We encountered a similar situation recently. My daughter, who will turn 11 this week, is a ballet dancer. She's very dedicated, and has grown quickly (she's 5'6"), so people tend to think of her as being older than she is. Anyway, last spring we had a conference with her ballet teacher to review my daughter's progress. The teacher asked if my daughter was going to audition for the Summer Intensive program (which is a super-intensive camp for dancers). I responded that no, she would not be attending, because the required age to audition was 11, and my daughter was only 10. I did not ask for an exception because I knew what the rule was. She replied that they WOULD be expecting her to audition, and would make an exception for her age.
My daughter attended the Summer Intensive program and did very well. She had no trouble keeping up with the older girls.
A few weeks after that, another mom asked what we had done over the summer. I told her, and she became angry with me because she thought I had no respect for the rules, etc. She even went so far as to ask me if I had lied about my daughter's age! (What?!) Not that it was ANY of her business, but I set her straight. Bottom line, the teacher had made a decision based upon her professional opinion. Apparently my daughter is stronger and has better technique than most 10 year olds. Apparently this lady's daughter didn't. End of story.
Anyway, my point is, kids aren't robots. Sometimes exceptions make sense. I don't make a practice of asking for exceptions, but if one is offered to me and I think the situation would benefit my child's education, I will certainly take the exception that's offered.