summerbornchildren

Earlier this month, in the BBC News report ‘Lancashire County Council at ‘cliff edge’, says leader‘, the council’s leader, Jennifer Mein, describes the struggle to balance budgets in the face of steep cuts over the next two years.

And yet – the council appears to have sufficient finances and staff resources to fight parents who simply wish to enrol their summer born children in Reception class (not Year 1) at CSAge.

Perhaps instead of complaining to the government that it needs more money, the council should implement the DfE’s proposed changes, – as other councils have done – and stop wasting money fighting against what is in the best interests of children?

A number of parents in our Facebook group have described lengthy correspondence, phone calls and complaints to Lancashire CC (a costly trail of unnecessary bureaucracy), and this is despite the fact that Continue reading →

Literally up until midnight, parents of summer born children were debating whether or not to apply by today for a 2016 school place they do not want, – with many being told they must do this before their 2017 Reception class entry request will be processed.

Some have applied unwillingly, under threat of a forced Year 1 entry in 2017 if they don’t.

While others – whose admission authorities have responded swiftly and positively to the Schools Minister Nick Gibb’s recent call for action and/or communication from the Summer Born Campaign – have chosen freely whether to apply for early entry or wait until Reception class entry at CSAge with an uninterrupted education guaranteed.

More than three years after the Summer Born Campaign first highlighted this problem to the DfE, the summer born admissions lottery remains unclear, unfair and subjective – the exact opposite of everything the School Admissions Code promised to be – and for children and parents like these, the Minister’s promised new Code can’t come soon enough: Continue reading →

Admission authorities’ responses to the Schools Minister’s ‘Take Immediate Action’ letter have been varied, but among those most stubbornly refusing to allow Reception class entry to CSAge summer born children are ‘own admission authority‘ schools within Catholic Dioceses – Why???

The Schools Minister Nick Gibb has said he wants summer born children to access a full 12 years of uninterrupted education (Sept.2015).

The National Governors’ Association has recommended that all its members allow Reception class entry at CSAge (June 2015).

Yet many Catholic schools are refusing to budge; Continue reading →

Parents and Play Penalised outside Preschool setting

In Sunday’s Guardian, Political Editor Patrick Wintour reported on social engineering an parent pressure at its worst: “No pre-school, no child benefit, Tory thinktank says in report on poverty”

With flagrant disregard for England’s CSAge and a parent’s legal right to wait until the term following their child’s 5th birthday before commencing education, the report says liberal Conservative pressure group Bright Blue suggests: “Parents should be denied child benefit if they do not send their children to pre-school education from the age of three…[and] should apply to a parent in the case of a child aged two if the toddler comes from a disadvantaged background…”

Bright Blue says, “it is essential to seek new ways to persuade parents” but importantly, the Pre-School Learning Alliance agrees with the Summer Born Campaign‘s view and has rejected the idea completely. Continue reading →