PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO READ PARENTS’ COMMENTS.
Please write to us with your experiences (example questions only below):
Have you been able to delay your child’s entry into reception class?
Are you facing/ did you face opposition from your local school and/or local education authority?
Why do you want your child to wait an extra year before starting school?
What has been the reaction from other parents or family members?
Have you been denied the opportunity to delay your child’s entry into reception but decided to defer their starting date until late in the reception year?
If you have an older child whose entrance into reception was delayed, are you happy with this decision or do you have any regrets?
If possible, please tell us the area you live in, as we’d really like to build up a picture of what is happening around the country. If you’ve had a positive experience with a very supportive school, please provide the name of that school, as we think it’s important to highlight good practice and to demonstrate that WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY.
summerbornchildren 
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Pauline,
We are the couple mentioned in the Parliamentary debate, Mr and Mrs Slade, our daughter Ava, started school in reception today aged 5 years and 7 days.
After a 2 1/2 year battle with our local authority, Reading Borough Council, we eventually got their approval to off set.
Because we applied to a faith school we had to get approval from the board of Govenors at the school whilst also fighting our LA for their approval. The school Govenors allowed us to present our case and then debated behind closed doors. We received their approval that same night.
We contacted our council in advance of this, and were told to write stating our case, which would be reviewed and a decision given, we waited. We contacted them again and were asked to get evidence and support from our nursery head, she obliged and sent the information required. We went back and forward like this with the admissions team for over a year. We were then told we would have to apply for a school place at the allotted time but that it was only a clerical requirement and we would have a decision before the school places were allocated. This did not happen and we were offered a place for our daughter at our preferred school ( the same school our son attends). We eventually got a meeting with the head of admissions to state our case – we were given more hoops to jump through.
We had many meetings with the council, and their lawyers ( they were attempting to frighten us off), but we continued with our request.
The main point we kept asking the council was for them to justify why they felt it was acceptable for our daughter to cope at school and not thrive as every other child is given the opportunity to.
Eventually, 2 weeks before school was due to start ( August 2012) we got written confirmation from RBC, that they had agreed to off set our daughter.
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Hi,
It sounds like you may be some what of an expert in this process. I am currently waiting on a date to present our case to the Board, of a faith school regarding our summer born 4 year old daughter (2010), not starting reception class until 2015. it is however being met with some resistance and if I am honest, a lack of knowledge around the area. The term ‘opening the floodgates’ seems to be a real fear with the LA.
Any advice to help our case would be most welcomed.
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Hi Richard. Did you have an educational solicitor? I’m just looking into appointing one. Similar circumstances to yours however our daughter had complex special needs and has a statement; but they’re dtoll saying she’ll “cope”. Well done to you for fighting!! I intend to until we get the answer we desperately want!
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Hello – I have an August born 3 year old boy and I’m exploring options to delay entry to reception by 1 year having been entirely convinced by the research in this area as well as my own experience in school and beyond as an end of July baby. Given the limited options in the state sector, I’ve started looking at independent schools. They are somewhat more receptive but I wondered if anyone had experience of going this route ? Are the out of year children like this treated any differently by teachers or their classmates ? And does playing on school sports teams become impossible because of age cut offs ? Any other downsides ?
Any advice appreciated and I’m happy to help campaign on this issue.
Best wishes,
Lesley Gorman
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Thank you for getting in touch Lesley. Please visit the facebook group at the link above as there may be parents who have experience of private school admissions. Best of luck!
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I am seeking deferred entry for my daughter. The resistance we have faced so far from independent schools is their concern over whether, in the future, secondary schools will object to taking her “out of year” (we plan to stay in the independent sector for secondary). i would be very grateful for nay help in countering this.
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Hi Lesley,
Did you get your answers? I have got same questions, couldnt manage to read feedback from facebook.
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My son was born 20th August, 3 weeks before his due date. He is now in a mixed year 1/2 class and has gone from a happy bright reception child to a sad, nervous and tearful child who does not enjoy learning. Had I known I could apply for him to start a year later, I would have and I would urge any parent with an August baby to do so. It is always best for a child to be top the class even if a low ability one, than to be bottom of a high ability class. He is 2 years behind most of his class and has therefore been placed in the low ability groups in each area, had he been allowed to enter reception class this September he would be enjoying the confidence of knowing that he is normal, not ‘rubbish at everything’. He also struggles physically with his peers in pe and emotionally is not ready to deal with the banter and physicality of older children. I feel extremely frustrated and wish I could turn back the clock for us all and get back my bright little sparky boy back.
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Hi Chloe,
My son was born on August the 29th and started reception in 2009 having turned 4 that same week. We were advised by the school that we could defer entry but he would go straight into Year 1 and this was a concern to us.
My son, as yours, did not do well in the early years at school and we have recently put him through a learning support system called Toe by Toe which I cannot rate highly enough.
Additionally, this year he was held back in a Year 3 class as there simply aren’t enough classrooms in the school and for the first time in his school life, he is achieving good results and ‘not flagging up on the school’s radar as a concern’ but this is for Year 3 work and not Year 4 as he should be in.
My husband and I are very keen to see if our son can remain in this year group going forward to he has a chance of feeling achievement in his schooling.
I’m off to join the Facebook page now.
Kind regards,
Jo Preston
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All fingers cross for you all
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Hello, I have recently just moved to London, Ealing, my son in born on the 19th of august 2008, back at home he would still be in kindergarden and only start reception class next year in september. I understand from our local school admission council that he must join a year one class now, and next year move forward to year 2. He doesn’t speak english at all, and that would only add to the disadvantage. What can I do? Is there a law I can use? A guideline? I really don’t want him to play catch up from various points of view in the years to come.
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Do you have a facebook account at all? If you do, please click on the link above and join a very supportive group of parents who share your concerns and who are facing very similar issues with regard to exercising parental preference about when and how their child is educated.
If you’re not on facebook, please let me know. Thank you.
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Here in plymouth Devon we were able to defer our sons start to the new year with the admissions teams full backing. It was the school we struggled with as the head teacher was only concerned with not receiving the funding for him until the next year. We have heard disturbing reports that summer born children attending the same school last year having to have outside extra tuition to keep them to the level of their peers ( unrealistic expectation of the school) We certainly do not want this for our 4 year old, why should he be at a disadvantage because he was born during the summer. Please let’s get this sorted out for future generation of summer borns.
