To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) the rationale behind recent departmental guidance that makes four years the compulsory school starting age; and (ii) what support is available for primary schools to put in place different arrangements for individual Year 1 children that find starting school challenging.

The date of commencement of compulsory school age is defined in the Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986, as amended by the Education Reform (NI) Order 1989, changing school starting age from five to four. This was to take account of the fact that many parents enrolled their children at four years of age and was to ensure that all children had access to an equal number of years of school. A cut off date of 1 July, provided clarity for parents and schools on the beginning of compulsory school age that was common to all children rather than relying on the date of birth of the individual child.

I understand that, for a variety of reasons, some children may have more difficulty settling into primary school than others. My Department issued guidance on 14 April 2015 on “Induction and Transition to Year 1 of Primary School” which noted that for these children, primary schools may need to put in place different arrangements for induction and transition to P1 to take account of the individual circumstances of the child.