How to defer school place

[nothingcangowrongnow]

DS has been offered a reception place for 2026. He was born in the spring. Can I defer his entry until the spring term or even the September 2027? How do I do it?! So baffled

You can defer your DS starting school until the Spring or Summer term simply by writing to the school and telling them that this is your wish. But while you are entitled to do this it's quite rarely done because your child will start their schooling at least a term behind their classmates and after initial friendship-forming so may be disadvantaged by this for years.

If you want to defer to September you cannot keep the place at the allocated school. You will need to re-apply to the school a year later and you may be allocated a different, less preferred school. But deferring for a whole year is generally only available to Summer-born children - A child must start school from the beginning of term after their 5th Birthday so that is only as late as September for those born after May.

Wise words from @CoverLikelyZebra.

Your child would need to be in school from the spring term, unless born from May onwards, so they would miss developing relationships, apart from the learning aspects.

To start your child in September 2027 they must be born after 31st March, not after May as the PP suggested. If this applies to your child then join the Facebook group ‘Flexible school admissions for summer borns’. Plenty of information and advice on how to start the process.

I want to defer until January 2027 not September

You can defer until January, just write to the school. You would be mad to do this though, it will affect friendships and they will really struggle to catch up with phonics. Why not defer a full year?

If OP's son was born on or before 31st March, he must start school at the beginning of the summer term. She can only defer for a full year if he was born on or after 1st April.