Deferred entry to primary school

[EatenTooMuchChocolateAgain]

Can anyone share their experiences if they deferred entry to school for their child, kept them in preschool for an extra year and they started school in yr1?

Considering options for an early July born girl, who’s very sensitive to her surroundings and cautious around other children. She’s just turned 3 and is really enjoying preschool currently, but takes a while to settle in new places.

Any pros or cons would be really helpful please 🙏

The head of our child’s prep school persuaded us not to delay our August born boy.

Big mistake, which we still regret. He is so young in himself (tho very popular and sociable) but he was behind academically throughout reception and year 1. Neurodivergent too. It’s been really hard.

Starting them in year 1 seems madness, they will have missed all of that first settling in year, she's joining as a new girl AND you will be reliant on a place being available in a school you want. Would you not just start her in Reception a year behind if considering this?

Are you in England?

Don't send her straight to yr 1 if you can avoid it - request to start reception at compulsory school age (September after she turns 5).

Have a look at "Flexible School Admissions for Summerborns (England)" on Facebook.

I agree not to go straight into year 1. The difference between there and reception is pretty big.
plus she’d miss out on phonics.

it takes all kids awhile to settle into reception, it’s new for them all but they do eventually get there.

We have a very shy summer born. If he had gone straight to reception he wouldn’t have coped so we did the opposite and purposefully started him early by putting him in a school with a nursery attached (they share a playground with R) so he had a year to settle pre reception. That’s worked really well and now I am confident he’s 100% ready for reception.

The issue for us might come with the jump from R to yr 1 as that’s a big one. But we will have to cross that bridge when it comes. He is smart so I hope it will be fine.

I've got a mid July child and we decided against deferring as I didn't want them to miss year R and go into year 1. He's the third youngest in his year.

Whilst the vibe is learning through playing in EYFS, they do start on phonics and maths so I'd be concerned about them missing the fundamentals and then struggling to understand it in year 1.

Also friendships begin in year R so when they start in year 1, they'll have to navigate established groups.

So we started in year R and it's the best decision we made. Yes there's been challenges such as handwriting due to strength in arm and emotional stuff as not as developed as his peers.

However we're just leaving year 6 and yes it's school dependent and support dependent but don't write off your child before they begin. Have faith in their ability and the support is there if you need it.

My child has flourished in KS2 and the dreaded SATS were a breeze and he's headed for greater depth in SPAG and reading.

Good luck!

Starting them in Y1 is madness.

If they genuinely need to be deferred then they should be deferred into YR. Y1 just puts them a year behind their classmates.

My DS2 was deferred. He was very prem and at the point he was due to start he was in 18-24m clothing, had about 25 words and had an average of 3 hospital appointments a month. I had to really fight to get him into YR the next year and only succeeded because it was agreed he should go with the group he should have been with if he’d been born when he should.

was the best thing for him. He was still behind his classmates, but managed through school well. It was definitely the right call for him.

Nursery felt my DS3 should be deferred, but I disagreed. we didn’t defer him and it was the right call.