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Hello, my oldest son is now 23 years old, his birthday is 18 July and so had to start school in January 1995 (joining Sept-Feb born children who’d also had the advantage of a full term in a smaller group!) when he was 4 and half. He was immature and really only wanted to play. He isn’t academic so struggled with most subjects. By the end of year 2, he was falling behind so the school put him through the learning support scheme and was I felt the need to tutor him in order to keep up.
Had I opted to delay his starting school, he’d have to have joined the year 1 class, which I felt would’ve held him back further. Had he been able to start school in reception at age 5, he may well have had the same educational challenges, but I feel he would’ve been more mature and ready for school.
Having said all that, I also had two younger children to look after so it did suit me to get one off to school as soon as possible, but I quickly came to realise that this didn’t suit my son. There would need to be longer than 2.5 hour play group/nurseries available for parents in similar circumstance.
My son is a very determined/focused individual who has gone on to do very well educationally, GCSE’s/Alevels/degree/masters so he is a success, but I feel, like lots of other parents, that the early start for him could’ve gone the other way for him and driven him away from school/education.
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We are parents of a August born 3 year old girl. Our daughter was also born 12 weeks early due to pre eclampsia so she should have been born in November. Had she been born at term she would be going to school in 2015 but due to her prematurity she is expected to go to school in september this year. She will be up to 15 months younger than the other children she is expected to start school with and will actually be developmentally still 3. She is physically tiny compared to children due to go to school with her in september.
We have been in constant discussion with our local education authority to try and delay her school start until 2015 ( basically when she would have started school had she been born term) with no success. Our local authority has complete control over school admissions and our two local schools are reluctant to even discuss the matter with us and tend to just shrug their shoulders.
The authority has a ‘process’ where once you have applied for a school place you can apply to have that place ‘deferred’. This process involves a group of ‘professionals’ looking at information from pre school/nursery/child care ( progress towards early learning goals) and making a decision without even meeting us or our child. The default position for the authority is to send the child to school after they turn 4 unless they have ‘obvious emotional or developmental delays’. Just being a summer born ( and even an extremely premature baby) is not enough.
We have decided that we feel so strongly that our daughter should not go to school next year that we have not applied for a school place and are not engaging in the authority’s deferral process ( there is no right to appeal if we don’t succeed). However this approach leaves us no choice but to sign up to an independent school ( who are sympathetic with our situation and will take our daughter in 2015 ). We can not afford this but hope that the law will change in our daughters favour so maybe in a few years she might be able to move back into the state system without a battle with the authority again.
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I don’t know if our experience would help others. With the help of the pre school our son attended we were able to get an educational psychologist involved in the process, he backed our decision to defer with solid evidence that son would benefit. Talk to your pre school/nursery to see if they can sign post you in the right direction or help you in any way. To add our son has no educational needs other than his age is against him so I was surprised that a psychologist would be needed but it did help.
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Thank you for posting your experience because it has given me hope. I have been told by our two local schools that unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’ and severe special needs then my child (August 22nd birthday) must start school in 2015 to be able to be in her ‘correct’ year group. Both the Head’s said we had to justify to the parents of the children who are ‘rightly’ entitled to a place in 2016 that my child should be there-essentially saying she was taking one of their places, but surely there is a place available 2015 that is going spare?? Did you give the psychologist report to the school or the LEA?
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Hi Beth
I too have a prem little one( 8 and a bit weeks early). We have been given all kinds of different information from the LA and ended up applying for a school place for this Sept 2014 as we were told to get a school and then just defer it for a year. Of course having done this I was then informed by yet another person from our LA this was not the correct process. We are now in the middle of the ‘out of year application’ with does HAVE to take into consideration premature children.
We have decided, like you, that our son will not be going to school this year 2014 or if our case is unsuccessful will also not be starting him in yr 1 next year.
Depending on your work situation home schooling is a great alternative. I’m sure you’ve looked into this but please don’t feel despairing that there are no other options and you would have to struggle to pay Independant school fees.
I hope too that the law will change soon but until the good luck. x
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It’s quite a relief hearing other peoples’ experiences and finding this group after reading the article on the BBC. Our daughter daughter was born on the 16th August and will be 5 this year. She is profoundly deaf and has bilateral cochlear implants to help her to hear. After a long, exhausting battle with our local authority about schools, access to services and support we decided to move to Scotland.
Our local authority Trafford do not have any support provision for deaf/ hearing impaired children, such as a resource base linked to a mainstream school and did not want to fund for our daughter to access this provision outside the authority. We had to choose between pursuing a case for starting school outside of her chronological age or her support needs in relation to my daughter having a hearing and speech delay of over 2 years. Our priority was ensuring that she was in an environment where there was a good level of deaf awareness and some signed input. After a long battle with this we were prepared to negotiate and settle for our daughter attending the local mainstream school where most of her friends were going and for her to start outside of chronological age which really just meant that she would have been 2 weeks older than a child IN chronological age. However across the authority starting with the local school each Headteacher opposed the idea of her starting outside of chronological age baring in mind that she has an August birthday and 2 years speech/communication/ language delay. Some schools were better than others at explaining how they would support her needs, other schools just didn’t hide the fact that the reason they didn’t allow this was nothing to do with our child’s needs but about money/ funding, statistics and league tables.
In this local authority parent input as to what would be best for their child was irrelevant, there were no negotiations, no flexibility, no taking into account my daughter’s extra support needs. Our options were; for my daughter to start school as one of the youngest in the year, in a class of 30+ children, with very little support (even though her first language up to the age of 2 was British Sign Language), her start school at the age of 5 going straight into Year 1 (without any of the transitions in school that most children go through in the Early Years such as nursery, reception), home school or move to a different country where children start school later and parents can have some input in their child’s education.
After an extremely difficult period of our lives (and not having any energy to battle any longer) we decided to move to Scotland in the Spring before our daughter was due to start school in September (in England). It was a tough decision to move away from all of our friends, family,support network to set up from scratch in a new place. We don’ t have friends or family here yet but our daughter can spend another year in nursery, and have the extra time we as parents feels she needs in order for her to start school on a level footing as her peers and is far more in a position to reach her full potential than to simply ‘cope’. She is in a lovely school that is very supportive and deaf aware. Here the cut off for the school year is around February time and all parents have the choice to defer when their children start school meaning that some children start school at 5 and a half years old or almost 6. Parents have a choice.
