P-05-832 To Amend the School Admissions Code Relating to Summer-Born Children – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Committee, 6.11.18

Dear Committee,

Thank you for your correspondence.  We wish to make the following points, in response:

* We are pleased to see that the current Admissions Code will be updated.

* Whilst the Cabinet Minister states that the Code already offers the chance to allow parents to request deceleration to the term after a child's 5th birthday, the experience of the parents seeking this option indicates that in all but three cases, a blanket approach is being applied, taking no account of the individual child's circumstances and best interests.  The Minister has been made aware of this fact many times previously.

* We would sincerely hope that the findings of the consultation are known as soon as possible; Summer term 2019 would be preferable to Autumn 2019, for obvious reasons.

We would request the detailed report sent to the Petitions Committee in September 2018, by the Flexible Admissions Wales Group, be referred to in all discussions; this highlights the urgency of the issue to many parents in Wales, who feel helpless in their quest. It also aids understanding of the key facts around the issue; the group felt the brief 'discussion' that took place by the Committee in the initial hearing of our petition, witnessed on Senedd.tv, indicated a complete lack of knowledge and understanding regarding this issue and served to trivialise it, which was hugely disappointing.

Warm regards,

Flexible Admissions Wales.