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Guidance relating to deferred entry

Guidance for parents

Deferred entry reception class

Parents of children who will become 5 years old during the summer term of the 2024 to 2025 academic year may consider deferring their child's admission to primary or infant school until the beginning of the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

This only applies to children born between 1 April 2020 and 31 August 2021.

However, if doing so, parents should note that most children in Birmingham start school at the start of the academic year when they reach the age of five.

Therefore, some or all of the parents' preferred schools will likely not have vacancies in their child's year group if they apply for a place in year 1. This is because these places would have been allocated to children who started school the previous year.

As part of this request for deferred entry, you must also complete an application. Families must apply for a reception place for September 2024 from 1 October 2023 to 15 January 2024.

Applications after 15 January 2024 will be classed as late applications. Late applications will not be processed until the offer of places which is on 16 April 2024.

Deferred entry secondary transfer

You will need to request deferred entry now for transfer to secondary education in September 2024 only if your child:

  • was born between 1 April 2013 to 31 August 2013, and
  • had deferred entry agreed at the point they were due to start reception if they were due to transfer to secondary school in September 2024

As part of this deferred entry request, you must also complete an application. Families must apply for a secondary school place for September 2024 from 1 September 2023 to 31 October 2023.

Applications after 31 October 2023 will be classed as late applications. Late applications will not be processed until the offer of places which is on 1 March 2024.

Page last updated: 10 April 2024

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