Summary: Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision not to allow her summer born twins to start school at age 5 in Reception year which will cause them injustice. She complains the Council has not followed the correct process in making its decision. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council’s decision making process. The Council has now remade its decision and agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £100.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision not to allow her summer born twins to start school at age 5 in Reception year. She believes the Council has not followed the correct process in making this decision.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated whether the decision made in November 2019 was in line with the School Admissions Code and Statutory Guidance. I have included events prior to this in the “What happened” section for context.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I discussed the complaint with Mrs X and considered the information provided.
7. I sent a draft of this decision to Mrs X and the Council and considered comments received in response.

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What I found

The School Admissions Code

8. 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. The Code also allows parents to seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group. This includes where the parents of a summer born child (born between 1 April and 31 August) choose not to send their child to school until the September following their fifth birthday. The parents can ask the admissions authority to admit their child to Reception rather than Year one.
9. Upon receiving a request from a parent to admit their child into a particular year group the authority must “make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case and in the best interests of the child concerned.”
10. The Code sets out the following factors the authority should consider when deciding which year group a child should be placed into:
• Views of the parent.
• Information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development;
• Where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional;
• Whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group;
• Whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely;
• Views of the head teacher of the school concerned.
11. When telling a parent of their decision, admission authorities must set out clearly the reasons for their decision.

Non-statutory guidance

12. The Department for Education has issued guidance entitled; “Advice on the admission of summer born children – For local authorities, school admission authorities and parents”.
13. The guidance states admission authorities must take account of the child’s individual needs and abilities and consider whether these are best met in Reception or Year one. This should involve taking account of the potential impact of the child being admitted to Year one without first having completed the Reception year.
14. The guidance says that in general, children should be educated in their normal age group and only outside of their usual age group in very limited circumstances. However, it goes onto say parental requests for summer born children are different from any other request for admission out of the usual age group as it is only in these circumstances that the child is being admitted to school for the first time.
15. Parents of summer born children must be able to decide whether their child is ready to go to school before compulsory school age. Parents should be confident that, if they decide to defer school entry, the decision about the year group they should be admitted to at that point will be made in the child’s best interests.

What happened

16. Mrs X wishes to defer her twins’ entry to school until September 2020 when they reach compulsory school age.
17. When she applied for school places in January 2019, Mrs X requested their admission to Reception in September 2020, outside of their normal age group.
18. In March 2019 the Council refused Mrs X’s request for her twins’ admission into Reception 2020. The Council said Mrs X’s twins should start school in Reception in 2019. Mrs X appealed this decision giving reasons why she considered it would be in her children’s best interests to start Reception in 2020.
19. The Council responded to Mrs X advising it had reviewed all the information. The Council explained the original decision stood and it believed the children’s needs could be met in the correct age cohort.
20. After complaining to the Ombudsman, the Council relooked at Mrs X’s case and issued a new decision in late November 2019 after convening a Panel to look at Mrs X’s case. The decision letter set out the evidence the Panel considered but concluded the needs of Mrs X’s children could be best met in Year one 2020.
21. The notes from the Panel show the Council considered whether it was in the best interests of Mrs X’s children to start school in Reception 2019 or Reception 2020.
22. Mrs X has since contacted the Ombudsman to complain the Council had not followed the correct process when deciding which year group her children should start school.
23. The Council has contacted the Ombudsman to say it has forwarded all of Mrs X’s evidence to the headteacher of the school she has been offered a school place at for their opinion on the matter. The Council has now provided Mrs X with a new decision saying it accepted her children should start school in the Reception year in 2020.

Analysis

24. Parents of summer born children can ask for their child to start school at age 5 in Reception. The Council must decide if, after reaching compulsory school age, it would be in that child’s best interest to start in Reception or Year one. The council must make this decision taking account of all relevant considerations, including the factors set out in the Code and the potential impact of admission to Year one without first having completed reception.
25. Mrs X has requested her children start school in Reception 2020, after they have reached compulsory school age. This means the Council must consider whether it would be in the children’s best interests to start school in Reception 2020 or Year one 2020.
26. The Panel notes show the Council considered the information and evidence provided by Mrs X and has mentioned this in its reasoning. However, the Panel did not consider whether it would be in the children’s best interests to start school in Reception or Year one 2020. Instead the Council looked at whether it would be in the children’s best interests to start school in Reception 2019 or Reception 2020. This is the wrong test and does not answer the relevant question as to whether reception 2020 or Year one 2020 is in the children’s best interests. The Council has also not taken account of the potential impact to the children of being admitted into Year 1 without first having completed Reception year. I find fault in the Council’s decision making process.
27. Because of the Council’s fault. Mrs X cannot be certain whether the Council would have agreed to her request had it followed the correct decision making process.
28. The Council has now provided evidence to the Ombudsman it has remade this decision and decided Mrs X’s children can be admitted into Reception year in 2020.
29. The Council should also make a payment to Mrs X for time and trouble as she had to make a further complaint to the Ombudsman following its fault when it re-looked at her case.

Agreed action

30. The Council has agreed to carry out the following within one month of my final decision and provide evidence to the Ombudsman it has done so:
• Apologise to Mrs X for failing to follow the correct decision making process.
• Pay Mrs X £100 for the time and trouble in bringing her complaint.
• Make the decision again, in line with the School Admissions Code and Government guidance and inform Mrs X of the decision. I note that Council has now remade the decision.
31. I note in a recent decision by the Ombudsman the Council agreed to the following:
• Review all pending and recent decisions in the last 12 months covering requests from parents of summer born children for delayed entry to reception year and;
• Consider whether those decisions have properly followed the Code and Government Guidance. Remake decisions that have not done so.
32. I have therefore not included these in this decision.

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Final decision

33. I have completed my investigation on the basis there was fault by the Council which caused Mrs X injustice. The Council has agreed to the above recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman