Admission outside the normal age group
Parents must consider the implications of an earlier or later transfer as headteachers of primary/secondary schools are not required to continue to keep the child out of their year group and may decide to later educate the child in the correct year.
This information should be read in conjunction with the statutory guidance, specifically the School Admissions Code 2021, which came into force on 1 September 2021.
General principles
Parents may request that their child is admitted to a year group outside their normal age group. This may include a request for a child to be admitted to a year group above or below their chronological age.
Requests will be considered on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child, in accordance with the School Admissions Code. A decision to agree admission outside the normal age group is a decision about the year group in which an application will be considered. It is not an offer of a place at a particular school.
Where parents are applying for Lewisham community schools, a request for admission outside the normal age group should be made to Lewisham Council as the admission authority.
If parents are also applying for schools for which Lewisham Council is not the admission authority, such as academies, voluntary aided schools, foundation schools or free schools, they should make a separate request to the admission authority for each of those schools. This is because each admission authority is responsible for deciding whether a child should be admitted outside their normal age group.
Information to support a request
Parents should submit a written request explaining why they consider admission outside the child’s normal age group to be in the child’s best interests.
Parents may provide any information they wish the admission authority to consider. This may include information about:
a. the child’s academic, social and emotional development;
b. the child’s medical history or health needs;
c. whether the child has previously been educated outside their normal age group;
d. whether the child was born prematurely and may naturally have fallen into a different age group if born at the expected time;
e. the views of professionals involved in the child’s education, care or treatment; and
f. any other information the parent considers relevant.
Parents are not expected to obtain evidence they do not already have.
Requests will be considered whether or not they are accompanied by professional evidence, and a request will not be refused solely because professional evidence has not been provided.
Primary admission at the normal point of entry, including summer-born children
Summer-born children are children born between 1 April and 31 August. Parents of summer-born children may choose not to send their child to school until the September following their fifth birthday. If they do so, the child would normally be admitted to Year 1, which is their normal age group at that point.
Parents who have been offered a Reception place in the normal year of entry and wish only to defer their child’s start date within that same school year, or arrange part-time attendance before the child reaches compulsory school age, should refer to section 12.
Parents who wish their summer-born child to be admitted to Reception in the September following their fifth birthday, rather than Year 1, must request admission outside the normal age group under this section.
For primary school admissions, parents of a summer-born child seeking admission to Reception in the September following their fifth birthday should:
a. make an application for a Reception place in their child’s normal age group at the usual time;
b. submit a request for admission outside the normal age group at the same time; and
c. submit both the application and the request by the published closing date for Reception applications.
The admission authority will determine the request and notify parents of the outcome in time for them to make an informed decision about whether their child will start school before compulsory school age. For Reception admissions, parents should receive the outcome of their request before Primary National Offer Day.
Where a request is agreed, parents may withdraw their application for admission in the child’s normal age group before a place is offered. If parents wish to pursue admission outside the normal age group, they will need to make a new application for a Reception place during the following admissions round.
Approval of a request does not reserve a place at a particular school. The new application will be processed as part of the main admissions round for that year and considered in accordance with the published admission arrangements and oversubscription criteria.
The application will not be given lower priority because the child is being admitted outside their normal age group.
Where a request for admission outside the normal age group at a primary school is refused, parents will need to decide between two options:
a. accept the offer of a place in Reception in the school year following the child’s fourth birthday. If parents accept the Reception place, they may still defer their child’s admission or request part-time attendance or
b. refuse the offer of a place in Reception and make an in-year application for the child to be admitted to Year 1 in the September following their fifth birthday.
Parents should be aware that, if they choose to apply for a Year 1 place at compulsory school age, there may not be a vacancy at their preferred school.
Where parents seek admission to Reception earlier than the child’s normal age group, they should:
a. submit an application for a Reception place in the year in which they wish their child to be admitted;
b. submit a written request for admission outside the normal age group at the same time; and
c. do so before the published closing date for applications for that Reception year.
The admission authority will determine the request before deciding whether the application should be considered for a Reception place in that admissions round.
If the request is agreed, the application will be processed as part of the main admissions round for that Reception year and considered in accordance with the published admission arrangements and oversubscription criteria. The application will not be given lower priority because the child is being admitted outside their normal age group.
If the request is refused, the child’s application will not be considered for early admission to Reception. Parents may apply for a Reception place in the child’s normal admissions round.
How to apply
If you want your child to be admitted outside their normal year group start school at an older or younger age, you still need to apply through the normal admissions process, and include the additional evidence outlined above.