Guide to delaying a school start date

The decision to ask a pupil to repeat a year or to admit a pupil (after reception year) to a year group that is behind their chronological year group is one that will normally be requested by the school rather than by the parent. The school applies to the Pupils Out of Their Chronological Year Group Panel. The school would need to provide evidence that:

• the child shows a significant delay and little progress in their personal and emotional development and social skills appropriate for a younger peer group
• the child shows significant delay and little progress in intellectual development/educational skills across the subject areas, to an extent that it is not reasonable to expect curriculum differentiation within their correct year group to be successful
• the child’s physical maturity is unlikely in the future to make them developmentally different from their proposed peer group in such a way as to impact negatively on their self-esteem/self-awareness
• there is a clear understanding about why the child’s needs will be met more effectively out of their chronological year group than would be possible within
• The decision to admit a pupil to Year 10 rather than Year 11 is in order to ensure the child can compete two full years of GCSE study
• the parent/s, the school and all professionals involved agree that this is the best provision for the child

If it is agreed that your child should either join a school out of year group or repeat a year or part of a year and then continue out of year group you may be asked to sign a document which indicates your agreement to the final decision. NB: If your child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care Plan (or is being considered for one), the appropriateness of whether or not to delay your child’s entry to school will be considered through the statutory annual review process which is led by the Local Authority.

Your child will be in a different year group from the one that they are supposed to be in – what would be the long-term impacts of this?

When your child transfers to junior or secondary school, the admission authority for that school will make the decision on whether or not to allow them to continue out of their chronological year group – you should carefully consider how to have this conversation with them before making your decision. This is particularly an issue for entry to schools that test pupils - this is currently the 13 grammar schools plus Highcrest Academy.

It is possible that tuition funding could cease partway through a course of further education if a child transitions into adulthood half way through a course due to being placed out of year when they were younger.

Agreement will usually be given by The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools to test a child who is over the age of 11 on the understanding that the reason the child is out of year group is because in the past there were educational reasons (which have continued) for that child to be in a lower year group.

This might be because the child has missed at least a year of school because they were ill or living abroad in a country with different academic year arrangements. However, simply attending a school in another country at some point, or being born late in the school year, are not, on their own, sufficient reasons for the grammar schools to agree to test your child. Parents wishing to register an over-age child, need to get prior agreement from the council (who currently administrate the grammar school admissions process).

Before the child sits the test, The council will contact the child’s current headteacher to seek more information before a decision is made to offer testing.

Parents of children attending a Buckinghamshire primary school out of year group should speak to their child’s headteacher about this in the summer term of Year 5.

The transfer test is standardised according to the child’s age (in days) on the day they take the test, however this standardisation is only within the normal cohort’s date of birth span (for example 1 September to 31 August for the correct chronological year group) and children older than that group will be standardised along with the oldest pupils in the chronological group.

Schools will not request that a child is educated in the year above their chronological year group simply because of their outstanding academic ability as the curriculum can be differentiated to meet such a child’s needs. However, if a child moves into the county and has a history of being educated in the year above their age, then headteachers may continue this process but should refer the case to the panel.

Parents should be aware of the following:

Occasionally, The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools will agree that a child can take part in the Transfer Tests before the school year in which they turn 11. This can only happen if the child is of outstanding academic ability, is exceptionally mature and has been working well (for a number of years) with other pupils in Year 6.

It is not sufficient for the child to have been educated in some classes with older children. Parents wishing to register an under-age child to be tested need to get prior agreement from the grammar schools before the child sit the test.

The testing administrator (currently Buckinghamshire Council) will contact the child’s current headteacher to seek more information before a decision is made to offer testing.

In the first instance, children attending a Buckinghamshire Local Authority primary school, should speak to their child’s headteacher about this during Year 5. The transfer test is standardised according to the child’s age (in days) on the day they take the test. However this standardisation is only within the normal cohort’s date of birth span (for example 1 September to 31 August for the correct chronological year group) and children younger than that group will be standardised along with the youngest pupils in the chronological group.