Following last week’s Liverpool news, today the Summer Born Campaign received a formal “supporting statement” from Councillor Lana Orr in the office of the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson. We are very grateful to this council for listening to us and doing what is right; and we only hope that more admission authorities might now follow suit.
“We believe that every child in our city deserves the very best education regardless of the month of their birth and that parental choice is of great importance. That’s why we will be amending our admissions policy to ensure that parents of summer born children – who wish to wait until compulsory school age before sending their child to school – will be able to send their child to reception aged five.“Reception is a crucial part of a child’s learning and we don’t want our children being denied the right to their reception year. Government recognise the importance of this issue and will be amending the School Admissions Code accordingly to ensure that “summer born children can be admitted to reception at the age of five, if this is in line with their parents’ wishes, and to ensure that those children are able to remain with the same cohort as they progress through school.”
“This change is welcome and in Liverpool we will start to follow this principle at the earliest opportunity – before Government changes are introduced. We want every child in our city to thrive at school and this means being able to access a full education.
“We commend the Summer Born campaign on the work they are doing. It’s right that parents of summer born children are able to request that their child enters reception aged five if they do not feel they are ready beforehand. We have listened to the persuasive arguments of campaigners and are happy to give our support to the campaign.“
summerbornchildren 
This is just what ALL other, more obstructive, LEA’s need to realise, well done Liverpool in understanding that the needs of a child far outweigh the needs of bureaucratic neatness! Well done to all you amazing ladies doing all this hard work on behalf of our children.
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This really is fantastic news. Let’s hope other admission authorities follow their lead!
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This a fantastic statement from Liverpool. So happy to see they have been so proactive in their approach to summer born admissions. I really hope other admission authorities follow Liverpool’s stance to ensure that children are not forced to miss a year of education any more.
If Liverpool can do this, every admissions authority should. Let’s put an end to the post code lottery once and for all!
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Totally,agree with the above comments. Well done to Liverpool for not waiting until the government eventually issues some kind of formal guidance. Admissions officers in all LAs need to really be honest with themselves about whether their current outdated policies are giving the best opportunity to all children. The answer is obviously “no”, so why maintain the injustice?
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Fantastic news, hopefully other local authorities will follow suit as how can anyone agree that missing a year of education is in a child’s best interest and the parents have a right to send their child to school at compulsory school age.
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Finally common sense prevails. At last a council that recognises that parents know best, congratulations to Liverpool on acting ahead of government advice.
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What a brilliant statement!
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