Deferring a school place
If your child is due to start in reception and was born between 1 September and 31 March, places may be deferred until the start of term in January or April. You can start no later than the term following the child's 5th birthday. The school place will be held for your child and will not be offered to another child.
If your child is due to start in reception and was born between 1 April and 31 August, places may be deferred until the start of term in January or April, or the next September for a place in Year 1.
If you wish to defer your child’s entry to school until Year 1, any place offered will not be held and you will need to reapply for the following year.
Attending part-time
You can also request that your child takes up their place on a part-time basis until they reach compulsory school age. To do this, contact the school’s headteacher to discuss. This is a decision for the school to make. The council is not able to override it.
Requesting for your child to be educated outside their year group
You can request that your child is educated outside of their normal year group if you believe this to be in their best interests. Decisions will be made on an individual basis, taking into account:
- the views of the parent
- the social, emotional, and academic development of the child (supported by education and other professionals)
- the views of the Headteacher and governing body, if appropriate
- the child’s medical history and the views of a medical professional, if relevant
- whether the child has been previously educated outside their normal age group
- if they were not born early, whether the child would have naturally fallen into a lower age group
Guidance is available on both of the circumstances listed on this page - read it below before you apply.
- Guidance on delayed and deferred entry to school requests (PDF, 273.62 KB)
- Advice on the admission of summer born children on GOV.UK
How to submit your request
If your child was born between 1 April 2021 and 31 August 2021 and you want to defer their entry to school by a whole year, see our summer born guidance (PDF, 273.62 KB) and complete the deferral request form (PDF, 119.33 KB).
For further information about school admissions for children born in the summer, visit GOV.UK - Summer born children starting school: advice for parents.
If you would like to make a request to be educated outside of the chronological year group for an in-year application, you will need to put your request in writing, or email, and include:
- the reasons why you feel it would be in your child’s best interests
- copies of any relevant reports or evidence which support your request - although you are not expected to commission a report solely for this purpose
The local authority will make the decision for all community schools in Enfield. If you are requesting deferral for an academy, voluntary aided or free school, you will need to make direct contact with these schools. If you are applying for schools in another local authority, check how you need to do this with the authority concerned.
If your request is approved or denied
Parents who are refused a place at a school for which they have applied have the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. As the purpose of the appeals process is to consider whether a child should be admitted to a particular school, parents do not have a right of appeal if they have been offered a place and it is not in the year group they would like. However, they may make a complaint about an admission authority's decision not to admit their child outside their normal age group either using the Local Authority's complaints procedure (for Community and Controlled Schools), or the school's complaints procedures for Academies, Aided, Foundation or Trust Schools. For schools outside of Enfield, parents need to contact the school directly for information on their complaint’s procedure.
Applying for a school place outside of the chronological year group does not give your application any additional priority.
All the normal rules will still apply, and your application will be considered alongside, and in the same way as everyone else’s.