Starting school ... can we wait a year?

[AnnikaHansen]

DS2 has ASD and is due to start school in September, a few days before he turns 5.

He currently attends an SN nursery and although we are trying to sort an EHCP, the process has been hellishly slow, mostly due to lack of communication and the proper paperwork on nursery's part.

We would like DS to go to the local special school. DS1 also has ASD and had a horrible time at mainstream. He was essentially expelled at the beginning of Year 1, and this special school has been a real turning point for us. But of course getting DS2 into this school is going to be tough as it's oversubscribed and the LA never want to pay for special school places round here anyway. Bracing myself for another nervous breakdown!

A couple of kids at the nursery have been able to do their reception year at the nursery, and I kind of assumed we would do the same, mostly to give us more time to sort the EHCP and then do all the appeals we need to do.

But I've come to realise that those other kids have summer birthdays, one in May and one in August. Does anyone know if DS having a September birthday will preclude him from this option?

Thanks :)

There is new guidance specifically about summer born babies being able to defer a year and this includes some comment on children with sen. But you can apply for a child to go into a different year group at any time - such requests are usually refused as council may see it as having pay for a child for an extra year - sometimes they make you skip a year later on.
Your child can stay at nursery in any event until the term after they are 5 - so Jan 17
If you want to defer beyond then you need council to agree.
You need to write to council sch admissions and set out your reasons why you want to defer.
You might need to apply for sept 16 place anyway in case the council don't decide the deferment before they allocate places (you can always give up a place)
The council should say whether it agrees to defer or not. If it does agree get it clear in writing this means can go into reception class in sept 17 (not a year 1 class). Then you can apply on same basis as everyone else a year later even if you don't get EHCP.
If the council doesn't consider it properly or delays you can complain to local Govt ombudsman
Hopefully you will get EHCP sorted by this time next year anyway.
Look at school admissions code and Govt guidance on summer born / sch admissions