Deferred entry to primary school

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Delayed entry 

Children usually start school in the September following their fourth birthday.

If you feel that your child is not ready to start school you can ask to defer their start into Reception until later in the school year.

You can only do this once your child has been allocated a school place, you will need to contact the head teacher if you want to request deferred entry.
 

Part time attendance 

Your child will be offered a full time place in a Reception class. However, you may wish to consider part time attendance until they reach compulsory school age.

This may be preferable to deferring your child’s entry until later in the school year as this will give them the opportunity to settle in gradually and start to make friends at the same time as other children in the class. 

Once your child has been allocated a school place, you will need to contact the head teacher if you want to request part time attendance.

Deferred entry for summer born children

Most children will start school from September after their 4th birthday. However, children do not have to attend school until the start of the term after their 5th birthday. This means parents of summer-born children (those born between 1 April and 31 August) can choose to delay their child's admission to school by a full school year.

It is important to note that if your summer-born child misses the Reception year, you do not have an automatic right to an out-of-year reception place in the following year. 

Applying for an out-of-year reception place for a summer-born child

  1. You must submit an application for the normal year group for your child’s age whilst the request is being considered.
  2. You must complete a Request for Out-of-Year Admission (PDF 0.6MB) and submit it together with any supporting evidence.
  3. For delayed entry to Reception, the request must be submitted before 15 January in the normal admission year.
  4. Each request will be carefully considered and a decision will be made on the merits of the individual case. This will include taking account of your views, information about your child’s academic, social and emotional development; where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional; whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group; and whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely.
  5. If a request to delay your child’s start in Reception by a year is approved, you will be advised to re-apply in the following year and provide a copy of the decision. However, there can be no guarantee of a place being available at the school, as this is dependent on the number of applicants that year.

Please note:

  • for Barnet community primary schools, requests will be considered by the local authority’s Deferred Entry Panel
  • for all other primary schools, the request will be considered by the admission authority for the individual school.

Contact

School Admissions Team
2 Bristol Avenue
Colindale
NW9 4EW

Telephone: 020 8359 7651

Enquiries: contact us online