Summer Born – delayed admission
If your child is summer born (born between 1 April and 31 August), you may request not to send them to school until the September following their fifth birthday and may request that they are admitted outside of their normal age group – to reception rather than year 1.
Before making your request, you are encouraged to discuss how your child's needs can be met in the Reception class at age 4 with the Headteacher of your preferred schools. Please also read the Department for Education's advice for parents.
You must make a separate written request at the same time as making your online application for your child’s actual age group. You can upload supporting documentation if you wish to do so
(use document type -out of year group).
The admission authority for each school will decide based on the circumstances of your case and in the best interests of your child. Your request must set out the reasons why you are making the request and any relevant evidence you want us to consider which may include;
- the parents’ views
- recent information about your child’s academic, social and emotional development
- recent medical history and the views of a medical professional
- whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group
- whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely, and
The views of the head teacher will be an important part of this consideration. We may also gather information from any professionals involved with your child e.g. nursery education provider, educational psychologists, to consider whether any of the following apply;
- whether your child shows significant delay in intellectual development/education skills, across all subject area, to an extent that curriculum differentiation (with appropriate SEN resources) is not reasonable
- whether your child’s physical maturity places them in a position of being developmentally different from their peer group
- whether your child shows an equivalent delay in emotional development and social skills, appropriate for a younger peer group
Your application will be processed and a school place will be secured. This place can later be withdrawn if the request for delayed admission is approved. If it is agreed that your child can delay entry, you will need to make a new application for the following September and this will be considered along with all the applicants for admission in that year. It is not possible to reserve a place for the following year. Therefore, there can be no guarantee of a place being available at the school, as this is dependent on the number of applicants that year. The decision will be reviewed once your child has started school at intervals agreed by the family and the school.
If your request is not agreed, you must decide whether to accept the place for your child's normal age group or to refuse it and make an in-year application for Year 1, following your child's 5th birthday.
Parents have a statutory right of appeal against the refusal of a place at a school for which they have applied. This right does not apply if your child is offered a place at the school but it is not in your preferred age group.
Deferred Admission
Parents can choose to defer their child’s start for a term or two (until they are of compulsory school age.) Applications must be made online as usual. Once your child has been allocated a school place, you will need to write to the Headteacher to arrange the deferred admission
The table below shows you the options available
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Children with their fifth birthday between 1 September and 31 December (autumn born) |
Compulsory school age from the following January: A school place will be available from the September but can be deferred until January – the school place that your child has been allocated will be held once you have agreed this with the school. |
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Children with their fifth birthday between 1 January and 31 March (spring born) |
Compulsory school age from the following Apil: A school place will be available from the September before this but can be deferred until January or April – the school place that your child has been allocated will be held once you have agreed this with the school. |
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Children with their fifth birthday between 1 April and 31 August (summer born) |
Compulsory school age from the following September (which is then year 1 not reception): A school place will be available from the September before this but can be deferred until January or April – the school place that your child has been allocated will be held once you have agreed this with the school. Your child must take up the school place that has been allocated within this year group. If you do not take up the place, you will need to reapply again and your child will be allocated a place in Year 1 (not Reception.) |
Part-time admission
Reception class places are allocated as full time from the September after your child’s fourth birthday. However, parents can choose to send their child to school on a part time basis. 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.
You will still need to make your application by the closing date. Once your child has been allocated a school place, you will need to contact the Headteacher to discuss the school's part-time policy and how your child's needs can be met.
Contact
Email: admissions@hounslow.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8583 2721
School admissions
Hounslow House
7 Bath Road
Hounslow
Middlesex
​​​​TW3 3EB
