Unfair to defer summer borns

In your opinion.

My summer born child actively looks forward to school. The same cannot be said for some of their autumn born friends.

One size doesn't fit all.

For most summer borns it works ok. There's been kids youngest of school classes for at least 2 centuries. Without all this fuss.

Maybe just go back to the 3 entry input where kids start the term before they are _5 rather than the Sept after they are 4. So August born starts after easter holidays, April after Xmas etc

Oh and I feel the ID thing. I’m also a summer born - solidarity 😝

Family went overseas for 5 yrs, attended international school. Quickly learned that it was popular & common to “hold back”. My DS had many friends 1-2 yrs older. He played rugby which was interesting to watch when it’s year 6, and boys are mix from age 10-13/14. The out of school rugby clubs were strictly age based so he would play with some boys in school team, but on weekends they were in older teams.

It could look like a disadvantage if your child was correct age but others were much more mature.

Apparently many in the “international” crowd want to hold kids back so that they are more likely top of class academically/socially & sports. For some it’s impt for child to be “top of class” even if he is 13 or 14 in year 6.

Deferring should be an exception, some good examples have been given. I share the OPs concern if it becomes the norm.

FWIW, I think the solution is to make school age starts between April to March. That way every child is at least 4Y6M.

There’s no assumption that ‘all’ summer borns will experience any of the above. Of course there’s some very able, successful summer borns. Data doesn’t mean it’s all anything, it talks in averages. Many parents may feel that they wouldn’t be able to read the data and then decide they would roll the dice with their child’s future/education. Some parents may not feel like that at all. For some summer borns it works out fine and that’s great but how do you know it won’t be your child who struggles? It’s a tricky one!

I am so disappointed by this thread. Being born in September is also an unfair advantage if being deferred is.

I deferred my July born. She had a speech delay and has selective mutism. She is also rather small size wise. She would have been in pieces if she started reception aged 4. And threads like this make me worry that people are going to be arseholes for the next 15 years.

I don't feel great about this whole deferral thing, I get that some kids really do need it, but children can be vile and I remember certain kids (my sister included) being teased for being stupid because they were "down a year"

I have a summer birthday and it never bothered me, aside from having to wait longer to start driving lessons. But I never cared about drinking or going to nightclubs, if I'd been in with that crowd it probably would've upset me more.

As I stated I've no issue with what was reported but doesn't mean from a personal level we all want to be labeled as more " behind, and weak vulnerable" whatever just because we are were born in August. It's a 12 thbof the population your are speaking about

That's the difference between a personal anecdote and the stats on a bigger population (see the report posted above)

Fair enough but then you are going to get people assume ALL us August born people will have issues and it's not necessarily the case. I was top of my class marks wise all through what you call primary school ( we had class positions in tests on our reports) and never been shy or unconfident. The one girl who tried to bully me soon got hit back and left me alone ( I have 3 brothers lol) The only downside was art the other end of school being young to get first job and having to borrow someone's else's id to get into pubs

Wow this is a thread full of misinformation. To the OP as you have a summer born child then you could have also delayed admission and sent her to school at CSA into reception with agreement from the schools or LA.

I'm an August born and wasn't delayed, also went to grammar school which standardise testing so did benefit from being one of the younger ones. My DD is very end of August born and is delayed start into reception so will be just turned 5.

My reasons were simply social and developmental and she was born early. The attitudes on this post is one of the reasons I worry about her later admission, I haven't given her any unfair advantage I've used the options available to me and chosen what I think will be the best outcome for her.

Completely agree. It’s ridiculous

They should have explained to you why it would be in his best interests to miss a year of school if you decided to start him the term after he turned 5. I can't think of any reason why this would be in a child's way interests, and this is why 88% of requests are agreed. It is up to the admissions authority for the school which year they place him in but the decision can be appealed although it's more difficult to do so if the school is an academy and the governing body is it's own admissions authority.

Could she redo a year? Some kids in my DCs school have done this.

Yes I was the same didn’t even know it was an option . I knew about deferral and chose not to and I did regret it once I realised he was struggling but I assumed he would move up and just need extra support .

For those of you saying there no point. Please see below.

Headlines…

Two national surveys suggest that being summer-born is linked to a slightly greater risk of being bullied. TellUs data suggest that August-born young people are 6 percentage points more likely to be bullied than those born in September in years 6 and 8, falling to 5 percentage points in year 10. LSYPE data indicate that summer-born pupils have a higher incidence of suffering extreme (and rare) levels of bullying.

Summer-born pupils are also significantly more likely to be identified as having a special educational need than their older classmates. At the end of Key Stage 1, August-born pupils are nearly 90% more likely to be identified with SEN than September-born pupils.

New analysis for this paper reveals that month of birth also shows consistent effects on attitudes to school and higher education, with younger children and their parents reporting less satisfaction and tending to rate their outcomes as average rather than good.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7b29e5ed915d3ed9062971/DFE-RR017.pdf

Same.

I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't have been happy with my parents if they're kept me back a year and I'd have been doing my A levels around my 19th birthday....

I can only go by my son’s school, they refused to allow him to go into reception if deferred. So it must be up to the schools discretion

Fair enough That makes sense. It must be a new thing Only time I've heard of repeating the year is in American high school stuff where it was a source of shame

Data shows that summer borns, on average, do not catch up with peers. There’s evidence of this at degree level too.

In village schools mixed year groups are in the same class so an even bigger gap. For example year R, 1&2 sharing. I think it’s fair for summer borns some just are not ready. Plus it’s personal choice. In some schools no one will be held back in a year group others a few it just varies. I have a summer born and the jump from reception to year 1 was huge. More learning through play is needed.

I wanted to defer my kids (August born) because i had heard so much about kids being at a disadvantage when the youngest. I didnt do it in the end due to personal circumstances however both my children were/are close to the top of their respective classes. In fact, we are seeing in our classes the opposite, the older ones in class are struggling.