# Would you defer school for one year in my situation



## Kmx

My son has just turned 4 (born November) and is due to start school next year (2016). 

Currently I live in England but will be moving home to scotland in the new year. In England he would be one of the oldest in the year by the way the school year works, in scotland he would be one of the youngest in the year. 

I have the option to defer his school entry to 2017 possibly. 

He is settled in a nuraery and has a few freinds and a strong English accent. Both myself and OH have a scottish accent as would his school friends in scotland. I've no doubt he would lose the accent in time but it just gives you some backgrohnd. 

We own a house in Scotland which we cannot sell and buy another one until after summer next year. the house is not in a good area and the schools are definetly not the ones I want to send me son to - especially the high schools that they feed into. 

If I defer his school entry until 2017 then he would be able to get settled into a new nursery near the school I want him to go to. We would be able to buy a house near the school I want him to go to. He would hopefully meet new friends to go school with. He might lose his accent so less likely to be singled out. And he would be the oldest in his year. 

So what would you do? Is causing me lots of stress.


----------



## SophiasMummy

If he is going to be in the same year as he would be where you are now then I wouldn't defer him. so how does the school system work in Scotland then for him to be the youngest? 

From what I know deferring doesn't keep them back a year though they would still go into the same year they were meant to be in which means he would miss a lot of school and would be behind in his learning. you can usually defer until the term after they turn 5 in england. schools are very flexible with first year students though (in england so I'm assuming they would be in scotland too) until the term after they are 5 the can do half days or just a few days a week if they are struggling


----------



## AP

My daughter turned 4 this year and i couldnt dream of deferring until 2017, Shes starting next summer (we're in Scotland too)

I do see the reasons as to why you want to do this though so it makes the situation a lot more difficult!


----------



## Kmx

Scottish year works babies born March - feb the following year (he's born in November so would be one of the youngest)

English is from sept - August so he'd be one of the older kids. 

In Scotland you can defer the full year until the following year if they are born oct - feb. They would start the following year but at the same time as all of the other new starter kids. He wouldn't jump into the second primary year.


----------



## Quartz

I can see why you would want to defer (getting him into the school you want) but given his age I think he would be more than ready to start in 2016 with his peers.

I would not worry about accents - little children dont notice and if you move you can always move schools at that point - children come and go quite a bit and always settle.

Holding him back might just make him overready!


----------



## SophiasMummy

Kmx said:


> Scottish year works babies born March - feb the following year (he's born in November so would be one of the youngest)
> 
> English is from sept - August so he'd be one of the older kids.
> 
> In Scotland you can defer the full year until the following year if they are born oct - feb. They would start the following year but at the same time as all of the other new starter kids. He wouldn't jump into the second primary year.

Will he still start school the same kind of time he would in England If you didn't defer??. If he starts his first year close to the same time he would in England I wouldn't defer personally. My LOs best friend is one of the youngest in their year born in April my LO is one of the oldest born in november they get along great and are at the same level school wise.

To be fair a lot of children when they start primary school don't know many if any of the children they go to school with so I don't think you should worry about him making friends also accents don't mean anything to young children two of my LOs friends have Polish accents and one Irish she's never mentioned it and as you and your OH have Scottish accents he shouldn't have trouble understanding.

I guess it really depends on how ready you think he is.


----------



## Rags

Hi, I wasn't aware that you could defer for children born before Christmas in Scotland unless there are additional support needs? My understanding is that you can chose to defer those born in January/February but those born before this, and who will turn 5 within the autumn/winter term begin that August, this means the class age ranges from 4 years 6 months to 5 years 5 months at the beginning and 5 years 4 months to 6 years 3 months by the end of their first school year. This is certainly how it is where I am near Glasgow. Here he would start in August 2016 at 4 years 9 months. My son is a march baby and will be the oldest in his class as he will turn 6 in March but is at the moment attending 5th birthday parties of quiet a few of his class mates. Sorry if I've picked you up wrongly or if there are different rules in the local authority you are moving to, just wanted to mntion though.


----------



## teal

Rags said:


> Hi, I wasn't aware that you could defer for children born before Christmas in Scotland unless there are additional support needs? My understanding is that you can chose to defer those born in January/February but those born before this, and who will turn 5 within the autumn/winter term begin that August, this means the class age ranges from 4 years 6 months to 5 years 5 months at the beginning and 5 years 4 months to 6 years 3 months by the end of their first school year. This is certainly how it is where I am near Glasgow. Here he would start in August 2016 at 4 years 9 months. My son is a march baby and will be the oldest in his class as he will turn 6 in March but is at the moment attending 5th birthday parties of quiet a few of his class mates. Sorry if I've picked you up wrongly or if there are different rules in the local authority you are moving to, just wanted to mntion though.

My council area has the same rules. Only January and February babies can be deferred unless any additional needs.


----------



## Lucy_2010

teal said:


> Rags said:
> 
> 
> Hi, I wasn't aware that you could defer for children born before Christmas in Scotland unless there are additional support needs? My understanding is that you can chose to defer those born in January/February but those born before this, and who will turn 5 within the autumn/winter term begin that August, this means the class age ranges from 4 years 6 months to 5 years 5 months at the beginning and 5 years 4 months to 6 years 3 months by the end of their first school year. This is certainly how it is where I am near Glasgow. Here he would start in August 2016 at 4 years 9 months. My son is a march baby and will be the oldest in his class as he will turn 6 in March but is at the moment attending 5th birthday parties of quiet a few of his class mates. Sorry if I've picked you up wrongly or if there are different rules in the local authority you are moving to, just wanted to mntion though.
> 
> My council area has the same rules. Only January and February babies can be deferred unless any additional needs.Click to expand...


My council has the same policy as above. As said every council may have there own rules and guidelines.


