Deferred entry to primary school: statistics

Characteristics of children who deferred entry to primary school

Sex

Figure 8 shows that P1 pupils who deferred entry to primary school were more likely than other P1 pupils to be male.

In 2018, 61% of deferred pupils were male, compared with 50% of all P1 pupils excluding deferrals A higher proportion of pupils who were born from August to December and who deferred were male (67%) than those born in January and February (60%).

Additional Support Needs

The proportion of P1 pupils with ASN is higher for deferred pupils than other P1 pupils (Figure 9). The rate of pupils with ASN varies from 72% for the oldest deferred pupils born in August, decreasing for each month of birth to 17% for deferred pupils born in February. This compares with 12% of all P1 pupils excluding deferrals.

Disability

Deferred pupils are more likely to have a disability than other P1 pupils. 1.0% of all deferred pupils in P1 have a disability (Figure 10). The rate of disability in this group is around six times as high compared to all P1 pupils excluding deferrals, of whom 0.2% have a disability.

Among deferred pupils born in January and February, 0.8% have a disability. While for those born from August to December, 1.7% have a disability.

The number of P1 pupils with a disability is relatively small, so the figures have not been broken down by month of birth.

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)

Figure 11 shows 20% of deferred pupils are from the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland. This is lower than the 24% of all P1 pupils excluding deferrals from the 20% most deprived areas. There was a similar proportion of P1 pupils to have deferred from the 20% most deprived areas born in January and February (20%) and August to December (21%).

This is in contrast to pupils from the 20% least deprived areas of Scotland. A higher proportion of deferred pupils were from the 20% least deprived areas (22%) than for all P1 pupils excluding deferrals (19%).

Ethnicity

The same proportion (73%) of deferred pupils and all pupils excluding deferrals were recorded as White-Scottish ethnicity in 2018 (Figure 12).

The proportion is also very similar by age group for deferred pupils; 74% of those born from August to December and 73% of those born in January and February were White-Scottish.

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