Email templates and date locales

I've created an email template that includes the Employee's start/end dates.  However when the email gets sent, it always gets formatted as US-style dates and also includes a time field.

In my template, I have a line:

  Start Date: $EntryDate:Date$

and the template is set to local en_GB.

When the email is sent, I get:

  Start Date:  2/31/2013 12:00:00 AM

But I want to see it in UK format with no time:

  Start Date: 31/2/2013

How is this best achieved?