More than 270 NI children to defer school start

More than 270 children in Northern Ireland are set to defer starting school for a year under a new law.

The School Age Act became law on 27 April after it was passed by the assembly in February.

It allows children born between 1 April and 1 July to defer starting pre-school or primary school for a year if their parents want them to.

The Education Authority (EA) told BBC News NI it has received 271 requests for delayed school starts.

Of those, 138 were requests for children to delay starting pre-school and 133 were for children to delay starting primary school this year.

This week thousands of children in Northern Ireland learned which pre-school or primary school they will be joining in September 2022.

• School starting age bill passed by MLAs

• Major support for school starting age rules change

Most children in Northern Ireland start primary school in September of the school year after their fourth birthday.

However, children whose birthdays fall between 2 July and 31 August usually start in the September after their fifth birthday.

It means children can start primary school from ages ranging from four years and two months to more than five years old.

Northern Ireland has one of the youngest primary school starting ages in Europe.

Young for year

More than 90% of children in Northern Ireland also attend at least a year of pre-school education funded by the Department of Education (DE).

But for the first time in 2022, the School Age Act allowed parents whose children were "young for year" to put back the date they entered pre-school or primary school.

That means more than 271 children are set to start pre-school or primary school in September 2023 instead of September 2022.

Many assembly members, some teaching unions and the Tiny Life charity for premature babies had backed the law change.

The School Age Act also puts a duty on the department to review the effectiveness of the law change within five years.