Defering entry to school nursery - is it possible??

[Travelbird]

Hi all,

My DD1 has a place to start in our local school's nursery (Coleridge in Crouch End) this Sept, but for various reasons (I'm going back to work after maternity leave with DD2, plus we've got a nanny starting work for us at the same time -lots of upheaval, in other words) we want to keep her in her current nursery to keep some consistency for her. But ideally we'd then like to move her to Coleridge in January. By then, hopefully, things will have settled down with me being back at work and the new nanny being a more permanent fixture.

Does anyone know if Coleridge nursery lets people defer their place by a term?

Thanks v much!

All you can do is ask them really...
Coleridge is over subscribed though isn't it, so they might not be willing to keep the place.
My ds did not start nursery til the jan, when he could have started in sept but he had to start in a different school than the one we originally wanted as the original one was all full by then. slightly different for us, because of moving house - but I think school places are even more in higher demand where you are?? (we moved from nearish where you are)
Saying that though, although its now supposed to be everyone starting at the same september intake I had a school round there offer a nursery start date for after the october half term. I didn't ask, thats just what they offered so you never know

Thanks, yes that all makes sense. The nursery isn't as over-subcribed as the school, so we'll see. And I keep trying to call them, but as it's school holidays there's no one there!

Hi travelbird, you have a legal right to defer, however how long you can defer depends on the age of your child. I've copied in below the paragraph of the school admission code that came into force February 2012, and is binding.

The best place to ask for information might be your nursery, not the school, as schools do lose out on funding and so tend to biased against deferals. There is some room for interpretation in the below, but the usual praxis is that you can defer only to the beginning of a term, and that you cannot have part time nursery and school care at the same time.

I have deferred our son Timothy's start date to January as he is summer-born, sleepy little boy, and in our area in South Oxford a lot of children defer - about a third of foundation pupils. I do have doubts sometimes though, as it is tricky for him now that some of his best friends leave for school. And it's a huge funding issue for the school, so I do feel a little guilty. But I know he would struggle with full-on school now.

From the admission's code:
2.16 Admission of children below compulsory school age and deferred entry to school - Admission authorities must provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. The authority must make it clear in their arrangements that:
a) parents can request that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred until later in the academic year or until the term in which the child reaches compulsory school age, and
b) parents can request that their child takes up the place part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age.