I would love to to see this happen in England.
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It’s a shame you’ve had to take such an action in order to provide your daughter with what she deserves.
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We have a summer son and we wanted him to be held back a year as he wasn’t ready for school, but we were told that he could not be held back a year; he could legally defer his entry for a year but would then have to join in year 1 and the school could not guarantee a place for him and of course he would have missed out on that first year of making friendships and settling in. The school was always over-subscribed so we couldn’t take the risk of holding him back unti year 1 and as we really only wanted him to go into the next years intake we ended up having to send him, full time, when he was just over 4 years old. It was traumatic for him (and us!) and we had a roller-coaster ride all through the infants.
In year 2 he was diagnosed with Autism and Dyslexia so now he had a triple whammy. We asked again about holding him back a year and again it was refused. (We have always felt a sense of disapproval at our even having the nerve to suggest such an idea!) Things improved in juniors because he had support but he never really fit into the class as he was lacking in social skills. The same issues apply moving to High School, he had just turned 11, and he wasn’t ready for the independence. He is now in year 8 and although he finally enjoys school, he is still not on the same emotional and social level as most of his classmates and is still playing catch up! He has a high IQ but that is not reflected in his work and everything he does he needs to work at that much harder than other children in his year. Every milestone or stage in his life that he reaches – seems to be about a year behind those of his classmates! We anticipate facing the same issues when he moves on to college or university – the maturity won’t be there.
I’m posting this to support your campaign. It’s too late for my son now although he is a determined boy so will get there in the end – but I do still feel he would have fared better if he had started school with the next years intake.
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My son was born 12 wks premature and had to start school this year. He is struggling all around and I feel he would benefit from staying in reception another year. How do I approach this subject? I had no idea that I could delay it.
Thank you for any replys
Jo_thackery@yahoo.co.uk
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My August-born twins started Reception this year, having just turned four (we live in Devon). The school strongly discouraged me from deferring. I was not told that they were able to start Reception when they were five. I was also told that they had to go full-time after their first half-term.
They do enjoy school but it is a struggle for them and they get exhausted. I do give them extra days off just so they can rest. My son is small for his age and he does get overwhelmed by the fact that many of the children are a lot larger than him – it is intimidating! My daughter is very grown-up, but she also gets very frustrated as many of her friends are almost a year older than her and tend to baby her. She really wants to keep up, both socially and in her learning but, of course, she can’t all the time. Their teachers are lovely and don’t push them hard but I think moving into year one next year would be a real shock for them. They are both managing and are learning to read, but it is a struggle for them. My older son was an October baby and almost five when he started reception, and he seemed to learn to read effortlessly. There is a huge difference in their experiences, which is not surprising given the age gap. There are massive developmental differences between a child who has just turned four and a child who is almost five.
We are soon going to be moving back to New Zealand, where the start age for school is a bit later and there is more fluidity between year groups. I think if we were staying here, I would be worried about how they would cope as they move through the year groups. I also think, had I known we were going to be leaving this year, I would have kept them in nursery (where they were thriving) for another year. They are both bright children but I think the odds are always going to be stacked against them when they are forced to start from such a young age and are so much younger than many of their peers. As the person above said, I want to see my children thrive and reach their full potential, not to merely cope.
It is great to see an effort being made to inform parents of their options.
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Our five year old August born son is now in reception class after we delayed his schools start. His transition into school went so smoothly and I feel he is truly thriving.
We had applied for a school place for him at four although it has to be said this went against my instincts. In October 2011 I rang our LEA explaining he was ‘young for his age’ and we didn’t feel it was in his best interests to start school at four. We were told we had no option, children must start at four and if theybdintbtgey must go straight into year 1 (something they acknowledged was bit in his best interests). I was told that only in cases of extreme SEN would they consider a delayed start and being summer born is not considered a special need. Their advice was to apply for a place just in case he progressed and I reluctantly did so believing inhalers no other option. When he was offered a place at the same school as our older son in April 2012 we still believed he wasn’t ready and I immediately contacted the school to discuss other options. I was met by the deputy head who was also the reception class teacher and SEN coordinator. The meeting centred around reassuring me that I had nothing to worry about, her child was summer born and although he struggled at first ended up doing really well. Besides I apparently didn’t have much choice since in our region all children must start at 4. I left the school feeling like an over-anxious parent and against my better instincts accepted the place.
As September drew closer my anxiety grew. Ashton still napped in the afternoon a few times a week, he had no interest in mark making and when he could be persuaded to even hold a pencil he’d hold it awkwardly in his fist. Although he had a fairly laid back personality his behaviour would deteriorate when he was over tired or if he spent long periods of time away from home. I felt strongly that he would not cope with full time school with only 2 teachers for a class of 30. I was wrecked with guilt at the thought of putting my little boy into a situation he wasn’t ready for.
I had expressed my concerns to friends on Facebook and in July 2012 someone tagged me in a link to the Google group set up by Stefan Richter. I can’t remember who it was who tagged me but my family owe them so much gratitude because the information and support we got from there changed everything.
I read through some of the posts and realised we could request a reception class for Ashton at five. This seemed like the ideal solution – I’d always said that Parents of August born children should be given a choice about what year their children should start school considering their birthdays weren’t even during the school year. Apparently we did (and so did other summer borns) it was just no-one wanted us to know about it!
After sharing my story, members of the group advised me on steps to take to delay my sons school start. I gave up the place my son had been offered and started negotiating with the school and LEA. Unfortunately the school wouldn’t budge and even said the legislation and points from the admissions code (which they refused to read when I met with them) which supported out request didn’t applybtonth because they followed their own policy and that of the local policy. Again the meeting we had with them centred on convincing us to send him immediately. They insisted they needed an answer straight away and were reluctant to let us leave until we agreed. In the end we had to agree to consider it just do we could leave!
