For the purposes of school admissions, the Department for Education defines summer born children as those born between 1 April and 31 August each year.
Deferred start
All school places are offered for a September start in the relevant academic year.
Once a school place has been offered for reception year for September, parents or carers have the right to defer entry until later in the same academic year. If you want to defer your child's school entry after being offered a place, you must discuss this with their head teacher.
The place can be held open until the start dated agreed with their head teacher. The start date must be before the end of the academic year for which it was offered. For example, the start date must be before the end of term 6.
The start date must also be before or on the date your child must legally be in school. Children must legally be in education no later than the start of term following their fifth birthday.
Delayed start
Parents or carers of children born in summer children can ask for a delayed entry into reception year. This means that you would apply for a reception year place for the year after your child would normally have started school. They would start school a year later than usual and would mean the child would be outside of their normal (chronological) year group.
Find out more about summer born admissions and how to request a delayed start in the admission of summer born children protocol .