We mustn't be afraid to challenge the status quo

The issue of summer-born children and their often-challenging path through the schools system is a long-standing debate in education.

Children usually start school in the September after they turn 4, but many parents of summer-born children ask to delay entry to reception for a year. However, the problems begin when local authorities and schools force these children to go straight into year 1, skipping reception, when they do begin school. There is all manner of research showing that the achievement and attainment of these children suffers as they are forced to learn alongside much older (relatively) children.

The impact stretches, believe it or not, all the way to GCSE examinations. One study in 2013 found that a child born in August is 6.4 per cent less likely to get five GCSEs at A* to C than one born in September. The report, from the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said the problem was purely down to the organisation of the education system, meaning that children born in the summer start school aged up to a year younger than their peers and as a result are tested at a younger age.