We wrote a formal letter explaining our reasons for delaying and requesting a reception class start. A week or so later the admissions team met (this was the head teacher and the parish priest – no other governors) and decided tht Ashton should start immediately but on a part time basis! They had not considered our request at all. In the weeks that followed we realised that there was no point perusing a place at that school – we had been patronised and misled by senior teaching staff and we don’t feel comfortable putting any more of our children in that school. This meant we had to decide whether to move our older son but as he was by then in year 3 and settled we decided it was bit in his best interest to move him. Ultimately we were pushed into a situation where our boys would have to go to different schools.
I immediately contacted another local catholic school and was told they would be willing to educate Ashton in reception class at 5 in theory but we would have to wait until all other applications had been processed to see if there was a place left over. Although the school was usually under subscribed and odds were in our favour this still seemed very unfair. It meant that the over subscription criteria would not be applied to him and a child who otherwise would have had less right to a place in that school would get in because Ashton was deemed 26 days too old. I rang the DFE and was told this seemed a very confused way of doing it and we should be able to make an application and have it considered alongside everyone else. In the meantime the school spoke to the council and withdrew their offer of teaching Ashton in reception – instead he would be placed in year 1 and be taught the reception class curriculum. I rang another 2 schools which were both LeA – 1 refused to speak to me until they’d had advice from the LEA and the other said they wouldn’t be happy to put him straight into year 1 but couldn’t agree without councils agreement. The council said no to both of them despite reassuring me they would not stand in the way of a school agreeing to our request.
I made an application before the deadline anyway but they refused to process it stating that none of the schools had agreed to my request. It was a catch 22 situation – the schools couldn’t agree because the council wouldn’t let them and the council wouldn’t process our request because the schools hadn’t agreed!
I made a formal complaint and contacted the LGO for support. My case was passed on to a senior member of staff who wrote to me asking for evidence that it was in Ashton’s best interests to start his education in reception. We never felt Ashton had any SEN – he was just a young child who needed more time to play and time to develop some of the skills necessary to thrive in school. Never the less his nursery had assessed him as ‘performing below age related expectations’ so we use this to our advantage an also got a letter of support from our GP who explained that Ashton had allergies which contributed to his need for rest. On May 4th 2013 we got the news we’d been waiting for – Ashton would begin school in reception class in September 2013! As luck would have it the school could accept up to 22 children although their usual intake was 15 – there were places left and Ashton just managed to get one! I was do happy I cried. Months and months of letters, phone calls and emails which lead to dead ends and even an accusation of libel were finally over – we’d done it!
There is still the chance that the head may want to ‘catch him up’ once he reaches KS2. She has suggested I contact secondary schools at that time and if they’re not willing to continue the arrangement they’ll work with him. I’m not happy with that arrangement and I will continue to fight to keep him with that cohort if necessary but for now we can relax a little but. My hopes are that in the meantime the DfE change the admissions code so that this pressure is taken away. We live in hope!
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My daughter turned 4 in July and started school in September. Over the 14 week term she experienced increasing stress and exhaustion to the point where we have temporarily taken her out with the support of our GP.
If school readiness is merely a tick box exercise she would get top marks. Despite being one of the youngest in the year she could dress, undress and toilet by herself. She knew the phonetic alphabet, her numerals to 10, could count and write her name. She was extremely happy at nursery being highly sociable and playing with children of any gender and age. At home she is able to entertain herself and concentrate on activities for long periods of time.
We were thrilled when she got a place at a village school with small classes and congratulated her and ourselves as she cheerfully marched in each day. However with six hour days she soon became tired and the school, prioritising their attendance figures, showed little interest in how much she was struggling.
At 4 years and 2 months our daughter was simply too young for school, physically and emotionally not ready for such a gruelling schedule. While I am sure there are just-turned-four-year-olds that can cope there are many who will not. We need flexibility in the school system that recognises the children as individuals and has the capability of ensuring a fantastic start for everyone.
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Since my last post our sons health has nosed dived with two trips to the GP and still unexplained symptoms we were wondering if exhaustion could be the answer. I’m so glad I read your post thank you.
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This is all very good, but how do you actually challenge the Local Authority or the school? Yes, they are breaking the law and getting away with it – but WHAT DOES ONE DO? Go to court? And what? Hire lawyers? What lawyers? And where to find the money to pay them? And how long the proceedings will take? A year? Two years? The situation is SURREAL. My friend’s daughter was 4 in August and forced to start reception in September. It is a spectacular failure – she is just too young and only struggling there. WHY DO WE NEED A CAMPAIGN TO MAKE THE AUTHORITIES OBEY THE LAW? Isn’t is something they should do by principle?
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she can receive nursery funding up until the age of 5 , she also has the right of appeal all councils have an appeal policies . Not only that but no one actually has to send a child to school , she could home educate until she feels ready for her child to enter the school system . I hope this helps , i too face an interesting battle ahead of me but no one is forcing me to do anything i do not want for my child .
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My kids are both summer born, older one went straight into Y1, not sure about younger one but would like to have the option to decide nearer the time.
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My son is a July boy with disabilities whose birthday puts him in Year 1. None of is disabilities are so severe that he needs a statement but altogether they add up. He’s hated school since January of Reception, when the learning seemed to get more ‘formal’. He’s persistently negative about himself as a learner and hates going to school in the mornings. Every morning is a battle.
We are moving house and our new local school is an academy; after two (long) meetings with the Head and Principal they have agreed for him to join the Reception class which is where we feel he belongs. We had to provide a lot of paperwork from his various doctors and went through the DfE guidance with a fine tooth comb before the meetings.
He’s been for a taster day and loved it.
They will keep reviewing the situation and I realise that we may have problems when it comes to secondary transfer but I feel we have to make things better for him now or we risk putting him off school for life.
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I am a mum with two children. My son is seven and a half; he was born in 2006 July. My daughter is four years old. I was born in Hungary and had all my education, primary / secondary / gymnasium and university there. I have been living in the UK for 15 years. My son started reception class in 2010, when he just turned into 4 years old. (In Hungary he would have started school in this school year 2013 September.) Here in the UK he is in year four! I was completely shocked when they started to learn reading and writing at reception class in November. I think most of the problems and failures of school education are caused by the too early start. My son loves his school, his teachers and classmates. The teachers do their best and they give all the support and help they can, but the time kids would be really interested in, for example, reading, the ones who started too early, and were immature, are put off because of the early start.
