Penalty of a summer birthday

Two years ago, education minister Nick Gibb urged schools and local authorities to take immediate action to ensure summer-born children could start in reception class at the age of five, rather than when they had just turned four. At the time he promised legislation would follow, but so far there has been no further action, to the disappointment of many parents across the country.

Admissions regulations already state that parents can keep children out of school until compulsory school age - which is the start of the school term following their fifth birthday - but many authorities insist that summer-born children move straight into a year 1 class, potentially missing up to a year of schooling and joining a class where friendship groups are already established. Amendments to the admissions code dating from 2014 left the decision of which year to place a five-year-old in up to the local authority, taking into account the best interests of the child. But parents say some local authorities demand from them expensive professional evidence as proof.