Slow down: our story of deceleration into year R.

Louisa de Lange - 15 Oct 16

In December 2014, the Department for Education published new guidance allowing summer-born children to begin school after their fifth birthday into the reception year. This process is called deceleration, not to be confused with deferring, when the child’s start is delayed but they join in year 1. While not all councils have embraced the change, Hampshire has, and this September my son will start school in the reception year at the age of five.

About this time last year, we took the decision to start the process and apply to decelerate his start to school, so here’s a bit about our experience. I hope it will be helpful if you’re thinking of doing the same.

My son was born in the middle of August with a chromosome disorder which means his development is delayed. Socially, I think he would have been fine starting in September. He loves being round other kids and is rarely anxious about meeting new people or being in new situations. However, given the choice, we wanted to give him the best opportunity to learn and start his school career as positively as possible. The extra year will give his speech a chance to develop, enhance his ability to sit, concentrate and listen, and will hopefully mean he is able to understand and make the sort of decisions he will need to get on successfully at school.

But it was a hell of a faff. It’s not easy to get approved – you have to meet with all the schools that could be on your application, get approval from all, fill in a form and get the council to agree, providing as much documentation to support your decision as possible. It takes time and commitment – all having to be fitted around work and childcare. In my view, it’s not something to try because little Bertie didn’t get into his preference school in April. But it might be that right now you have a slight sense of disquiet, that, for whatever reason, your wee one might benefit from that extra year at home and preschool. Start now, and have the conversation with your council. Seek their advice, and listen to it, but push for what you believe is best for your child.

I should say that all the schools we met with assured me they could and would provide everything my boy needed to start school at the right time, and succeed. The council was helpful and informative, talking me through the bits of the process I didn’t understand. But we felt that, given the option, we would go ahead. He is quite little, so would never tower above his class mates, and was so close to an arbitrary cut off it seemed crazy not to. If a fellow classmate was born in September, he would only be a few weeks older.

It’s worth adding that if you do apply and have it approved, you don’t have to go through with it. If you apply for schools anyway and are happy come April, you can carry on with the correct year. We knew we wouldn’t, so didn’t apply, and have always been happy with this decision – even more so now.

There are still some unknowns. We don’t know how my son will progress over the next year, but we know we’ve given him the best possible chance. We don’t know what will happen when he moves up to secondary school – whether they’ll force him back to his ‘correct’ year. But I do know I’ll fight to make sure my boy gets what’s right for him – and I hope I’ve given you a little bit of information that will help you do what’s best for yours too.

Louisa de Lange

Writer. Debut novel, The Dream Wife, published by Orion in Oct 18. I have too many bookcases, too many books I haven't read and an addiction to American TV. Find me on Twitter at @paperclipgirl and Facebook at @ldlwriter.

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