Deferring Reception for adopted child with cleft.

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Hello,

Really wasn't sure which board to put this on as it ticks quite a few boxes but I think there are probably a lot of mums on here who regularly do battle with the authorities and know how to get what their kids need so thought I would give it a shot.

Anyway, long story but my DS was adopted from China age 2 ( 2 years of neglect in an orphanage) and a cleft lip and palate. He's been home a year and has been doing great. Seems to be attaching well to me (such a blessing as his sister also adopted from China has big issues on that one) and is generally flourishing - probably too well for the situation I now find myself in. He will need further surgery - which we are waiting for and his speech will not progress much until he has it. He can't have therapy for fear of picking up bad habits with the palate that he has.
However, his birthdate, or should I say his estimated birth date is at the end of August and would make him the youngest in his year. He is also very small for his age. I can't see how this would remotely help all the other disadvantages he has to contend with in life and so approached school a year ago about deferring him into a different year group. After much toing and froing the message I got via the SENCo then was that unofficially they would be happy to defer him barring any change of head or other such. However this was denied by the head in a meeting this morning who says that she simply said she would consider it. Putting aside how upset and angry I am about that I now find myself having to go through it all again and coming up against the problem that I don't think anyone understands quite what is involved here. The head assures me that she too wants the best outcome for DS but I get the distinct impression that everyone else's opinion BUT mine counts on this one. There will be a meeting with various staff members and the head and me some time in November at which I am being encouraged to put my case.

As far as I can see on the DfE website there is no block on schools deferring children - particularly summer born children - into a different year group.

Sorry this is getting too long...but any other MNers out there with any advice on how to convince school that while my DS might survive reception next September he would thrive in it the year after and that this is to try and over come the many disadvantages that life has so far dealt him for the rest of his school life...

Thanks

Might the most straightforward option be to try & get the home office to allow the estimated date of birth to be corrected?

1/9/2009 would solve all the problems, and if you can get an affadavit from the orphanage to say the formal dob was just a guess, then perhaps the UK paediatricians seeing him might be allowed to do a new, more accurate estimate based on his size and progress?

There are schools that will allow it, I know of a little boy with autism who has deferred this year. He is an august birthday like your little boy.

I know another little boy who repeated reception and is now a year behind and another one in the care system who has deferred secondary and is doing 2 yrs is yr 6.

It can be done with sensible, flexible Headteachers.

Good luck

I would really try and fight for this if you can.
Children start school far to early as it is.
My adopted dd3 was 4 in may 11 and started school full time in September of that year. In hindsight I wish we had fought for part time or deferring.
She has really struggled with school, now in year 2 and is still way behind her peers.
She has a diagnosis of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.
If you can have you ds birth date changed, that would be the best way forward, otherwise they may try and make him " catch up " with his peers. I.e miss a year.
Good luck.

I would try to defer. On another thread somewhere (education?) recently someone said that the rules changed in 2012 so it would be easier to defer. I think the section of the act was 2.17, but I may be misremembering.

Make sure you get it in writing that he can stay deferred throught school career though, not just primary.

My ADD2 was prem, but luckily born just the right side of the cut off date. No way would she have coped in the year above, she's only just about managing now.

Thanks all.

I'm afraid that changing his estimated dob is a non starter. Have never heard of anyone managing that one. Couldn't even change dob for my daughter with school though we now know what it actually is, cos it's not "official" and it's information from birth parents who are not going to go and do paperwork with the Chinese authorities over their "illegal act".

Thanks TeenAndTween for the heads up on the new guidance. I had a look at that and it might be helpful. It certainly would seem to imply to me that there is no problem with summer borns particularly being held back a year.

Main, can't help with the deferred school part but what surgery has your DS had done exactly? My DD has had three lots of palate surgery. The first at 18mos. We started speech therapy when she was 3. Her repaired palate was short and they (SALT) can do something called an EPG which is basically a plate that the child wears which is covered in electrodes that teaches positional tongue placement to help with sound production. She had her palate re-repaired (Sommerlad palatial repair) at 10yrs and then it's was extended using a Buccinator Flap procedure 6 months later.

Such a shame that you can't just change date of birth, especially as it may not be accurate.
Amazing that a couple of days can make all the difference to theses children.
Keep fighting, you will not regret deferring, yet you may regret sending to school at only just 4.

any deferred place must be agreed by the LEA otherwise when he reaches his chronological age to move on to his next school he will be expected to move as his funding will move with him & whichever yr group the LEA believe him to be in.
Don't agree to an informal agreement between you & the school as your son would be at risk of effectively missing his last yr at primary if the LEA insist that he moves with his chronological yr group. I know a child that this happened to & ended up moving from yr 5 to high school having never completed yr 6.
I also know of a family of a summer born child who moved in to the UK in yr1 & successfully argued that he should be placed in reception & the LEA agreed, so it is possible but make sure its official.

Overseas children in local authority care quite often come with inaccurate documents (or none) & apply to the Home Office to get the guesstimated dates of birth changed, and there's some official guidance on it. Coram know the most, I think.

If you are able to get the NHS and social services to work on another birth date, that's a very good start. The community paediatrician might be the first person to talk to.

I managed to secure a delay to reception for my summer born - he will be starting school in reception at compulsory school age. There are others that have achieved this too. There is a group that I would advice you join.

Also funding doesn't depend on what year group a child is in as a child is not on roll in a year group, but on roll at the school. The DfE has confirmed this, so funding would not be an issue for the school.

www.facebook.com/groups/121613774658942/

Banana, it does become a problem when the child is due to move up to their next school if the arrangement is not agreed by the LEA.

So if a child who should be in yr 2 is in yr1 & continues his education a yr behind his correct peer group he will be expected to move to high school with his yr 6 group when in fact he has always been part of the yr 5 group. Effectively missing a yr of primary education & not really having firm friendships with his own yr group.

That's why it MUST be formally agreed by the LA otherwise the child is left in an awful situation

Oh yes. It's a decision for the admissions authority. The DfE's recently published guidance states this:
"Q9. If a child is educated outside of their normal age group whilst in primary school, what happens when they move to secondary school?
A9. It will be for the admission authority of the secondary school to decide whether to admit the child out of their normal age group. Admission authorities must make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case, and will need to bear in mind the year group the child has been educated with up to that point."

The DfE have a steering group that are currently monitoring this issue and I think an admissions authority would be hard pushed to say that skipping a year could be in a child's best interests.

maindoors

That guidance was a collaboration between the DfE, BLISS and parents from this group:

www.facebook.com/groups/121613774658942/

The group has been campaigning for some time, has the support from other organisations and Annette Brooke MP, who has raised and continued to persue this issue in Parliament.

For info, I have seen an email today from the DfE which states ".....it is the government's view that there should not need to be any exceptional reasons for a summer born child to be admitted to the reception class rather than year one at age 5.."

It can be done and is being done, all above board with admission authorities, it's sometimes a bit of a battle but should become easier as the DfE are monitoring this issue and unlawful admission arrangements very closely.

summerbornchildren.org/home-2/

Just to second the group bananas is mentioning, lots of excellent advice - I've an aug baby with development delay due to a hypoxic event during labour and the advice is helping us delay her start in Reception.

I have a child out of year and it's the best thing we ever did for him - good luck.