I have read many articles about this issue trying to figure out and learn more about the school system in England. This country is so flexible about everything, why primary education is so rigid that the only thing which is taken into account when a child is admitted to school is his / her date of birth?
4-5 year’s old children learn their environment, their world and the rules of their environment and world through play. The children abilities (biological, mental, physical) in these age groups are very different. For example fine motor skills are not developed fully in that age so pushing a child who is 10 months younger to do the same writing or reading as 10 months older classmates is cruel. Teachers do not compare students but the kids do, they compare themselves to each other. They do see and feel the differences and they are unaware of the reasons.
If children are expected continuously to do things which are over their ability it can cause failure, and if this failure repeats itself often it can cause despair, inhibition, obstinacy.
Children are so different at the age of four. Some is ready for school, but I think the majority is not. Why summer borns can not start school one year later? That would lead to a much more consistent performance within the classes, which would help the teachers and the students to accomplish the learning process together.
In Hungary (sorry to refer this country as an example constantly, but I have experience there) the cut off date for starting school was changed from 31st of August to 31st of May for the above reasons. With this change the possible age difference between the children in the same class still remained 364 day, but the youngest child’s age, who would start school, increased from 6 years (born 31st of August) to 6 years and 3 months (born 31st of May).
Why parents do not have the right to decide what is the best time for their children to start school? I think it would be great if parents, with all the other professionals’ help, who are involved with the child (nursery teachers, pedagogy consultancies, health professionals, social workers, GPs…), would be able to postpone their children’s school starting date if it was necessary.
I have friends in Hungary, their children go to school in year 2. I was able to compare their books with what is taught for my son in year 2 here in the UK. Surprisingly I found there were not many differences in topics (addition, subtraction, multiplication) but there was one BIG difference; they are 2 years older than my son.
I would like my son to be successful and happy during his 12 years in primary and secondary education. I raised my concerns about him, who is the youngest in the class, to the class teachers every year at parents’ evenings and I was told that these differences would disappear by the age of 8. So 4 years struggle and be positive…
What would an adult do if he offered a job which he could not be able to do properly because of a physical, psychological reason for four years and then he would be told ; do not give up, only four years struggle then it will be great.??? Well, I think s/he would quit.
Fortunately my son is doing OK at school and has more positive than negative experiences. But last year he came home sometimes saying he was the most stupid student in his class. I feel that he would have had a much better and happier life during these 3 years if I could have postponed his school entry with another year.
Yours faithfully,
Mona Juta
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My daughter was born on 31st August 2011 and is due to start school September 2015. She has a language delay and will be in no way ready to start school next year. Her sister has a September birthday and has thrived since starting reception class next year. I just want them to both have the same start to school. I wondered if anyone who has been through the appeals process has any advice on the best place to start? Many thanks
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Hi Sinead
I also have a son born in the same day and as it happens just trying to write a letter to out LA stating our reasons why would like to defer a year. How did you get in and did you get your daughter deferred.? I am trying to figure out the best approach to them as i could write a whole book about the reasons why not take him this year but also want a positive result from out LA and dont think that the essey would do it. Its so hard as you are wanting them to understand you but what if i dont have GP letters, professionals recommendation, nursery teacher report to support my case? Its so unfair as as a mothers we know whats the best for our children and they should trust our decisions. Anyway thanks in advance.
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I have a summer born son and am in the process of deferring his entry to reception by a year. I am writing to the council but have had lots of talks with people and rad forums. My biggest worry is will he be teased for being outside his year group one day!? I live in Sheffield and the school is Greystones. There is new legislation out now saying you can defer summer born children by a year and so am hoping I will be successful
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My son was born 30 August 2010 and is due to start his reception year in September. Although physically well prepared for school, and having three older brothers and sisters at home, I seriously object to the lack of choice for start of school career – especially when he was 4 weeks premature at birth. The LEA (Suffolk) just turned me down flat for a postponement of reception year. I myself was August born, with similar home situation. The biggest problem I faced was bullying; the emotional side was just less developed – despite good pre school and infant school experiences. It took a lot of self determination to carry on through school with bullying so intense – which has made me self reliant and a bit ‘aloof” in adulthood – you just find it had to enter trust relationships with others, which hinders the making of friendships.
The Headmistress of our small rural school is all for flexibility as far as she is allowed to take it – although there is still a pressure to start school from this quarter. So far we have agreed that he will remain with his private nursery in the autumn term – but be a regular visitor to the school, with ‘taster mornings’ and me and him joining school for Assemblies when possible. She’d prefer him to be in Reception full time from January – but she is happy to send him home early two or three afternoons a week (after afternoon register) if he is tired. As far as she is concerned we will do what is right for the child (within the existing framework).
There are pluses to being summer born in a year cohort. Being youngest gave me a feeling of success – I was a bright pupil, and I was achieving lots of things before others – and started university only 6 weeks after turning 18. I still have that feeling of being ‘young’ MANY years later! But I would probably have deferred the year of his school entry if I had the choice – I just don’t have the time or energy to fight the system myself. So please do keep campaigning – I don’t see that the change costs the government anything – especially in these days when our children seem not to start their ‘careers’ until their early twenties – either due to extended education or un/ under employment.
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I live in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and I was an early years teacher for the authority. I was teaching a reception class when the start dates moved from a 3 term intake to a September and January only intake. I saw children enter my class who I felt would have benefitted from staying in nursery for longer, though not all and some Summer born children thrived on the extra challenge from being in Reception.
I went on to have a daughter born in July 2004 and by the time she was due to start school I felt she was not ready. She was suffering bouts of ill health – I had just been diagnosed with coeliacs disease and we were concerned she was suffering something similar, the medical investigations were taking time and were unlikely to be resolved before she was due to start school. I had done further research into Summer born children starting school and I had concerns from my previous experience with children entering school younger.
We approached our local school who agreed without any resistance to her starting later in the year at Easter. As the date got nearer I did more research and I became more convinced she would benefit from starting school in September in Reception at 5. I was told that would only be possible if she started in Year 1 and as it was an over subscribed school she would be unlikely to keep her place.
We began to talk to the local admissions team who had a very different attitude towards us (as this was 6 years ago it may be very different now!). They were not sympathetic and through the conversations I began to feel I was being over protective and neurotic for requesting my child start later. The information they gave was technical and legal and I started to worry I would end up in a serious situation for not following proceedure (it was now Easter and my daughter had not started school).
