The age at which children start primary school in Powys will change from September next year, the county council’s cabinet has agreed.
Meeting in Llandrindod Wells today (April 12) the cabinet agreed to amend primary and Infant school admission arrangements from the start of the 2017/18 school year.
The decision means that in future:
Children will start school in the September after their fourth birthday - currently they can start school at the beginning of the term in which they have their fourth birthday
- All children would be admitted in to school at the start of the autumn term in September
- The revised arrangements would start for the commencement of the 2017-18 School year in September 2017
- Additional hours of free pre-school provision will be available to parents.
Councillor Arwel Jones, Cabinet Member for Schools said: “There’s no secret that we are proposing this revised policy to help in our bid to meet the £27m budget savings target over the next three financial years. Current calculations indicate that these changes will provide efficiencies of £1.2m every year.
“Today’s decision will bring us in line with the majority of other councils in England and Wales where children start school in the September after their fourth birthday,” Cllr Jones said.