Child born at cusp of school cut off

[spookybitches]

My DS was born at the very end of August and I'm currently having conversations with the school about which year he will be joining. The school is adamant that unless he has any learning difficulties, he will be going into the year where he will be the youngest. He's literally days off the cut off.

We are currently living in the Middle East and will be back in England at some point within the next 5 years. Can I ask how strict schools are in England about kids joining the correct school year when they're born this close to the cut off date? I'm really uncomfortable with him being the youngest child in his class and if I know that there would be some consideration to allow him join a year later when we move back, I'll know to keep pushing this with the school. Thank you for any insight you can give!

[DancesWithDaffodils]

Will he turn 4 in August? So if you delay you will keep him in FS1 or at home for another 12 months? Or is he already past school starting age, and you are discussing him joining FS2 (Reception) or year 1?

Things are changing in England currently. Years ago, it was really hard to hold a child back, but now "summer born" kids have the opportunity to apply at the correct time, but delay the start by 12 months. What is less clear to me (but this is antedotal) is what happens when a child moves areas (countries) having delayed a start. I'm not sure the new school has to honour it? I believe there is a Facebook group that could help here -Flexible school admissions for summer borns.

My kids school in the ME were adamant that you had to go with your chronological age. No exceptions. Unless they liked your child, and thought them well behaved, at which point they would consider an out of year placement if you dudng meet the academic requirements. But the official policy was no out of age.

The other possibility would be to go for an American school, when they accademic stuff starts later. Or a different school that works with a Jan cut off for school admissions (the IB school near us had a Jan cut off - it caused issues when people wanted to move schools).

[habibihabibi]

@spookybitches
Also in the Middle East and my friend got a doctors letter to say her 30th August son was premature (he did arrive a little early) and took it to
Qatars Ministery of Education . She was granted permission to hold him back a year and he has remained the eldest ( by 1 day) in his school in England when they relocated.

[AliceMcK]

Fully depends on the school. There is an option to be deferred when entering reception but it’s not guaranteed and yes there has to be genuine reasons behind it which is ridiculous. Each LA will have its own rules on how difficult they make it. There was noise about making it an option for summer born children but I don’t know if the legislation was passed.

Some schools will work with parents to help the transition but it is definitely down to the HT most times. The only problem is at some point a lot of schools will move that child back into their age group either in primary or high school.

So if your not in England at the moment I’m fairly certain when you do come back your child will be put in with their year group, being the youngest in the class won’t be a good enough reason unless there are learning difficulties, even then I think for an older child they may still put in the same age group.

You wouldn’t have a clue who youngest girl in my DDs class is as she’s one of the tallest and brightest in the class, she’s 24th August. Where as the oldest child 2nd sept is very small and quiet. It fully depends on the child. I do now how you feel though as I have an end of august baby and was really worried but now I’m not as shes grown I know she will be fine. I’ve already talked to the head and we will play it by ear on whether she goes full time of finish early a few days initially because my only worry is the physical exhaustion for her.

[spookycookies]

It depends on the school and places. Many will let you start later but go straight into y1 which seems counter productive. Or you can start on reception but have to move up to secondary at the end of y5.
Are you sure he won't be ready? I know some kids that are the oldest but aren't ready abs some youngest that are.

[Aprilwasverywet]

I have 2 summer dc... Never understand why a fuss is made tbh.
Both succeeded in school.

[Wowcherarestalkingme]

I think it depends on the school, the local authority and your child. We just had a child join us from abroad into year one who had never had schooling before (we start earlier than their home country). Because this child has sen we and the parents agreed they would hugely benefit from going into reception. However, we had to apply to the admissions department and they had to agree it. They made it clear it was a case of ‘only in exceptional circumstances’ which they felt this case was. But it might be different in a different local authority

[LIZS]

I doubt any school would commit themselves on such a vague basis. You would need to speak to the relevant LA/school at the time of planning your return. Independent schools may be more flexible but you might need to convince at secondary entry all over again. Being "out of year" might for, example , limit selective options in either sector.

[RamsayBoltonsConscience]

My son was born August 25th and has been completely fine despite being the youngest. He's in his third year at uni now. His biggest gripe was all his friends were able to drive/ go to the pub and drink alcohol a year before him. If you are involved with your children, talk/ play/ work with them being summer born doesn't make a difference.

[NickyHeath]

Join the FB group mentioned upthread.

[Joeblack066]

The rules are the rules and you can badger them as much as you want but it won’t change anything.
Are you like this about all rules? That they don’t apply to you?

[Acacia123]

My DD was born at the end of August and 8 weeks prematurely. She was very tiny (still in age 2 clothes!) but was absolutely fine.

[Hoppinggreen]

In DDs year there was a girl who had missed being in the year above by 30 minutes. He Mum had tried to argue the toss but the LEA wouldn’t have it, they said the only exception was twins when it would mean they would be in different school years.
Argue away but I doubt you will get anywhere, there has to be a hard cut off

[ImNotWhoYouThinkIam]

The thing is, someone has to be the youngest. In my cohort that was me. Until secondary anyway where I had a friend who was 6 hours younger
It's never held me back, actually I got some of the better GCSE results in my year.

