Watch Education Committee meeting LIVE

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_1029The evidence check begins at 9.30am today, March 4, 2015.

You can watch live here.
And join the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #StartingSchool

Witnesses:

– Helen Kirrane, Campaigns and Policy Manager, Bliss
– Tammy Campbell, Researcher and Analyst, UCL Institute of Education
– Michelle Melson, Summer Born Campaign
– Dr Claire Crawford, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, and Research Fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
– Nick Gibb MP, Minister for School Reform, Department for Education

Posted in EDUCATION COMMITTEE EVIDENCE, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT | 1 Comment

Mysterious U-Turn by Sheffield City Council 5 Months after Summer Born Support

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_1107In 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 it is recognised that the wishes of parents should be given priority.”

Fast forward 5 months to February 2015 and Sheffield’s Children, Young People and Families Service (Inclusion & Learning Services) has written to a parent:

“Sheffield is currently reviewing its position on delayed admission, and whilst it is not yet finalised, I can confirm that Sheffield’s view point would be that delayed admission should be an exception and only approved in very rare circumstances.”

This is not the first case of a change of position by a council following the December 2014 publication of the DfE’s School Admissions Code – a Code the DfE told the media would offer “flexibility” to parents of summer born children… Continue reading →

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Leading Independent Preparatory School Head Supports Flexibility for Summer Born Children

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

Nick BevingtonLast 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, he has come to the conclusion that parents should be allowed to choose whether their child enters Reception class at or before compulsory school age. He believes that forcing summer born children to miss a year of school if parents exercise their right to wait until their child turns five is not in the child’s best interests. He says it is fundamentally unfair that summer born children who start school when they turn five routinely receive one year of education less than their autumn born children starting school at the same age.

And yet in Norfolk, we are aware of numerous cases of refused Reception class admission, and children forced to skip a year of their education part way through primary school.

This is Nick’s story: Continue reading →

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CSAge School Start is a Battle many Service Families can’t Fight

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_1037Every 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 in school – and ‘returned‘ to their ‘correct‘ chronological age year group.

But for Service children, this whole postcode lottery and injustice is only exacerbated.

Parents know they may need to move home multiple times during their children’s education, and are so concerned about different councils or head teachers making very different decisions, one mother says “it’s not even an option to try and delay.” Continue reading →

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Child Expert Dr Richard House formally Endorses our Campaign

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

Richard House“I’ve been an enthusiastic supporter of this campaign from the outset. Not only is the Summer Born cause one that everyone with an interest in children’s health and age-appropriate development should support (and all the research evidence supports this view), but the campaigners themselves are amazing people – extraordinarily competent, articulate, selflessly voluntary – and most important, totally dedicated to supporting parents and families struggling with the self-serving bureaucratic intransigence of the current system. PLEASE lend your active support to this campaign’s noble aim of changing that disreputable system decisively for the better.”

Dr Richard House, C.Psychol., AFBPsS, Cert.Couns.
Educational Consultant and Campaigner; Fellow, The Critical Institute (TCI); Co-editor, Self and Society: International Journal for Humanistic Psychology; Formerly Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood, University of Winchester

Posted in CAMPAIGN UPDATES | 1 Comment

Written Submissions Published ahead of March 4th Evidence Session

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_1044The Education Committee has published its ‘Evidence Check‘ written submissions on school starting age and summer born children, which were received by the February 23, 2015 deadline.

They can be read here and include:

Written evidence submitted by the Summer Born Campaign Group

Posted in CAMPAIGN UPDATES, EDUCATION COMMITTEE EVIDENCE, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION | Leave a comment

Poll Vote: should CSAge Summer Born children be able to Enter School in Reception?

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

tickPlease vote on today’s @Schoolsimprove poll:

Should summer borns be able to delay school by a year and still enter in reception?

“Reports claim as many as 250,000 summer born children may be entitled to delay their start at primary school by a year, but may be forced by the schools to then start in year one rather than reception. Is this fair or should they be entitled still to enter in reception?”

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Education Committee Announces Witnesses for March 4th Evidence Session

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_1029The Education Committee’s ‘Starting School‘ evidence session begins at 9.30am on Wednesday 4th March, and further information has now been published here, including:

Purpose of the Session 
“This is the second topic selected as part of the ‘Evidence check’ web forum, building on the DfE’s summary of the evidence base for its policies on Summer Born Children and School Starting Age and the comments posted in the evidence check forums on these topics. The session explores the strength of the evidence provided by the DfE and the use of evidence in policy-making in this area.”

