Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, parents have a legal right to defer a child who is not age five by the school commencement date in any given year. This means the child can start school the following year once they have turned five.
From August 2023, any such child is also guaranteed a further year of 30 hours funded early learning and childcare. To clarify, this is for children deferring their p1 start from Aug 2023 to Aug 2024 and any year thereafter.
We have created this two page information leaflet as a resource for parents, carers, early learning and childcare (ELC) staff, health visitors, primary school teachers and anyone else with an interest in primary one deferral rights in Scotland.
Please help us to share it far and wide to raise awareness of the right to defer and the accompanying ELC entitlement.
Sadly as at Oct 2022, 22/32 do not have accurate information on their websites about deferral hence why we need your help to spread the word.
Give Them Time 