If you are considering delaying your child's admission by a full year, then you will need to request permission for them to start Reception a year later than their normal age group. This is a big decision and is something you should think about carefully as it usually means that your child will remain in a lower year group for the rest of their education.

It is important to remember that if you delay by a year then you will not keep the school place originally offered to your child. This offer will be removed and the following year you must re-apply for a school place alongside all other applicants, and they oversubscription criteria will apply if there are more applications than places available at the school. Each year a number of families who decide to delay admission discover that they no longer qualify for a place at their preferred school because the cut-off distance has changed, and they now live too far away. You should keep this in mind while making your decision about whether to delay admission.

If you are a Cambridgeshire resident or applying for a Cambridgeshire school, and you would like to do this:

Apply for a school place in your child's normal age group, during the winter before your child's 4th birthday. The deadline for applications is 15 January before their 4th birthday.

At the same time as applying for a school place complete the ‘Summer Born Request to delay’’ online form link below. Accept a school place offered to you.

https://cambridgeshire-self.achieveservice.com/service/Summer_born_request_to_delay
Meet with the headteacher of all the preference schools, to discuss the options available. Make sure to discuss both the possible benefits and disadvantages of your child starting school a year late.
If you would like to apply for a delay and you have names any of the schools below, please make a request to delay directly with the school.

Please note that if you plan to apply for schools outside Cambridgeshire you will need to discuss their procedures with them directly.

If your child is being considered for an EHCP or you have an existing EHCP, you must notify your case worker as any decision for a delayed start to reception, will affect the assessment process/ existing EHCP.

Others Factors to consider

There are other factors that you need to be aware of relating to the decision to allow your child to have a delayed entry into Reception:

It may affect your child’s ability to take part in sporting/social activities with classmates as many organisations base their age categories around standard school year groups.
Your child will be eligible to leave school on the last Friday in June of the academic year in which he/she turns 16, even if this is at the end of Year 10 rather than Year 11 and may choose to do so.
If your child starts school prior to compulsory school age he/she can receive help from a staggered start, while starting when they are already five years old means they have to attend full-time from the very start.
If your child needs to change school (for example, if you move house or when they transfer to the next stage of their education) there is no guarantee that the admission authority will continue the arrangement to work outside of the normal year group.
If your child is being considered for an EHCP, you must notify the case worker assigned to your child. Any decision on a delayed start to Reception will form part of the assessment and it is normally only in extreme cases that the SEND will support a child being educated outside of their chronological age group, as all schools should be able to manage your child’s needs with appropriate support within the normal age group.
Issues may appear later, associated with the funding entitlement of working outside their chronological year group and these may impact on the provision and/or a future school/college’s willingness/ability to maintain the pupil’s placement out of year. Post 16 funding is given according to age, not the year group, a child is being educated in. This may mean that your child will only get funding for two years rather than three, which may impact on the courses available to them.