Witnesses
– Helen Kirrane, Campaigns and Policy Manager, Bliss
– Tammy Campbell, Researcher and Analyst, UCL Institute of Education
– Michelle Melson, Summer Born Campaign
– Dr Claire Crawford, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, and Research Fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
– Nick Gibb MP, Minister for School Reform, Department for Education
Continue reading →

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@CommonsEd tweets @sb_campaign in Call for Comments and Questions for the DfE Next Week

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Caesarean Birth


Email educom@parliament.uk (with #startingschool in subject line)
Tweet using the hashtag #startingschool

Education Committee Chair Graham Stuart (@grahamstuart) said today: “The issues around school starting age and summer born children are complex and controversial. Continue reading →

Posted in CAMPAIGN UPDATES, EDUCATION COMMITTEE EVIDENCE, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT | 2 Comments

Premature Twins Forced to Start School Early Under Threat of Losing Grammar School Entry

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

Jennie EdspireCertainly 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 enrol in Reception class at CSAge.

But when Kent County Council said they’d have to miss a school year somewhere later on in primary school if she wanted them to sit Kent (grammar school) Test, she conceded defeat.

‘Summer Born Premature Babies School Start in Kent‘ tells her story.

Feb 25, Jennie fights again: Esther and William and #StartingSchool

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TV and Radio Coverage of Summer Born Education Crisis

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_1024Following yesterday’s newspaper coverage of Rosie Dutton’s daughter Olivia facing a whole lost year of school – just for daring to start school AT compulsory school age – ITV’s Good Morning Britain reported on the issue today (watch again here at approx. 6.45am and 7.35am).
Rosie was also interviewed on BBC 5 live Daily (listen here at 01:44:40 – 01:53:19 for Rosie Dutton and 02:18:04 – 02:22:06 for teacher guest) and BBC WM 95.6 (listen here at approx. 1.10pm).
 

Posted in CAMPAIGN UPDATES, MEDIA COVERAGE | 1 Comment

Media reports on “Madness” of Missing a Year of School

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

rosie dutton daughter picDaily 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 freedom Continue reading →

Posted in CAMPAIGN UPDATES, MEDIA COVERAGE | 2 Comments

Birmingham Mail says ‘Forcing children to start school in Year 1 is like hurling them into uncharted waters without a life jacket’

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

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 school.

Emma says: “It is only right that parents of summer babies are allowed to postpone their child’s schooling… So it beggars belief that councils are then undermining these parents by forcing children who have delayed their start to school to jump straight into Year 1. Continue reading →

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New Research Suggests DfE’s Policy of Summer Born Children Missing Year of School is an ‘Unnatural’ Social Experiment

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_5953‘Today’s BBC News, “Delayed school entry linked with poorer results“, which reports on new research titled, ‘Delayed school entry and academic performance: a natural experiment’, not only demonstrates the fundamental problem with using the word “delay” to describe summer born children starting school AT compulsory school age, but crucially, the adverse effect that government summer born policy allowing children to miss a year of their education – against their parents’ wishes – inevitably has.

  • Cross Purposes

The press release accompanying Jaekel et al’s new research begins, “Delaying school entry could cause poorer academic performance” when what the research actually shows is the result of ‘missing a year at the start of school entry‘, The two are very different.

The Journal of Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology paper examines German children who – instead of starting school at age 6 – started school at age 7 having missed their whole first year of education; and unsurprisingly, the authors “found missing one year of learning opportunities was associated with poorer average performance in standardised tests at 8 years of age for both pre-term and full-term children.”

In England, summer born children whose parents don’t toe the line by applying for an EARLY school start at age 4, face forced Year 1 entry at age 5 or a ‘successful‘ Reception class entry at age 5 but threatened (or actual) loss of a school year later on.

Posted in CAMPAIGN UPDATES, EDUCATION COMMITTEE EVIDENCE, MEDIA COVERAGE, THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION | 13 Comments

Hampshire Conservative MP: “We start too much formal learning too soon”

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

It may be just coincidence, given Hampshire County Council’s more progressive approach to admissions for summer born children than many others, but in a recent debate, Havant’s Conservative MP David Willetts said:

“…there are stages of mental development to which styles of learning are appropriate. I think one of the problems in English education is we start too much formal learning too soon. I’m not aware of evidence that starting to learn to read early or even starting maths early particularly helps you. Some of the continental systems that outperform us start formal learning later.”

As the former Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP was involved in The great education debate (transcript published Feb 5, 2015): Continue reading →

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Australia School Start Age Change Urges Caution Against Skipping Reception Year – but it’s the Parent’s Choice

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_0540The other side of the world and what a difference it makes to a parent’s choice in whether their child starts school early or on time.

