Category Archives: EXAMPLE CASES
Guardian Article Reports on Summer Born Postcode Lottery
This week, the Guardian published Fran Abrams’ excellent report, ‘Too much, too young for summer-born children forced into ‘big school’ Parents complain there is a postcode lottery over when children must start school – and new government guidelines have made matters worse.’ This was … Continue reading
In Law: Some Summer Born Children are More Equal Than Others
Once you start looking at summer born children and the 2010 Equality Act, it’s pretty difficult to stop. And once you throw summer born children with additional needs into the mix, it becomes even harder. In this article, Summer Born Campaign … Continue reading
Lib Dem’s David Laws’ Summer Born Views Differ from Government’s
In a pre-election webchat with the Telegraph, former DfE Minister of State for Schools David Laws was asked: What is your stance on summer-born children and whether they should have the right to delay their entry to school? He replied: “I believe … Continue reading
And the Post(Code) Lottery Losers – Children told they MUST MISS Reception Class
Despite existing primary legislation (see pgs.19-26 here), these children are being REFUSED RELEVANT ENTRY to school in Reception class & FORCED INTO YEAR 1 instead: 1998 SSFA: Reception is for “pupils aged five and any pupils under or over that age whom it is … Continue reading
The Post(Code) Lottery Winners – Reception Class Entry Allowed for These Children
These summer born children are so far (see caveat below) some of the lucky ones – by virtue of their address. Their parents’ requests for Reception class entry at CSAge were agreed – albeit some after a lengthy battle, others without question; some only with compulsory ‘documented … Continue reading
Campaign Does Not Support “2 Bites of the Cherry” for Summer Born Children
The Summer Born Campaign wants all parents of summer born children to have the automatic right – without penalty (i.e. loss of school preferences and threat of or actual loss of school year at any point during child’s education) – to … Continue reading
Institute of Education Researcher Supports Flexibility But Not Current Process
Tammy Campbell, researcher at the University of London’s Institute of Education, and one of the witnesses at the recent Education Committee Evidence Check, is quoted in Nel Staveley’s April 20 article, “8 reasons why summer babies face an uphill battle at school and in … Continue reading
April 2015 Coverage of Summer Born issue incl. ITV, BBC TV, Radio and Sky News
On April 20, ITV Good Morning Britain interviewed Rosie Dutton at 7.10am. Watch again here. On April 19, BBC One Breakfast interviewed Rosie Dutton twice (7.15am and 8.15am). On April 15, BBC Local Radio‘s presenter Mark Forrest interviewed Pauline Hull at 7.15pm. … Continue reading
Summer Born Parents Wait for Postman to find out Primary School Place
Another difference in the application process for parents of summer born compulsory school age children (and there are many) is that applications usually cannot be processed online and so the parents must wait longer than other parents do to find out which school their … Continue reading
Critical School Places will be Wasted by Admissions Authorities on Offer Day due to Summer Born Scandal
Allocation of primary school places for all children will be adversely impacted tomorrow as highly sought after school places are lost to an administrative mess. How? The DfE’s 2014 Code and Advice says parents of summer born children can only ‘request‘ Reception … Continue reading
Nicky Morgan’s Webchat Answers Reinforce DfE’s Inconsistent and Illogical Summer Born Policy
In a live Telegraph webchat today with Nicky Morgan (hosted by online Education Editor Josie Gurney-Read), the Education Secretary’s answer to Summer Born Campaign member Samantha McCormick highlighted the subjectivity and inconsistency that the DfE’s policy allows – but also her comments on … Continue reading
Hertfordshire Seeks ‘Professional Evidence’ for Reception class entry and Decision Making Power Beyond its Legal Limits
Just this week, Hertfordshire County Council has demonstrated in an email to the parent of a summer born child just how the DfE’s (post)Code(lottery) allows admissions authorities to be ‘seen‘ to consider requests individually while simultaneously making it clear that some requests will … Continue reading
Kent: Boy Forced to Miss Year of School with Devastating Consequences and Unnecessary SEN
Please read this whole post – it’s more than one mother’s story – it exposes what this council said to the DfE in 2014, and what the DfE did as a result… Three days ago, the mother of a summer born child … Continue reading
Early Entry or Delayed Entry? Admissions Language in Canada is Different to UK
I’ve written about Alberta’s admissions flexibility before, but this week I noticed something else different between England and Canada – the language parents and teachers use to describe when children start school. In England, starting school early at age 4 is considered ‘normal‘ while starting school at CSAge … Continue reading
Kent County Council to meet with DfE Next Week amid Rumours of New Summer Born Advice
A parent has been told by her council that the DfE said it would be publishing ‘new’ summer born advice shortly, and another parent’s head teacher told her that she would have to await the outcome of her summer born request until after the … Continue reading
Mysterious U-Turn by Sheffield City Council 5 Months after Summer Born Support
In September 2014, in response to the DfE’s School Admissions Code consultation, Sheffield City Council’s submission said: “The Guidance is clear that the assumption is to approve a parental request unless there is reason not to. This principle is fully supported as … Continue reading
Leading Independent Preparatory School Head Supports Flexibility for Summer Born Children
Last week, Nicholas Bevington, the head teacher of Town Close School in Norwich, one of the country’s leading independent preparatory schools, contacted the Summer Born Campaign group after reading about us in this Independent article. Through his own personal and professional experience, … Continue reading
CSAge School Start is a Battle many Service Families can’t Fight
Every parent who ‘succeeds‘ in securing a Reception class place at CSAge for their summer born child then faces the fear and uncertainty of never knowing when or if their child will be forced to skip a year later on … Continue reading
Premature Twins Forced to Start School Early Under Threat of Losing Grammar School Entry
Certainly not the first case of this we’ve seen, but probably one of the most eloquently communicated. Jennie Edspire, a mother who had already gone through two incredibly traumatic experiences in her life, fought as hard as she could for her children to … Continue reading
Birmingham Mail says ‘Forcing children to start school in Year 1 is like hurling them into uncharted waters without a life jacket’
Birmingham Mail Education Correspondent Emma McKinney has written this excellent article, ‘Councils undermining parents if they force ‘summer babies’ to start school in Year 1‘, just a week ahead of ahead of the Education Committee’s one-off evidence session on the subject of starting … Continue reading
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