello,

Our son is also a summer baby and has autism. He was due to start reception this September but we managed to get his entry delayed a year and he is now in the school nursery.
Basically, we put forward a good argument as to why the extra year would help - he would struggle with full days, he could develop his self-care skills in that extra year (toilet training etc).
We made it clear that it was something we felt very strongly about and would go to tribunal for.
We had the support of the paediatrician and if you can get a professional to state that they think it is a good idea then this will help. And if you can get the head teacher to back you even better.
We made sure that his statement says he will go into reception next year as there are many cases where they try to make the children go straight into year 1 and miss out reception altogether. They may try to insist that our DS misses year 6 and goes into secondary at the same time as other children his age but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. We could have insisted on that now but we decided to concentrate on just getting him put back a year for now.
The premature baby website 'Bliss' has some useful stuff on it.
Good luck.

Thanks all, I will join the fb group bananas. Your story is v encouraging booby - we are in a similar place in that dd is slowly acquiring self care skills along with more speech, physical and social interaction skills, and I just feel that if she had another year to build on and consolidate these before starting reception she would have a very different school experience - and actually need less input. So it feels like it should be a no brainer, though I know it won't be. I have seen the Bliss stuff - also the d of e guidance, research and debate text which I think will be useful (and may help you re secondary). Did you go about it through the statement process, or as a separate request? I know she doesn't have to start till 5 anyway but I think missing reception would be detrimental.

I have been wondering the same about ds, Bryzoan.

He is 3.3, and is very delayed with expressive speech and also has chronic separation anxiety (have yet to leave him at preschool without him screaming hysterically). His birthday is July, so he will only just have turned 4 by the time he starts.

I am put off by the idea of him missing reception year, and going straight into year one. We are hoping that ds will go into the special learning unit within mainstream, and I think because it is very small and geared up for children with severe and complex learning difficulties, next year should be ok. However if he doesn't get in, then he would have to go int ms with 1-1. If this happens, I would certainly want to delay a year.

DGS started school this september the day after his 5th birthday. He has cerebral palsy and cannot speak more than a few words, and none of those clearly

Because of his physical disability and all the delays that causes, we just said he's starting full time school in september when he's 5, and thats it! Legally its the first term after the 5th birthday so they can't argue with you about it. Schools and nurseries do seem to pressurise parents into early starting

Hazey. DGS is in MS despite the wheelchair, nappies, severe speech delay! He has a 1 to 1 and absolutely loves school. the children love him and want to mummy him all the time, which he loves because of the attention. School and the NHS services have gone more than the extra mile to accommodate him and so far it is very successful. We did look at a wonderful SS but the severity of most of the children was very off putting. Luckily the HT there said she felt DGS would be better in MS, although she would have loved to have had him

Sneezecakesmum - did dgs go into year 1 or reception?

Glad you have found a great place hazey. None of the schools with units round our way feel quite right for dd, but she is in a ms preschool with one to one, loves it and has learned loads. So we are currently hoping that ms with a 1 to 1 might work. The statement will have to get a lot better and tighter first though. Late nights for me for the next few weeks!

Hi Bryzoan my DD started school last month in reception having been held back for a year. She too has a rare chromo disorder although unlike your DD she isn't summer born.

Similar to boobybum, we made a case to our LA EP to say that we would be using the year to work on a home programme and within our DDs nursery (where she had limited 1:1) on developing core skills such as toileting, independence, attention, communication etc. The EP then supported us in this decision by writing an email to our SEN officer (my DD already had a statement at this point) who then wrote us an email confirming that DD's entry to school could be delayed by a year.

Nothing went in her Statement until we had the big review before she started school at which point I wrote an amendment for the statement along the lines that DD was working down a year and that this would continue for the whole of her mainstream schooling.

