Last Monday, April 8, 2013, a poster on Mumsnet provided this link to a government publication, and wrote that the following text was copied from page 6:

“Myth: Where the parent of a summer born child wishes to defer their entry to school until they reach compulsory school age, they must be admitted to Year 1 rather than Reception.

Fact: Schools must provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday, but parents may defer their entry until the point at which they reach compulsory age – the start of the term following their fifth birthday. This means that summer born children reach compulsory school age a full school year after the point at which they could first be admitted. However, there is no requirement as to the year group they should be admitted to. The headteacher and admission authority can decide whether to admit them to Reception or Year 1 depending on the circumstances of the case.”

On April 12, 2013, I accessed the link provided, in a document titled, MYTHS AND FACTS FOR SCHOOLS, but the extract above did not appear in it. However I was able to find a longer version of this document on a local council website, which still does include the extract above.

I immediately wrote to the DfE and specifically, David Laws – Minister of State for Schools at the DfE – to request further clarifcation on the myths and facts of summer born children’s admission rights, and to explain that, because the “headteacher and admission authority can decide whether to admit [a summer born child] to Reception or Year 1“, this effectively means in practice that the Myth above is being implemented as Fact.

I am awaiting a response.

Pauline M Hull