Because the eligible kindergarten entry date in Queensland has changed from June 30 to July 31, it means children born in July 2010 can skip their pre-school year altogether and move straight into prep in 2015.

But unlike in the UK, where parents have no right of appeal if this is forced upon their summer born child, a report last week quotes IEU Queensland and Northern Territory branch secretary Terry Burke as saying “the ultimate decision lies with the child’s parents“, and he “urged parents not to rob their child of the vital learning year.”

“It’s well recognised the developmental play of the kindergarten year is critical in terms of building the development of the child’s mind, so missing out on those activities and the learning opportunity is the critical concern.” Continue reading →

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Bradford MP and Member of Education Committee Encourages Constituents to Submit Views and Evidence

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

David Ward MP - BradfordBradford MP David Ward, Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Commons Education Select Committee is asking his constituents to take part in what he describes as the “important issue” of the government’s current summer born policy.

Written submissions can be submitted online until 23 February (more information here), and given Bradford Council’s current admissions policy for summer born children (see below), submissions are sorely needed.

Two things to note:

1. The current situation is actually more complicated and arduous than many people understand, and who can blame them? For example, in his news bulletin, David Ward MP describes how “Where a parent requests their child is admitted out of their normal age group, the Council is responsible for making the decision on which year group a child should be admitted to.”   In fact it is the ‘admissions authority‘ that is responsible, and there are thousands of admissions authorities (schools and councils) throughout England, and we know that the same child, and the same circumstances can be given different decisions by different AAs.

2. On October 20, 2014 the Telegraph and Argus reported how a ‘Shocking’ number of Bradford children start school unable to go to toilet or put on coat by themselves, in which Councillor Debbie Davies, the Council’s Conservative spokesman for young people, said: “I’m amazed that less than 50 per cent of all children are school ready. You would expect them to be able to do basic things by five” and Alan Milburn, the head of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, said: “These figures are lamentable and shocking. Too many kids, by the age of five, are not ready to start school…“.  I wonder whether Councillor Davies and Alan Milburn would also be ‘amazed and shocked‘ that summer born children actually start school at (barely) age 4, and if their parents try to enrol them at age 5 – when they’re ‘ready‘ for formal education – the child could be forced to miss Reception or any other subsequent year of their education. Continue reading →

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Education Committee New Call for Submissions on DfE’s Summer Born Policy

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

11-Mar-14-16 rocking chair rushmoor chilworth gym birdworld 001 - CopyThe deadline is midday Monday 23 February 2015.

Following last year’s ‘Evidence check’ web forum, the Education Committee is now calling for written submissions ahead of a one-off evidence session on the subject of starting school on Wednesday 4 March 2015.

The session will focus on evidence relating to the Government’s policy on the school starting age, including provisions for those born in summer months or born prematurely.

Please do submit your comments – the Committee will be assessing:

  • Whether the evidence provided reflects the range and balance of evidence available, including from other countries
  • Whether the evidence quoted by the Department is faithfully represented
    How the Department’s policies relate to the evidence provided
Posted in EDUCATION COMMITTEE EVIDENCE | 1 Comment

2015 DfE Statistical Information Has WRONG Summer Born Classification

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

crossIt’s not a particularly ‘new’ phenomenon – many education documents published by successive governments have either ‘forgotten‘ summer born children or defined them incorrectly.

But just one month after the DfE published its new School Admissions Code and Summer Born Advice, a new statistical document shows that there are still those at the DfE who don’t actually know what ‘summer born‘ means.

Page 12 of Pupil Characteristic & Geography Information reads:

“Summer born = May, June, July or August”

WRONG – Children born in April are legally summer born too.

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Twins ‘Belong’ in Two Different Year Groups

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Caesarean Birth

IMG_0545Last month, I stumbled upon an article about London-based model Caprice’s biological twin boys Jax and Jett who, according to this report, were “born within weeks of each other in August and September” of 2013.

This makes one of the boys ‘autumn born‘ (most likely to start school in September 2018) and the other ‘summer born‘ (with a CSAge start in September 2018 or an ‘early’ school start in September 2017).

If Caprice decides she wants her twin boys to join the same year group, the difference in each of their admissions applications process will be palpable, and their right to a full, uninterrupted 12 years’ education will be different by virtue of their seasonal birth status.

This is not as unusual as it sounds – in our campaign group, we have cases where a child has been forced into the ‘early’ year group after being born shortly before midnight on August 31st, and while rare, it is possible for twins to be born on two different days.

2018 or 2019? Continue reading →

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