As another example of how easily admission authorities can get information for parents wrong – to the point of being unlawful (underlined below) – and how parents can feel under pressure to enroll their children in school before CSAge, Cambridgeshire County Council’s First Steps Admission to primary school: a guide for parents states:
“When should my child start school? Your child is eligible to start school the September following their 4th birthday, but legally must start the term following their 5th birthday. If your child was born between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2011 you will need to submit your application by 15 January 2015…
Please be aware that if your child was born during the summer term and you chose to defer their admission to school until the following September, they will be admitted into the Year 1 group, and not Reception.“
Note: This document was published in August 2014, a few months before the December 2014 School Admissions Code was published; however, it was still unlawful under the 2012 Code, and as per Summer Born Advice published by the DfE prior to August 2014.
- August 26 Update
@CambsCC tweeted members of the Summer Born Campaign:
“thanks for comments yesterday officers said they are aware of the issue & will update website in September“
summerbornchildren 
It really is shocking that admission authorities are getting their admissions policy so very wrong like this. Incorrect information like this puts families off at the first hurdle and a child may be forced into school early at age 4 when a parent may truly know their child is not ready for school because they fear their child will be forced into year one otherwise. I really hope Cambridgeshire update their policy and perhaps also listen to Schools Minister Nick Gibb’s concerns that children are missing their reception year or any subsequent year thereafter.
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So what should it have said on their website?
Here in Somerset the admissions people don’t seems to have heard of the 2014 Admissions Code. In a conversation with one of them in July I was told that their policy hasn’t changed, and they would be reluctant to consider a deferred entry to Reception because of the risk of the child deciding to leave school age 16 before gaining any GCSEs (an argument that is also out of date given the new leaving age of 18).
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Cambridgeshire, how about you contact Liverpool and follow their latest policy, then you will have no further issues,
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