Just 4 Schools

Points of Entry to Devon School Reception Classes

Update February 2010

A revised School Admissions Code of Practice came into force which placed a requirement on all admission authorities to offer admission into Reception classes from the September following a child's fourth birthday, commencing in the 2011-12 academic year. This applies to schools for which the local authority is the admission authority and those schools where the governing body is the admission authority (such as voluntary aided schools). There is no discretion allowed for admission authorities and all parents will have the option to take up the place in the September OR to defer admission until the beginning of the term following the child's fifth birthday - the statutory school age. There is greater entitlement to accessing pre-school provision where a parent does not wish to take up the Reception place offered until the child reaches the statutory school age.

The DCSF issued the following advice on its website www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode:

Four-years-olds

Sir Jim Rose completed his review of the primary curriculum in April 2009 and recommended that children should ideally start school in the September following their fourth birthday. The Secretary of State accepted that recommendation and announced that all parents should be able to choose this option if that is what is best for their child. Parents will be able to choose for their child to start school on a part-time or full-time basis, or choose a place at a nursery or other early learning setting if they would prefer this. A revised School Admissions Code will, subject to the Parliamentary process, come into force on 10 February 2010, and will require all admission authorities to provide parents with this choice of a school place for entry from September 2011. The changes affect two paragraphs of the current Code, which are detailed below:

Admission of children below compulsory school age

2.65 For admission to the 2011–12 school year, and subsequent years, admission authorities for primary schools must provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. When determining the arrangements for primary schools the admission authority must make it clear that:

a) the arrangements do not apply to those being admitted for nursery provision including nursery provision delivered in a co-located children’s centre;

b) parents of children who are admitted for nursery provision must apply for a place at the school if they want their child to transfer to the reception class;

c) attendance at the nursery or co-located children’s centre does not guarantee admission to the school;

d) parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory school age in that school year;

e) parents can request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age.

Deferred entry to primary schools

2.69 Admission authorities must allow parents of children who are offered a place at the school before they are of compulsory school age to defer their child’s entry until later in the school year. Where entry is deferred, admission authorities must hold the place for that child and not offer it to another child. The parent would not however be able to defer entry beyond the beginning of the term after the child’s fifth birthday, nor beyond the academic year for which the original application was accepted. This must be made clear in the admission arrangements for the school.

The consultation on admission arrangements for the 2011-12 academic year conducted up to 1 March 2010 advised consultees that Devon would be obliged to operate a Single Offer Point for admissions from September 2011. This will form part of the admission arrangements which will be placed before Cabinet Members of Devon County Council for determination by 15 April 2010.

Devon conducted an informal discussion on the subject of points of entry to Reception in late 2008. Information on this and the development of government policy is below:

Thank you for your interest in the points of entry to Reception classes in Devon Community and Voluntary Controlled schools. There was an informal consultation or discussion on this subject which closed on 30 November 2008. This was followed by a report which was considered by the Executive of Devon County Council on 13 January 2009. Please see the link below. There are also links to the contributions by Devon schools, contributions by parents, Early Years settings and other interested parties and a report by Devon Play into the experiences of some of the children who have recently been through the process of admission to Reception classes. The outcome of the informal consultation or discussion was that there was to be no change to the existing general policy of offering admission to Devon Community and Voluntary Controlled schools in either the September of January according to a child's date of birth.

On April 30 2009 the Rose Review on the primary curriculum published its final report. This is available at www.dcsf.gov.uk/primarycurriculumreview/. This had a number of recommendations to the Government. Recommendations 14 was that:

(I) The preferred pattern of entry to reception classes should be the September immediately following a child’s fourth birthday. However, this should be subject to well-informed discussion with parents, taking into account their views of a child’s maturity and readiness to enter reception class. Arrangements should be such as to make entry to reception class an exciting and enjoyable experience for all children, with opportunities for flexible arrangements such as a period of part-time attendance if judged appropriate.

(ii) The DCSF should provide information to parents and local authorities about the optimum conditions, flexibilities and benefits to children of entering reception class in the September immediately after their fourth birthday.

This recommendation was accepted by Ministers and on 19 October 2009 Ed Balls, Secretary of State (the Department of Children, Schools and Families) issued a statement at www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0193. The main points to note are:

  • admission authorities to be required to offer admission to Reception for all children for the September following the child's fourth birthday.
  • implemented in September 2011
  • the right to defer admission will remain.
  • there is a four week consultation period - responses to www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/

The annual statutory consultation on admission arrangements will take place in Devon in January and February 2010 with regard to admissions in September 2011. this will include a policy proposal to comply with this new requirement. If you have any queries regarding this process, please contact andrew.brent@devon.gov.uk

More information

do more with this page ...

Devon County Council, Topsham Road, Exeter, EX2 4QD

Our contact numbers | Tel: 0845 155 1015 | Fax: 0845 155 1003 | SMS: 80011 (please start all messages with the word Devon).

E-mail: customer@devon.gov.uk