Daily Mirror: Bitter education battle for 250,000 ‘summer babies’ who may be forced to miss entire year of school 
Report includes Yes/No Poll Vote: Should Olivia have to start school in Year One?

Daily Mail: Parents of ‘summer baby’ who turned four just weeks before start of school year locked in bitter fight to delay her admission to reception for a year (Martin Robinson)

This media interest stems from Birmingham Mail’s Education Correspondent Emma McKinney’s original report: ‘Summer baby’ Olivia could miss her entire reception year if school demands she begins in Year 1

In it, Summer Born Campaign parent Rosie Dutton talks about her worries for her 4 year-old daughter Olivia, who is enjoying her legal right to the freedomof an extra childhood year outside school, but could be penalised for doing so:

“It means she will miss out on an entire academic year, which makes no sense. She will start already a year behind her peers, it will mean she is destined for a school career which will see her struggling and playing catch-up – exactly the situation we were trying to avoid in the first place.”

Emma McKinney has also produced this excellent opinion piece, in which she says: “Forcing children to start school in Year 1 is like hurling them into uncharted waters without a life jacket“.

And: “Making youngsters miss reception – a crucial time in the early years curriculum when children learn the very foundations of learning to read, write and add-up – is utter madness.

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

• Interestingly, the Daily Mail’s headline has changed since it was first published as above. It now reads:

Thousands of summer-babies could start school a YEAR later if this mother wins battle with council over daughter she claims is ‘not ready for class’

And another headline showing in website links is:
Woman who claims daughter ‘is not ready for class’ could force others to start school a year later