DS1 was also the youngest at his primary. Then at secondary he had a friend 3 days younger. But for him it has possibly had an effect. (We suspect undiagnosed SN as well.) He dropped back a year and repeated year 10. He's been much happier and more confident since. But whether that's an age thing, or a him thing is anyone's guess.

[Imissthegym]

I don’t understand the fuss about this.

Yes there is a difference between a just turned 3 year old and an almost 4 year old but that difference becomes less and less over time until year 2/3 when you wouldn’t know who was summer born and who was September born. I’ve got 2 summer born children who are doing just fine.

I say that as a 31st Aug baby born at 32 weeks. The worst thing about about an August birthday is your friends having to go the pub without you in the year you all turn 18.

[ArnoldBee]

I was really surprised to find that all the kids in my son's reception class were all born from May onwards. Must have been an odd year as it was 2/3 boys as well!

[Montsti]

I live abroad and in the private school system about 5-10% of children are held back, pretty much always before 7 years old. It becomes a real issue when they start playing school sport after about 9 years old as they then have to play in their birth school year and so effectively have to play up and not with their friends. They then inevitably quit the sport as they’re not comfortable playing with those in the school year above. I don’t know if this would be the case in the UK?

I agree with the above poster in that the gap between kids who are old in the year and young in the year closes significantly as each year passes so I wouldn’t worry too much personally..3 of my 4 children are young in their years and I see a gap but it is closing..

[ImNotWhoYouThinkIam]

@ArnoldBee was it a 2 (or more) class intake? DCs primary split them by age in reception. The older half of the year were in one class, the younger half in the other.
Then they mixed them up as they got older and the school knew their abilities better.

[arethereanyleftatall]

I find this whole thing so NIMBY. Somebody has to be the youngest. If you push for it not to be your child, then it's another child. How can it be not fair for yours, but fine for the 'new' youngest child?

[MrsFin]

DD is the middle of august.

The only problem it caused her was not being able to celebrate her A Levels in the pub with her friends, who had all turned 18 at the time the results were published. DD hadn't.

[Hadalifeonce]

I was at school with a girl born 360 days after me, believe me, as children get older the age difference diminishes.

[OverTheRubicon]

@arethereanyleftatall

I find this whole thing so NIMBY. Somebody has to be the youngest. If you push for it not to be your child, then it's another child. How can it be not fair for yours, but fine for the 'new' youngest child?

I agree with this a fair bit, and 2 of my DCs are summer born. It's good to have some flex for children with significant challenges, but in my experience (and this is borne out by the stats so far), the delay is disproportionately used by middle class and wealthier families to advantage children, generally boys.

Meanwhile an August-born child coming from a family who recently arrived as refugees, don't speak any English and don't know the system, or another who was born prematurely to a financially struggling family who can't afford the extra 30 hour subsidies to keep her on nursery an extra year are now not only the youngest in a year, but a whole 16 months younger than little Hector, who was born in April but has parents who wanted him to be really good at sport and found a psychologist to confirm he was 'immature"

All that said, many areas, like ours, are fortunately very tough on reasons. In our area I only know 2 children held back, one with very clear challenges identified at nursery and one who had recently been placed in care. There are other areas, and private schools, where you can argue the toss.

[ArnoldBee]

[quote ImNotWhoYouThinkIam]@ArnoldBee was it a 2 (or more) class intake? DCs primary split them by age in reception. The older half of the year were in one class, the younger half in the other.
Then they mixed them up as they got older and the school knew their abilities better.[/quote]
Nope it was a 2 class entry and both the classes were the same. I was panicking over a lack of party invites lol. The open day at school proved handy as all the kids birthdays were on display on the wall - grouped under each month. After reception they go into one pure class and then a split class as its a 45 intake. They shake them up every year which has been interesting in maintaining friendships.

[SixDegrees]

It largely depends on the school and the LA.

Technically they’re supposed to consider requests to hold children back a year on a case by case basis, but some areas are more receptive to this than others. It seems to depend a lot on whether individual head teachers / boards of governors agree. Some take a very hard line on it, some less so.

And presently, you have to apply again for having a child out of year at each transition point.
So if you get an agreement to hold your child back a year at Reception, you have to get an agreement again when they’re at the point where they’d be applying for secondary school if they were in the usual year group. And getting that, again, depends on how strongly the secondary schools in question feel about letting children in outside their birth school year.

[HavelockVetinari]

@OverTheRubicon just because some parents are unable or unwilling to delay their DC doesn't mean no-one should be allowed to do so - that's like saying that swimming lessons or theatre groups shouldn't be allowed because not all DC can take part.

Some DC are ready for school at just turned 4. Others would benefit from an extra year of nursery. That's why parents should have that choice. It's shite to say that because not all kids can do that then none should have that opportunity. Would you also ban tutors, foreign holidays, sports clubs and music lessons?

[WhatsALieIn]

My birthday is the 31st August so the final day of cut off.
I don’t have any memory of being behind or too young.
There were kids with birth months all throughout the year.
I wouldn’t say there is a huge difference between a 4 and a 5 year old