Parents in Bolton winning a postcode lottery for summer babies starting school

Yahoo

03-08-2025

Families in Bolton who want to delay their summer-born child from starting primary school are 'winning a postcode lottery'.
While some councils are denying the majority of requests for children to have a delayed start to primary school, Bolton Council has denied just one in the past three years.
Parents who ask for a delayed start in Reception for a child born between April and August have varying success depending on where they live, an analysis has found.
Figures – obtained by the PA news agency using freedom of information (FoI) requests – show some councils have turned down the majority of parents' requests to defer their children starting school.
Meanwhile, many councils approved 100 per cent of requests for delayed entry over a three-year period.
Figures show that out of the 23 requests for delayed starts since September 2022 in Bolton only one has been denied.
In contrast, some councils have turned down the majority of parents' requests to defer their children starting school.
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The number of requests from parents to delay reception entry from September 2022 to September 2023, in Bolton, was seven, with none being declined.
2023/24 saw six requests, with one being declined, and 2024/25 saw ten requests, with none being declined, again.
Campaigners and parents are calling for greater consistency across England for families who do not want their child to start primary school almost a year younger than some of their classmates – as some families worry their child is not ready emotionally or physically.
It comes amid concerns about a decline in school readiness among children starting Reception, with some arguing Covid-19 lockdowns have exacerbated developmental delays.
Children in England usually start primary school in the September after they turn four, but parents of children born between April 1 and August 31 can request to delay entry to Reception by a year.
A child does not reach 'compulsory school age' until the term following their fifth birthday.
One example is Lincolnshire County Council, which refused nearly two in three requests from parents to delay the start of school in a year.
Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'The Government guidance is pretty clear that it should be rare for admissions authorities to refuse a parent's request but in practice the rules don't appear to be applied consistently.
'Our view is that decisions should always be in the best interests of children – and that may be a matter of ensuring there is the right support in place rather than delaying the child's entry to school.
'However, whatever approach is taken it does need a clear set of expectations that support those interests to be consistently applied so that families know exactly what to expect and it isn't a postcode lottery.'
Department for Education (DfE) guidance, which was updated in 2023, says admissions authorities are expected to decide whether a summer-born child can be admitted out of their normal age group – to Reception rather than Year 1 – based on 'the child's best interests'.
It should be 'rare' for a council to refuse a parent's request, and the Government believes it is 'rarely in a child's best interests' to miss a year of education by starting in Year 1 instead of Reception, it adds.
Nearly three in five councils in England – 91 out of 153 – provided full data to PA on the total number of requests from parents of summer-born children to delay Reception over three years: from September 2022 to September 2023, September 2023 to September 2024, and September 2024 to September 2025.