Primary School Prospectus EC8683 Primary School Prospectus 2020 PRINT | Page 8

Deferred and delayed entry
into reception
Deferred entry into reception
Parents are entitled to a full time school place in the September
following their child’s fourth birthday, however parents do not
have to ensure their child receives full time education until the
start of the term following their fifth birthday. If you are applying to schools in other boroughs please contact
the relevant local authority for information on how to make a
request for delayed entry into reception in their borough. The
telephone numbers of neighboring authorities can be found on
page 62.
Parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school
until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which
they reach compulsory school age (the term after the child turns
five) and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the
school year. You will need to provide all of the reasons why you feel it is in
your child’s best interests to be placed outside of their normal
age group. You should also provide any supporting evidence with
your request i.e. school reports, medical reports, professional
recommendations that you wish to be taken into consideration.
Where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until
later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they
reach compulsory school age. Admission authorities must make decisions on the basis of the
circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child
concerned. This will include taking account of the parent’s views;
information about the 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. They must also take into account
the views of the head teacher of the school concerned.
Parents wishing to defer entry need to apply by the closing date
and when an offer is made inform the school that they want to
defer entry or only attend part-time.
Delayed entry into reception
Parents of a summer born child (born between 1 April and 31
August) may choose not to send that child to school until the
September following their fifth birthday and may request that
they are admitted out of their normal age group to reception
rather than year 1.
Before deciding to make a request for delayed entry, we
would recommend that parents visit the schools they are
thinking of applying for. The teachers will be able to explain
the provision on offer to children in the reception class, how
it is tailored to meet the needs of the youngest pupils and
how the needs of these pupils will continue to be met as they
move up through the school.
If you wish to make a request for delayed entry into reception
you must make this request in writing to the admission
authority of the school concerned. This should be made by
the closing date of 15 January.
For the community primary schools in Ealing you should address
your request to ‘The Head of Admissions’ and send this with
your supporting documents to Primary School Admissions,
Ealing Council, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, W5 2HL.
For all other Ealing primary schools you should address your
request to ‘The Chair of the Governing Body’ and send this with
your supporting documents directly to the school(s) you have
applied for. You will need to send your request to each school
on your application form.
8 Starting Primary School 2020
When informing a parent of the decision the admission authority
must set out clearly the reasons for their decision.
Where an admission authority agrees to a parent’s request for
delayed entry into reception the application for the normal age
group will be withdrawn and parents must make a new application
as part of the main admissions round the following year.
Offers are made on the basis of the schools determined admission
arrangements only, using the oversubscription criteria. The
application will not be given lower or higher priority on the basis
that the child is being admitted out of their normal age group.
Parents have a statutory right to appeal against the refusal of
a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does
not apply if they are offered a place at the school but it is not in
their preferred age group.