A few things to bear in mind from our experience with our LA:

• they tried very hard to dissuade us at first citing reasons like the onset of puberty would be difficult (until we pointed out that this could happen at any time between 9 and 14)
• they told us DD might have to miss the last year of juniors (we challenged this and hence got it recorded in statement that this wouldn't happen)
• we were told that DD will not be supported in her very last year of school, the year she turns 19 on the basis that if she were she would have had a year's more statemented support than she's entitled to. We said we'd cross that bridge when we came to it

For us, that extra year has made all the difference to DDs readiness for school. She's in a MS setting with full time 1:1 and is loving every minute. I do have concerns about the ability of the MS staff to understand her needs and provide adequate differentiated curriculum and support with her communication development but we're working on it.

Good luck with it all

Sorry, one last thing

Our LA did say that if at any point DD transitioned into a SS then she may end up back with her chronological age group since in our local SS they work on mixed year groups anyway based on ability. Again, I thought I'd deal with that if and when I need to.

You may want to do a FOI request to your LA to find out whether there are any children that have be held back whether it is on their statement or done more informally. You could also ask neighbouring LAs.
There is also a website (sorry cant remember what it's called but I'm sure someone will come on and let us know) where you can search whether that question has been asked by anyone else for any LA.

DD, summer born and recently diagnosed with ASD started school a couple of days after her 4th birthday.
Perhaps she is the exception to the rule but since leaving preschool and beginning full days in reception she has come on in leaps and bounds.
Preschool was too unstructured for her and she was basically allowed to stay in her own bubble and do her own thing.
She was initially tired but enjoys the routine and structure of the school day.
The school also seemed to only take her issues seriously and provide proper support when she began full time education.

DGS is in foundation year. Second year of reception. All the other children are younger.

DD is summer born, just turned four and just started reception. She has a severe language delay and a general delay in her development. She is not statemented, but is on school action plus. We asked for her to repeat nursery, but she would have just missed reception year if she had and there seemed to be no option to apply to repeat a year. In some ways DD would have benefited as she wasn't potty trained at three (is now) and found it very difficult to manage herself/soothe herself when distressed at three. But I'm really not sure how much of her improved development is a result of age or from going to nursery. At any rate, after a rocky start for the first week at reception, she is thriving. She has a one to one at lunch time (hates eating around the other children), SALT once a week in school and a TA three days a week for a few hours a day. She has found a friend for the first time and is appreciating the routine of the day with the help of a visual timetable. So if you can't delay, it may be ok!

That's been our experience too. DD was instantly so much happier to start Reception, even as the youngest in the class.

She seemed bewildered and so isolated in preschool. For her it was a good thing she didn't have a September birthday.
Although she appeared not to interact with any of her preschool class mates, as the primary school is attached to it she joined reception with mostly the same children. She can point out all their names in photos and her peer group are very supportive and protective towards her. They accept all her quirks and special ways.

Yes, DD's classmates are really nice to her, say 'hi' (even though she doesn't respond) and get her to play with them. Even though I was really worried about uniform (DD has very firm ideas on what she wears) that's actually not a problem either. She has happily accepted that she wears uniform to school and can then wear a pink dress (sigh) after school. The inclusion team at school were really good at setting up a transition programme for her and helping her adjust.

My dd was prem and has various problems relating to that, she also has a chromosome disorder, she started school when she was supposed to but struggled when she started y1, so they let her repeat and will stay with this school year until she leaves school. It has helped her a lot. Reception is just a lot of play much the same as nursery.

Hi ya hope you don't mind me joining in. My lg is 3 with GDD and sensory problems . She is at a great pre school ( special needs one). She has a severe language delay (but is potty training). I'm so worried about school I feel her being held back a year would be brilliant for her she is a august baby! I don't feel next year she will be ready :(. And I want her to have a extra year at preschool but not to miss out on reception! Just done know what to do x

Hi kaz, lovely to have more company on the way! That Facebook grp bananas mentioned is brilliant so join that. Is your dd statemented? It seems to me that the best way forward is to try and get it written into the statement. The guidance on summer born children from the dept of education and their accompanying research is hugely useful I think even though it is not sen specific.

www.education.gov.uk/f00227046/advice-on-the-admission-of-summer-born-children
The actual guidance is in a PDF link on the right of the page

Great to hear everyone's experiences. Thank you.