In desperation we approached a local independent school and they were fantastic. They allowed my daughter to start in Reception aged 5 with no questions asked. She has remained in her year group and is now just finishing year 4. She has been really happy in school and made great progress. She is a clever girl and being in the year below has not held her back and she isn’t bored with her work. She has lots of friends and doesn’t have any social difficulties from being slightly older. Physically she is just the right size in her year (though would be small in her correct year) and her physical skills are just like her classmates in PE. She still has bouts of ill health which are not explained but I don’t have to worry she is falling behind as she copes well with her work. There are other children in school who are out of year and it is prefectly accepted.
We did experience negativity from family and we were under a lot of pressure to change our minds. I’m so glad we stuck to what we believed but it’s such a shame we had to go to the independent system.
Our next big decision is whether we start the discussions again over when she will start secondary education in our local state school or find a way to finance a private secondary education as well.
The recent talk in the press about Summer born children makes me hopeful they may be more receptive now. Does anyone know if this new information will help us as this will not be an issue for the secondary schools for a number of years yet?
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Hello, my son is 3 turning 4 on the 31st august. He was born 6 minutes to midnight. As well as being one of the youngest, he has some additional problems. I have been trying to move his chronological year so he will start foundation year in 2015 but we have had difficulty with the council on this. Where can I get more help or advice please?
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Hello,
I have just successfully convinced by LA (Sheffield City Council) to allow my Son to start reception next year when he will be 5yrs and 3 weeks old. When I initially contacted his allocated school, the staff did not believe that this would be possible and tried to put me off by telling me all the strategies that they have in place to help the summer born children. This is all well and good but I don’t want my son to merely ‘cope’ in reception but to thrive and be happy. So I convinced the school staff to contact the LEA and ask the question. The LEA confirmed that admissions authorities must consider requests to delay entry into reception. I wrote a letter to the LEA outlining all our reasons for wanting to delay entry to reception (or should I say, wait until the LEGAL AGE of school entry). They responded with a letter saying that this is possible but outlined a number of reasons why him being out of his chronological age group could be damaging! For example: emotional impact of being ‘different’ and that he may begin puberty at a different time to his classmates and this may be confusing etc… I responded with a letter saying that after taking all into account and the fact that if born 3 weeks later, non of the above ‘issues’ would be a problem (!!) we still think that it is best for him to start reception at 5yrs and 3 weeks. All paperwork has been sent to the school and we just have to reapply next year. So glad to have it sorted and to have another year with my little boy before he has to go to school. One pleased Mummy xxx
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Have you been in contact with your local authority. As that’s where we started, they gave me some information. We were only able to delay our sons start date but it was worth it.
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So pleased to hear of a success story x
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It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a
doubt donate to this fantastic blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for
book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google
account. I look forward to fresh updates and will talk
about this blog with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
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Hello, We are in Haringey Council in London with a 21 July 2010 boy who was born 3 weeks early. The Council has said we could “defer” (i.e., skip entirely) his Winter/Autumn (September start) and Spring (i.e., January start) Terms Reception year until the Summer Term, but he would have to start in the Summer Term to secure his Year 1 spot. Is this legal? How can they force him to start at 4 to secure a place that he is entitled to by address and birth date? Any thoughts appreciated. I do plan on challenging this as a matter of principle.
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Hi – just wanted to share our experiences. Our son is a late august birthday and was due to start school today. He has not; he is at pre school. Our local primary school (lincolnshire) could not have been more helpful and supportive when we requested for him to start reception aged just 5 (next year). They supported our decision and confirmed in writing that if there was space,he would be accpeted into reception next year, within one week of our request. (obviously we still have to go through the same application process). The local council on the other hand were awful, saying we could not do this and that he would have to miss a year later on to ‘catch up’ with his cohort. They even said that we were going against the government policies and recomendations. Thankfully our local school is an academy, so the admission decision was with them.
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My son was 4 on 28 August 2014 and started reception in September. We are concerned that starting school at this age was the wrong decision and have been thinking about taking him out and defer entry until next year. Is this something that can be done? Has anyone any experiences or advice to offer on this issue?. Thank you in advance.
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My son was age 4 at end of July 2014 and also started reception in September.
We are also concerned that this was the wrong decision, but having done the research, it does seem that there is very little choice in the matter. At week 3 I had a meeting with the reception teacher and when talking about the options, she said he would not be allowed to re-enter reception next year, that he would have to re-enter school in year 1.
It seems the matter is almost worse once you are in school. There is no support/advice in place for parents faced with this situation.
As Laura has also posted above, there will be a percentage of parents faced with this situation.
It seems the educational system has no room for this situation.
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Hello
Our son’s birthday is at the end of July. As he is young for his age, we are keen that he starts in reception after he turns 5, in September 2016, rather than September 2015. Our education authority, Brighton & Hove, says “In exceptional circumstances, the authority can agree to admission into Reception, but parents would be expected to provide clear evidence that this would be in the best interests of the child”, but does not elaborate upon either the circumstances or the evidence required. I would be very grateful if you could provide us with any pointers.
One clear point in our favour is that we are brining him up bilingually, so his language development is slower than his monolingual peers.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Best wishes
John.
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Hello! My son was 4 on August 29th 2014. I’m being told by all schools that yes, I do have the right to put him in next year but to year 1. However, all year one classes near us are full. We live in Bromley and I’m about to call admissons (they are only open 3 hours per day so wish me luck!). I want him to go into reception at out very local (5 mins walk away) school. Has anyone else done this with success? It seems very churlish of the government to deny a child a place for the sale of being born 48 hours too early. Thanks in advance! Sarah.
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Check out flexible school admissions for summer borns on fb
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Hi. Have only just realised this is actually happening for some people and wondering if it is worth a go. My son is four on 24th August, has developmental delay, speech disorder and a number of other issues. Am in the process of EHCplan with the expectation he would start school Sept 15, but have just emailed his Ed Pysch to ask whether there is any way we can defer another year, giving him the chance to catch up with his peers. I am in Birmingham – any experience of trying this anyone? Thanks.
