The DfEs Guidelines on Summer-Born Children’s Start Dates

There has always been considerable debate about when summer-born children should begin school. However, recently this debate has hit the headlines again and to help parents, schools and local authorities better understand where they stand the government has decided to release some official (but non-statutory) guidelines.

 

Below are some of the key points from the Department of Education’s publication entitled ‘Advice on the Admission of Summer-Born Children’. I have only chosen 5 out of the 10 points made by the DfE, so please refer to the website for the remainder of the recommendations.

 

–   When is a child required to start school?

 

The School Admissions Code requires school admission authorities to provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. However, a child is not required to start school until they have reached compulsory school age following their fifth birthday. For summer born children this is almost a full school year after the point at which they could first be admitted.

 

Compulsory school age is set out in section 8 of the Education Act 1996 and The Education (Start of Compulsory School Age) Order 1998. A child reaches compulsory school age on the prescribed day following his fifth birthday (or on his fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August.

 

All children born from the beginning of April to the end of August reach compulsory school age in the September following their fifth birthday. It is likely that most requests for children to be admitted out of their normal year group will come from parents of children born in the later summer months or those born prematurely.

 

 

–    What flexibility is there for parents who don’t feel their child is ready to start school in the September following their fourth birthday?

 

In recognition of the fact that some parents will feel their child is simply not ready to start school in the September following their fourth birthday, there is flexibility in the admissions code. Parents can request that their child attends part-time until they reach compulsory school age, or that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred until later in the same academic year. In addition, paragraph 2.17 of the admissions code enables a parent to request that their child is admitted outside of their normal age group.

 

–   Where a parent wants to send their summer born child to school in the September after their fifth birthday, and requests that they enter the reception class, who is responsible for making this decision?

 

Paragraph 2.17 of the admissions code requires the admission authority of the school to make the decision, and is clear that admission authorities must make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case. It would be unlawful for an admission authority to have a blanket policy which says that summer born children who start school in the September after their fifth birthday will be admitted to year.

 

–   I have been told that it is not lawful for a child to be admitted outside of their normal year group. Is this correct?

 

No. The law does not prescribe the year group a child should be admitted to. There is no statutory barrier to children being educated outside their normal year group.

 

–   If a child is educated outside of their normal age group whilst in primary school, what happens when they move to secondary school?

 

It will be for the admission authority of the secondary school to decide whether to admit the child out of their normal age group. Admission authorities must make decisions on the basis of the circumstances of each case, and will need to bear in mind the year group the child has been educated with up to that point.

 

 

If you have experienced problems with enrolling your summer-born child at the time you would like then please get in touch, as I would really like to hear your views on this subject and add them to this post.

Comments

  1. Michelle says:

    There is a campaign group regarding this issue.

    There is a blog: http://summerbornchildren.org/home/ and there is also a google group and a facebook group.

    It’s not always easy, but there have been success stories, after all legislation does back us up!

    http://groups.google.com/group/schoolstart and http://www.facebook.com/groups/121613774658942/

    I have a summer-born and have successfully been granted a request for a delay so that I can apply for reception place for him to start in September 2015 and not September 2014. I started the process early, as I had heard that some parents have had a long and difficult battle.

    These groups help put parents in touch with other like-minded parents.

    It is this the founder of this campaign group with other members and the charity BLISS that worked with the DfE to produce this advice.

  2. Anna says:

    Hi Michelle,
    Did you contact the school or LEA and do you have any tips?
    Thank you!

  3. Michelle says:

    Hi Anna, I had a brief conversation initially with the Head. But the decision rests with the admissions authority. There is never any guarantee of getting a place at your preferred school, so would approach LEA – keep it in writing. Join the googlegroup and the FB group, lot’s of advice and info on there and parents who have been generous enough to share their stories – that’s my best tip.

  4. Michelle says:

    Oh.. and know the School Admissions Code and relevant legislation inside out and question everything the LEA tell you as fact. They often state things like ‘it’s our policy’. But their policies are neither prescriptive, nor enforceable and certainly do not supersede legislation!

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