Postal Delay for Parents of Summer Born Children

SB - Leo2

Leo Awaits School News

While most parents in England found out today which primary school has offered their child a place, for parents of some summer born children, like Leo in Surrey, they won’t find out until the postman arrives with a letter tomorrow (or later in the week).

It’s the exact same story as last year, with online systems unable to process summer born children’s DOBs, meaning parents must apply on paper and be notified on paper (or sometimes they can phone).

  • Also interesting today is BBC News online and radio coverage describing how “Parents of four- and five-year-olds have been finding out which  schools their children will attend next year”. In fact it’s “Parents of three- and four-year-olds” in the main (an April-born 5 year-old could be entering Reception this year).This is important because there can often be a public and cultural perception that children start school later than they actually do, and when ‘shocking’ stories about ‘school-age children still in nappies’ are reported, it’s easy to forget just how many children are still only 3 years-old just weeks (or even days) before starting school.   
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10 Responses to Postal Delay for Parents of Summer Born Children

  1. Sarah hall says:

    We are still waiting to hear whether our August 2011 daughter has got a place in reception for this September. There was only one local school that agreed to take her in reception and as the usual admission criteria applies (siblings, parish, distance etc) we may well not get a place there for her.

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  2. Natasha Newman says:

    We’ve had a yes for a reception start for our August 2011 born son but we’re waiting for a letter confirming his school place. Hoping it will arrive in the post today!

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  3. Karen says:

    We are waiting in anticipation for our letter, we hoped it would arrive yesterday as stated on previous letters, but nothing. We will see what today brings……..,.,our little girl is August 2012.

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  4. We were lucky as our LA (Sheffield) posted the letters on Saturday so we got them on offer day. I know other LAs aren’t as considerate.

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  5. We were lucky that our LA sent the letters out on Saturday, so we got it on offer day. Other LAs don’t seem to be as considerate. And given there may be a first-come-first-served approach to waiting lists, it’s unfair for some people to get their offer so much later than others.

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  6. R Beirne says:

    It’s awful that parents of summer borns, who have been discriminated against throughout the whole admissions process, are treated unfairly right until the very end.

    We were made to wait for a postal response, we contacted the LA who refused to give us any information over the phone either on National Offer day or the day after.

    We received our post at 3.20pm this afternoon with an offer for our son.

    If first choice was not offered would we then have been penalised further by being 24 hours later to all the waiting lists as well?

    A consultation to change to the admissions code was promised some time ago – it can’t come soon enough!

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  7. D Ray says:

    Submitted an online application for Reception place at CSA which was accepted. For some reason I could not get an online decision yesterday, it just stated that an ‘online application had been received’. I had to email admissions and luckily they responded with a copy of the letter they were sending out in the post otherwise I would have had to wait until today.

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  8. Nick says:

    We’ve had to wait for a letter to get our offer the day after everyone else got theirs. Its been really stressful to wait for longer and having to avoid other parents today as no one knows he’s starting Reception at CSA. Feels like another way to be discriminated against just because he’s #summerborn.

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  9. Sarah says:

    Im just so furious my 3 yr old lovely son has to start school 3 weeks after turning 4. He potentially has adhd and has just recovered from glue ear. The local council in sussex were unwilling to help unless we had loads of proof of his conditions! (He only started pre school in oct 15 when things were flagged up. So so angry.. Summer born myself and i know how life will play out for him despite his talents.. Grrrr uk for being so utterly rubbish – if school doesnt work guess what gov- i am home schooling my child!!!!

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  10. Sarah says:

    Ah yes i wondered why our letter came days later and all the other mums at pre school were discussing their places -and were like ‘you should have had an email’ as if i was rubbish for not checking my inbox! Now i know why. What a stupid system!

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