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Check out flexible school admissions for summer borns on fb
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Hi After a huge battle and with lots and lots of support (thank you) we have managed to delay our 4 year old daughter until compulsory school age. She was not ready at 4, we were not being overprotective parents (which was a regular accusation) we just wanted her best interests taken into account and for her to start school when she is legally supposed to (according to primary legislation). We had 6 months of extreme stress and anxiety while we battled through the system as our child does not have special needs we were told time and time again NO. However, sense won through and the LEA granted our request. We have just applied for her reception place and I can honestly say I was ok with completing the form this year, last year I was filled with dread. However, our school place options are limited as every time she changes school we will need to reapply for a delay so we can only apply for a primary school (infant and junior combined) and cannot risk changing her even if she is unhappy or we want to move. Secondary school is not guaranteed and we have been threatened with her skipping a year at this juncture – this is a risk we were willing to take and will battle again if need be. I still cannot understand why the Government continue to ignore primary law within the new admissions code and deny summer borns the right to a reception education at csa, I also cannot believe they are allowing the postcode lottery to continue.
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Thank you to everyone for sharing your experiences! I am currently also looking into delaying my son’s start in reception class by a year (also an August baby, he turns 4 in 2015). My son is very smart for his age, has a good vacublary etc, but is emotionally insecure. I am really worried that he will be emotionally and socially disadvantaged by going to school too early. I am thinking about taking him to a psychologist to get “evidence” that he should be allowed a delayed start as it appears, despite government “advice” to the contrary, that councils require some evidence before they will even consdier a request. Could anyone recommend a psychologist for that purpose? I have joined the Facebook group and am waiting to be allowed to join :-). Finally, we are moving to Colchester in January 2015, so anyone with experience with Essex/Colchester councils – I would really appreciate any information you are willing to share! TIA and good luck to all!
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My son is end of July born, I’ve been reading this and what strikes me as mad is that the delay to school start should be changed to be an option to defer to the next year thus allowing children’s parents to pick the year rather than choose that your children miss out a year.
In my experience all summer born children are discriminated against because they all miss at least 1 term right at the beginning due to their age and come into a group who is already ahead, making them feel inadequate right from the start (what ever their age/ability)
Rather than forcing children to suffer the age problem – that is like the elephant in the room and needs to be addressed properly – My suggestion would be, because, most schools are big enough to run 2+ groups from the beginning (one for Sept-March and one for Apr-Aug) they should, and they should only join them together when the AA group have truly caught up with SM – from reports this currently seems to be something like around 18-20 – so the AA’s end up taking their GCSE’s and A levels in January and there is nothing wrong with that. I did (I’m also a summer baby) and went from a D in A level Chemistry to an A! a 7 month gap before University is not such a bad thing either – I ended up volunteering instead. At Uni no one noticed the age gap, but it was certainly noticeable before that.
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Our school is considering allowing us to hold our August born daughter , who is now in year two, back a year. Does anyone know what would then happen when it comes to apply for a secindary place? I’ve heard rumours that she could be made to skip year 7 and be out straight Into year 8 , but would be grateful to hear other people’s experiences.
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My daughter started school in September, having turned 4 on 31st July 2014 (Newport, Gwent, South Wales)
I contacted my local education authority prior to this and was advised that my only option was to start her in September, or defer her place for a year, and start her in year 1, in September 2015. She has struggled in school, frequently crying at being left, and unhappy at being away from home for such a long period. Although, she is fine academically (at the moment), she is emotionally unprepared for the position she has been forced in to.
Having recently learned of the right to request entry into reception after she turns 5, I contact the LEA and asked them why I was not advised of this option. The response I have received is as follows:
“As your daughter does not turn five until 31 July 2015 you are able to defer her entry to school until later in this same school year. The effect is that the place at ******* School is held for your child and is not available to be offered to another child. You will not however be able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after your child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the 2014/15 school year. On this point it is important to note that in Newport, all children are taught in their chronological year group, unless exceptional circumstances apply, and therefore even if you decide to defer entry your child will not normally be permitted to repeat the Reception year and in September 2015 your daughter would enter the Year 1 group.”
When I asked for clarification on this matter – and ‘exceptional circumstances’, I was advised:
“Unfortunately, as the intake for a year group is those children born from 1st September – 31st August, there would be some children much younger than others in each academic year and this alone would not be treated as exceptional circumstances resulting in the admission of the child to the chronological year group.”
It is too late for my daughter, I feel pulling her out of school now and sending her back in September would be extremely detrimental to her, as would having her held back a year (if that was even possible). However, this matter does need to be addressed for other summer born children – all of whom are being forced into education, and to grow up far too early.
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Hi,
I have 2 children born 1/8/2007 and 2/8/2012. My oldest has struggled through his 4 years of school like I know my younger one will too. I mentioned to the head teacher yesterday morning about delaying the younger one starting reception and the change in the law and was bluntly told he new nothing about the change and they categorically would not allow that. I later spoke to the local council and was met with the same denial and that if I delayed the school application then when we applied the following year he would be given a place in year 1 at a school with a place which would probably not be our 1st choice. Already a brick wall!
Could you please direct me on where to find the hard evidence that shows that summer born children struggle through school so I can put a case together.
Thanks
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Hello
I’m an adult August-born child myself (born 10 weeks early – should have been end of October, so started school at Easter before I was 5, in the academic year above the one I should have been in if i’d been born on my due date, and had only a term in Reception class). I did reasonably well at school, leaving at just under 18 with a couple of A levels and deciding not to continue with university education having tried it for 2 terms. I was very young at just 18 compared to my peers.
Fast-forward 3 decades…. My son is also August-born (thankfully only a couple of weeks early, youngest in his year, but if he’d been a week later than his due date, he would have been eldest in the academic year below). He started school full-time from the start aged just 4 years at the school where he had gone to nursery previously, which has a very good transition process.
He loved school as it was familiar to him already. He was put in the lowest academic group at first, because he was youngest and it was presumed he couldn’t do much. By half-way through his reception year he had gone up a group. He was however very very tired at the end of a full school day and sometimes struggled to do his daily reading and phonics homework – not because he was academically unable but because he was younger by a full year and didn’t have the stamina. School still wanted him to do the homework, tired or not! By the end of year 1, he had gone up another group and was performing as well as children 9 months older than him who were always academically able. He is now storming his way through year 2 doing work the same as the eldest and most able in his class and loving being challenged.
