A right to start school later for summer babies

CHILDREN born in the summer may be allowed to start school a year later after some were found to be 50 per cent more likely to have “special needs”.

Ministers have ordered a review after seeing evidence that they fall behind simply because they are younger than their classmates.

Parents complain of a postcode lottery over when summer-born children, with birthdays between April 1 and August 31, start school.

Children are allowed to enter in the September after their fourth birthday, but parents of the summer-born can delay for a year if their local council agrees.

However, the children are often then forced to start in a year one class, rather than reception, forcing them to miss an academic year.

Under a review begun by Nick Gibb, the education minister, parents could be given the right for such children to start a year later and still begin in reception.

“It is fair that children who are born in the summer have the opportunity to excel at school, and if that means starting reception a year later, that option should be available,” said Mr Gibb.

“It is important that children do not miss the vital teaching that takes place in the reception class, particularly reading and early arithmetic.”

Department for Education figures show that children born in August are far more likely to be judged to have special educational needs (SEN), defined as “significantly greater difficulty in learning”, by the end of primary school.

Typically in England 15,000 August-born 11-yearolds are classed as having special needs, compared with 10,000 of those born in September.

Mr Gibb told MPs on the Commons’ education committee: “Summer-born children are likely to be behind their peers in their development simply by virtue of being younger than them. It appears that many schools may consequently have identified them as SEN.”

Neil Carmichael, the committee chairman, said the “sharp fall” between numbers of SEN children born in August and September was “amazing”.

“Admissions decisions need to be made in the best interests of the child, not administrative neatness,” he said.

The review will look at tightening the schools admissions code, a new version of which was published last December, and will be finished in time for the start of the 2016-17 academic year.

Research published this month found that summerborn children were at risk of behavioural problems and poor academic attainment in their first year unless the curriculum was tailored to them.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, said that admissions policy was a matter for individual authorities. A spokesman said: “There is no statutory barrier to children being admitted outside their normal age group, but parents do not have the right to insist that their child is admitted to a particular age group.”