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Minute of Education, Children and Families of 2 March 2021 – submitted for approval as a correct record

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Motion by Councillor Mary Campbell – Deferred Start Funding:

“1.1 Committee notes that each year a number of families whose children are due to start school before the age of 5 contact the council seeking to defer the start of primary school for a year and to secure funding for a further year in a pre-school setting; committee further notes that children who are not 5 until the following January or February will automatically get government funding for a deferred year if they so apply, but that those whose 5th birthday falls August to December are funded on a case by case basis by the council.

1.2 Committee notes the forthcoming change in deferred places funding for children starting primary school, which means that from 2023, children born from August to December will also be able to get deferred early learning and childcare places funded by the Scottish Government.

1.3 Committee recognises that under previous deferred places rules, Edinburgh had a large number of deferred places applications, and that the forthcoming change may increase pressure on early years places.

1.4 In light of the pending changes Committee therefore requests a report, by December 2021, on the preparations that need to be made to build capacity for this change, with a specific focus on how to level the application playing field so that the council can ensure that the children most in need of a deferred start are encouraged to apply.  

1.5 For the August 2021 intake, Committee also recognises the unique circumstances of the year past and the level of applications for deferrals from parents concerned that their children have not been able to develop as well with so much time spent out of nursery; and so agrees to fund any non-granted requests from those families who have already applied for term 2021/2022; committee notes that this number will be known for certain after the appeals committee meets on the 13th of May, but will be fewer than 55 children.

1.6 The finance needed to resource 1.5 should be referred to full council on 27 May 2021.

1.7 Committee also agrees that Convenor should write to the Minister for Childcare and the Early Years and COSLA to request consideration to be one of the pilot Council areas for 2022/2023, in order to learn as much as possible about the likely impact, and so the Scottish Government can gain data from a large local authority with a likely high uptake rate.

1.8 Committee also mandates the Convenor to write to the Minister for Childcare and the Early Years and COSLA to request additional legislative work to consider the circumstances of premature children, in light of evidence showing that premature birth is linked to additional learning challenges, and that premature children whose birthdays fall outside the considered deferral period but whose expected due date would have qualified them for deferred enrolment are put at a double disadvantage.