Age range consultation

St John's are consulting on extending the age range of the school. The age range is currently 4-11. The proposal would be to lower it so that the age range is 2-11.

Further to this consultation there has been a recent change in regulations which means the local authority is no longer the decision maker.  

On 3 March the DfE issued new guidance, “Making significant changes ( prescribed alterations) to  maintained schools”  around age range changes relating to nursery provision and as a result there is no longer a statutory requirement for the LA to be the decision maker if we are only changing the age range related to nursery provision. This is to support the School Based Nursery Programme.  

The statutory process recommends that schools still undertake a fair and open process/ act rationally within their powers, this should include an element of consultation with the LA and other partners/community, but we no longer need to go to committee for approval where the changes are only around the nursery age range

Therefore, we as we have already consulted widely and undertaken a 'fair and open process' then we will, with governors approval, move ahead with extending the age range of the school from September 2026.