I realise not everyone can be so fortunate. I would stress though that being youngest may not be a barrier provided the school works at the pace the child is ready for and allows them to find their own level. Had the school not listened to me saying my son was bored in the lower group and looked up to older more able children in his class and wanted to be with them, even if at the bottom of the lower group, because that’s where he felt comfortable, he may not be where he is today. Additionally I had to fight hard to get the school to recognise that aged just 4 he was not emotionally as confident as some of the other children and needed some support with that. He got the help with relationship building he needed and is now thriving. I also made sure I was able to pick him up from school at 3.30pm every day (unless he wanted to do a school club) to give him time to wind down and do homework without falling asleep in it. Not all parents can do this due to work commitments. School needs to support you and your young child with this.
Best of luck to you all.
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Both my children were summer born babies and would have done much better at school if they had been allowed to start a year later. Something needs to be done now we are failing these children just look at the number of summer born children who get to grammar schools or the top universities you will find most were winter born . Boys fair worst than girls and you will find that most teachers make sure their own children are winter born .No child should be taught with peers that are 6 months older than them this would solve the problem.
Good luck to all new parents entering the school system.
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My daughter was born on the 21st of august 2008 and is in year 2. I feel so frustrated because she is really behind in her class and at the lower end socially and academically. Even her teacher says based on her progress that she should be in year 1. I am at a loss now because she is already in the school system if I had known that being a summer baby would have a impact on her learning then I would have tried to defer her primary school starting date by a year. She was never ready to start school and each year she gets misunderstood by her teachers and is falling further behind. Her classmates are more advanced than she is socially and academically. It will put her at risk of low self esteem and bullying. I feel so sorry for her and don’t know what to do.
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I am having the same situation my little boy born 18th of August 2009 went in to school sept 2013 aged 4 and two weeks as I had just separated from his farther and couldn’t afford not to work and the child care bills. I’m now regretting my dessision as my son has gone from a quiet well behaved little boy to a frustrated, unsettled little boy, with low self esteem. Who doesn’t like going to school. As he is struggling to adjust to the structure and demands of y1 . And is rapidly falling behind, it already feels like he’s been labeled and written off by his school. A frustrated mum deeply regretting her dessision. My advice to anyone is defer defer defer. Please don’t put you child or yourself through the stress and upset. That this dessision can make. Any advice on how to deal with this situation would be much appreciated.
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My daughter was born in August 2008. We live in Richmond borough and didn’t have the option of delaying. We have asked for her to repeat year two but the school said no. They also said that even if they did let her repeat, she would have to jump back up to her ‘correct’ year group by year 6. So we are now moving her to an independent school.
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My advice –
1) Keep looking for a school which will let your child go into the year below, it’s better to move schools if you are going to do this, else children at her current school will make comments which will stick for life.
2) Buy the appropriate key stage revision guides and read them with her
My son is a summer born stuck in the bottom group and made to feel thick because of it, we’ve finally manged to move him up.
He went from a Maths 4b to a 6a over the summer and autumn term and used these guides to do it! He can now learn independently
The feeling of being thick because your peers are better than you, (because they are older) sticks you need to make sure that she realises the impact so it doesn’t make her feel inadequate. Good luck
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My son was born in July and started school in reception class at 4 years old. We’ve just had parents evening tonight which went well, however his teacher said she’d be keeping him behind in reception class to help him get up to speed in cerain areas come next September. I think this is good, as I wouldn’t want him to struggle going in to Year 1. He’s a confident, active little boy and a popular one at that. That said I’m worried that most of his class will be moving up, but he’ll be held back in reception, how do I explian to him why he not going up with his friends, I dont want him to think he’s not clever and I’d hate for him to loose confidence. His teacher told me he will have contact with Year 1, as they will all go swimming together, but it’s that separation from with subjects that I’m going to find hard to explain to him…..oh why can’t summer children start a year later!
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Our 24 wk boy was allowed to repeat reception in a faith school in North London. Allowing the board of governors ability to over throw Haringey’s adamant decision to send a child born on 6 Aug ( due 24 Nov) to school a year too early. The results were extraordinary. He was able to flourish as an equal. We then moved to Kent and they bumped him from year 1 to year 2. The results have been devastating. He is now in special needs classes as a measure to help him catch up. We are also sending him for an extra hours tutorial a week. His self esteem is shot to pieces and he is confused and has said things like” I have a stupid brain here mum”. So young to break the news to him that this is certainly not true but that the adults in authority who have taken this decision most certainly have. It is more than obvious these children are merely stats and budget victims and that there is no one with enough strength of character and work ethic to take on the challenge to create a precedent. We are doing everything in our power to move back to Muswell Hill to Our Lady of Muswell. Where a wonderful teacher taught him for a year then stuck her head above the parapet and spoke of it being immoral to expect a child to adapt to learning when they are not developmentally at the same stage as their classmates. Fundamentally setting the child up for failure.
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Our 24 wk prem boy was allowed to repeat reception in a faith school in North London. Allowing the board of governors ability to over throw Haringey’s adamant decision to send a child born on 6 Aug ( due 24 Nov) to school a year too early. The results were extraordinary. He was able to flourish as an equal. We then moved to Kent and they bumped him from year 1 to year 2. The results have been devastating. He is now in special needs classes as a measure to help him catch up. We are also sending him for an extra hours tutorial a week. His self esteem is shot to pieces and he is confused and has said things like” I have a stupid brain here mum”. So young to break the news to him that this is certainly not true but that the adults in authority who have taken this decision most certainly have. It is more than obvious these children are merely stats and budget victims and that there is no one with enough strength of character and work ethic to take on the challenge to create a precedent. We are doing everything in our power to move back to Muswell Hill to Our Lady of Muswell. Where a wonderful teacher taught him for a year then stuck her head above the parapet and spoke of it being immoral to expect a child to adapt to learning when they are not developmentally at the same stage as their classmates. Fundamentally setting the child up for failure.
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Hello
I am looking for some advice really.
My daughter will be 2 in June. I am very concerned about her starting school when just turning 4. When and how do I contact the local authority about starting her the next year. Does anyone actually get granted permission for their child to delay start and go into reception. Also when should I start this?
So many questions sorry!
Thank you
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