The School Admissions Code ("the Code") requires school admission authorities to provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday, and this is when children usually start school. A child does not reach compulsory school age, however, until the "prescribed day" following their fifth…

Children usually start school in the September after they turn 4 but parents of children born between April 1 and August 31, also known as "summer-born" children, can ask to delay entry to reception for a year. While the School Admissions Code requires school admission authorities to provide for the admission of all children in the…

This paper reports the first part of a 2-year longitudinal study, which examined the impact of age of entry to school on the reading development of 60 summer-born boys during Key Stage One. The sample was drawn from 18 schools in six Local Education Authorities operating different admissions policies. Thirty-one had attended nursery part-time,…