Nick Gibb corrected a written answer on Schools: Admissions

2 December 2015 · Commons written answer · Department for Education

Jeremy Quin (Conservative, Horsham) asked written question 902431 on 24 November 2015. Nick Gibb answered on 30 November 2015 for the Department for Education, and Nick Gibb corrected the answer on 2 December 2015. The corrected text no longer gives the figures 17.7, 18.9. Altogether 228 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to provide parents of summer-born children with flexibility to decide in which year group their children start school.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
We ~~recognise~~ the ~~vital importance~~ of early ~~intervention, particularly for~~ the ~~most disadvantaged members of society and the crucial role played by education and children’s services in promoting good outcomes for~~ children and families. The latest Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2014-to-2015 show that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development in relation to the ~~most deprived areas, SEN, free school meal eligibility, term~~ of ~~birth, first language~~ and ~~ethnicity~~ is improving. The proportion of children eligible for FSM has increased from 45% in 2014 to 51% in 2015 and the gap between FSM and other children has narrowed from 18.9 percentage points in 2014 to 17.7 in 2015	We are concerned that some parents of summer born children either feel forced to send their children to school before they are ready, and before compulsory school age, or risk missing the reception year at school where the essential teaching of early reading and arithmetic takes place. Subject to parliamentary approval, we have therefore decided to amend the School Admissions Code to ensure that summer born children can be admitted to the reception class at the age of five, where this is what their parents want, and can remain with that cohort as they progress through school, including through to secondary school. We will conduct a full public consultation in due course. I recently set out this policy intent in an open letter to parents, schools and local authorities. The letter is available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-nick-gibbs-letter-about-school-admissions.

Original

Corrected

We ~~recognise~~ the ~~vital importance~~ of early ~~intervention, particularly for~~ the ~~most disadvantaged members of society and the crucial role played by education and children’s services in promoting good outcomes for~~ children and families. The latest Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2014-to-2015 show that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development in relation to the ~~most deprived areas, SEN, free school meal eligibility, term~~ of ~~birth, first language~~ and ~~ethnicity~~ is improving. The proportion of children eligible for FSM has increased from 45% in 2014 to 51% in 2015 and the gap between FSM and other children has narrowed from 18.9 percentage points in 2014 to 17.7 in 2015

We are concerned that some parents of summer born children either feel forced to send their children to school before they are ready, and before compulsory school age, or risk missing the reception year at school where the essential teaching of early reading and arithmetic takes place.
Subject to parliamentary approval, we have therefore decided to amend the School Admissions Code to ensure that summer born children can be admitted to the reception class at the age of five, where this is what their parents want, and can remain with that cohort as they progress through school, including through to secondary school. We will conduct a full public consultation in due course.
I recently set out this policy intent in an open letter to parents, schools and local authorities. The letter is available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-nick-gibbs-letter-about-school-admissions.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/432979?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
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