Repeating reception year due to medical reasons-who decides?

[usedtobeblondenotanymore]

Asking for a friend...is this possible? DS started reception in sept, has been off with serious illness since end of Nov. Will not be back in school until sept next year.

She would like son to restart in reception but HT is saying not possible...saying would have to reapply for reception (and may not get a place).

Is this right? School is an academy, not sure what discretion the HT has but what impact that has in terms of infant class size and admissions. Anyone know the legal position??

If they were already attending the school and wanting to repeat the year then yes, I would have thought it would be the Headteacher's decision. They can speak to the Local Authority for advice or it might help their case with the Head if they had something in writing from a health professional that repeating the year would be beneficial. The LA would need to clarify what happens with the existing round of applications though as it might mean the school has to go over it's PAN, which complicates matters.

its PAN

Sorry, just read it is an academy which acts as its own admissions authority. Might be worth speaking to the LA about clarifying the issue regarding re-applying, especially now the deadline has passed.

The answer is that now pupils can be allowed to repeat the year, especially for situations as you describe. However the decision has to be a decision between the school currently at and the LA. You need to act quickly to talk to the LA in the first place and see whether they will get involved or leave it solely at the discretion of the Head teacher, if the school is an academy. You need to get this sorted in the next month, as any offer of a place will, as the head teacher has said, be within the number of places that the school can offer and that will all be agreed by the end of Feb for the April 18th place allocations.

If she reapplied will she also lose her year 1 place?

Reception and year one are very similar - why hold him back ayear because he'll have to leave as a Year 5 rather than 6 and hell miss all those years with friends going to highs chill

High school

Thanks all-School is usually oversubscribed so definitely would have an impact on total numbers and PAN- can they go over?

He was only there 10 weeks before being diagnosed, so I don't think had much chance to make long lasting friends in terms of keeping him with peers...