Santa’s SAC (School Admissions Code) delivers a big disappointment to summer born children today.

The government’s ‘explanatory note‘, says it “clarifies the provisions relating to the admission of summer born children who wish to delay entry into reception” but our press release and recent comments submitted to the Education Committee explain why these “provisions” are entirely unpredictable and undependable:

“Confusion and Complaints will Continue – as new 2014 Code maintains Postcode Lottery for Summer Born Admissions“.

Ironically, the Statutory Instrument published a few days ago has David Laws(Minister of State in the Department for Education)’s name attached to it – the very Minister who in March this year assured parents of summer born children, “we will take action if we find that schools are not paying attention to parental demand.“

So why has his Department published a Code that only allows parents the right to “request” Reception class entry at compulsory school age, with no right of appeal if they are only offered Year 1 instead, plus no guarantee that if Reception class is granted, their child won’t be made to skip a whole year of their education later on?

It doesn’t look like Santa checked his list twice this year… or at least not for summer born children.