----------



## Natasha2605

I really don't think he'll be the youngest in his year. From what I gather in Maci's nursery there are quite a few January children and my daughter WILL be the youngest in her year as she misses the automatic cut off by only one or two days. Her teachers think she would be bored being kept in nursery any longer than necessary and they hadn't even considered keeping her back as she is at the same level as her peers.

I also think the accent think is irrelevant at this age. There are about four or five different nationalities in Summer's primary 1 class and she gets on well with everyone, and although she will say ''xxxx is from poland'' or similar that child is still her friend, regardless of them sounding different.


----------



## Pearls18

I wouldn't defer, for one thing he's 3 or 4 months off being the youngest in the year so I don't think it's the same as being an August baby in England. I would send him to school and then move him when you move areas (if I've understood the post right) I wouldn't worry about accents. I think it is better to maintain his education, I would worry he could fall behind.


----------



## AP

Now I've been reminded , I actually don't think you can defer, especially if he was born in November .


----------



## supertabby

I probably wouldn't defer but it depends on how far away the school is that you really want - could you realistically apply for that one anyway? We contacted the school we wanted before we moved into the area (we were living in the area by the time school applications were due though) and they sent us a spreadsheet for the last 5 years showing how many applications they received each year from inside and outside the catchment, how many acceptances and rejections etc. Perhaps you could ask your chosen school for something like that to help gauge if you could get him in there in 2016?

I wouldn't worry at all about accents - kids really don't care at this age about accents or any other 'differences'. They just accept each other for what they are - many adults could learn a hell of a lot from 5 year olds!

If he does defer would he always be in with the younger age group? Or would they level it out as he gets older? Moving up into a class with new people when he's older could be a bigger transition than moving around at 5 years old, plus while younger kids are quite accepting, could being 'behind' a year get negatively noticed by classmates when he's older?


----------



## tommyg

Rags is right in what she said. Personally as a February baby and mother of one I think November is miles from the youngest in the year. 
You also have to think deferring could mean he would be 16 months older than some of his youngest class mates so he could end up being bored.

I have deferred DS but he's 10 days from the cut off point. And it was preschools recommendations.


----------



## SarahBear

I didn't read the whole thread, but I see some back and forth on whether or not you can defer. I would probably not want to be switching around schools. I'd want to keep things stable. I'd choose something that would allow for that.


----------



## tommyg

Another thing to consider is P1 max class is 25, P2 max is 30. Lots of school are juggling classes to suit this. So the kids he is in P1 with might not be the same kids as P2.

DS school has intake of 60, split into 25 and 35 (with 2 teachers) going into P2 they are split 30/30 so ineffect 5 move from one class to the other. Other schools are juggling will composite classes too.

I think you should speak with his Preschool and potential school. You will need to register him in January anyway and defer later giving your reasons. As a November baby legally you can defer but it is up to the LA if they will fund another year of preschool.

You don't want him being bored in preschool or being too far ahead in school. That will be a much bigger issue than moving school after P1.


----------



## CaptainMummy

My daughters birthday is end of January and she is one of the youngest. There are actually quite a few January birthdays in her class. I really really cant see any of them still doing a year at nursery tbh. I wouldnt defer unless he is really struggling and needs an extra year... But that is just my opinion.

My council also only allows automatic deferral for Jan/Feb birthdays.


----------



## tommyg

MrsMurphy2Be said:


> My daughters birthday is end of January and she is one of the youngest. There are actually quite a few January birthdays in her class. I really really cant see any of them still doing a year at nursery tbh. I wouldnt defer unless he is really struggling and needs an extra year... But that is just my opinion.
> 
> My council also only allows automatic deferral for Jan/Feb birthdays.

I do think girls are generally a bit more ready for school at 4.5 than wee boys. 
But remember the kids who would have struggled have probably already been weeded out by preschool and deferred iykwim.

My DS is not daft, asked questions that other kids possibly wouldn't think of, Olaf is made of snow, why is his mouth black? However he would have really struggled with the"sit and listen" aspects if he'd gone into school this year.


----------



## eddjanuary10

Our son is a January baby and he started school this year at 5 and a half. We had moved to Australia where he would of started school in January at exactly 5, you can't start school there before 5 years. We moved back to Scotland and had a few months until he started school but I felt he was done with nursery so we placed him in an outdoor kindergarten 2 days a week which although is technically a pre school it is all outdoors in the woods every day so he was learning new things in a different environment and the rest of the week we did our own thing until school started. He was more than ready for school but not the eldest in his class as I expected and is doing great. He is a whole year older than the youngest in the class but he also doesn't struggle with anything like I feel he would of at 4.5 so it's worked out well for our son. There's a boy in his class who turned 6 in November so it must vary from place to place. Good luck for you all and I wouldn't worry about the accent x


----------



## tommyg

eddjanuary10 said:


> . There's a boy in his class who turned 6 in November so it must vary from place to place. Good luck for you all and I wouldn't worry about the accent x

The law doesn't vary place to place. But children can be considered case by case for funding. The child may have been considered a special case and received the extra years preschool funding or he might not have received any funding. But legally a November child can be defered.

Basically the LA is not going to fund preschool for Sep-Dec babies if they believe the child would cope ok in school.


----------



## Mudlarkey

There is some research that suggests that children who are older (and hence usually taller) than their peers upon starting primary school l have an academic advantage over their younger and smaller counterparts!


----------



## Rags

I really fancied the Scandanavian education system where they don't begin formal education until 7, unfortunately i don't live there so it's not an option. I've consoled myself with the fact that ds is a March baby so was 5 and 5 months when he started school. My cousin teaches reception in New Zealand and told me that children begin school on their 5th birthday, she enjoys teaching this way.


----------

