For those of you who are not familiar with the English education system, it will not be immediately obvious which year group your child will be in, if they were to move to an English school. In this post we've built a tool that allows you to enter your child's date of birth and it will tell you which year your child would be in this year and next.

Enter you child's birthday in the format dd/mm/yyyy and then press enter.
e.g. 28th August 2006 would be 28/08/2006

Please note that this calculator relates to England only; to find information relating to Scotland, Wales or Nothern Ireland you should use the following links:

The following diagram shows the different stages of the English education system, along with the various different types of schools and which ages groups they support:



School starting age

Most children start school full-time in the September after they turn 4.

If you do not think your child is ready to start school by then, they can start part-way through the year or part time - as long as they are in full-time education by the time they reach ‘compulsory school age’.

Children born in the summer

Children born between 1 April and 31 August can start the September after they turn 5.

Contact the local council or school to ask for your child to start later. They’ll decide if your child should start in reception year or year 1, based on what’s in the best interests of your child.

Compulsory school age

Your child must start full-time education once they reach compulsory school age. This is on 31 December, 31 March or 31 August following their fifth birthday - whichever comes first. If your child’s fifth birthday is on one of those dates then they reach compulsory school age on that date.

For example, if your child reaches compulsory school age on 31 March, they must start full-time education at the beginning of the next term (summer term that year).

Children must stay in full-time education until they reach school leaving age.

Pre-school

All 3 to 4-year-olds in England are entitled to free early education before they start school full time.

See also: School admissions: a step by step guide and School admissions (Gov.uk)