Elected Member Briefing Notes - Admissions to nursery and Early Childhood Centres

About this briefing note

Report by: Bernadette Martin-Scott, Service Manager Early Years and Childcare

Date: 12 December 2022

Subject: Policy and guidelines for admissions to nursery classes and Early Childhood Centres

Responsible Officer: Sharon Johnson, Head of Education and Learning

Purpose

To inform elected members of the requirement to make changes to the Council's Policy and Guidelines for Admissions to Nursery Classes and Early Childhood Centres (PDF, 364 KB).

These were approved by Lifelong Learning Committee on 6 November 2019.

Briefing information

Background

On 2 October 2019, the Minister for Children and Young People committed to bring forward legislation to extend the automatic funding of an additional year of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) in a deferred year to children born after the school commencement date in August to the end of December. 

All children who have a birthday between the start of the school commencement date in August and the end of February the following year, who defer entry to primary school will be automatically entitled to an additional year of funded ELC from August 2023.

This is a change in policy, as previously only children born from January to March had an automatic entitlement to defer, and children born between August to December who wished to do so had to apply to PKC for an additional year of ELC.

To reflect the changes to legislation Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) will require to update the deferred entry information in the Policy and Guidelines for Admissions to Nursery Classes and Early Childhood Centres before the enrolment for ELC and Primary 1 in January 2023. The existing Nursery Policy Guidelines 2022-23 (PDF, 364 KB).

Requirements

We will require to amend our Admissions Policy to reflect these changes, and to communicate these to parents and carers.

Following the elected members briefing the changes will be communicated via social media channels and included in primary 1 registration advertisements.

The Policy and Guidelines for Admissions to Nursery Classes and Early Childhood Centres will be available on early years and childcare information pages on this website.

Guidance for staff and guidance for parents (PDF, 118 KB) have been updated and circulated to schools and early learning and childcare providers. This will support staff to inform parents about the changes at parent contact meetings