Teacher thought dc were twins

I doubt that would happen. As a Reception teacher I treated children as being at the level they were assessed at even if that happened to be much lower than age related expectations (not that these are). She shouldn't expect one to be the same as the other even if they had been twins.

I would actually raise your concerns with the Head. That's quite a serious mistake to have made ALL YEAR in regards to your children.

Surely if a child had been delayed and was 'out of year's the teacher would be well aware of that? The school would have had to allow the application so it seems odd that they would do that but keep the information from the class teacher?

That’s also true. There must be literally tens of thousands of siblings in consecutive school years. Two of my children were. Very odd to assume they’re twins and one has been held back a year

Really? Loads of schools have a birthday wall in that age group

As a Reception teacher?

I know it’s frowned upon now but people still use the phrase “Irish twins” for siblings who are very close in age. Perhaps she just just meant something like that .

I really don't get how this is not a misunderstanding. Surely you had discussions/home visits/some contact prior to each of them starting at the school? A deferral would include a discussion with the school? At the very least the teacher would have been made aware of it and the reasons why. I'd pressume here your DH has misunderstood the conversation..

Think this is a misunderstanding.
Even if it’s not, it isn’t something that would annoy me.

I have no idea when my pupil’s birthdays are - they’re in alphabetical order in the register, DOB doesn't go on their reports and we sort data according to their term of birth.

Surely getting siblings in consecutive years isn't that uncommon though? So two children, a school year apart, the obvious conclusion would just be siblings not a deferred twin.

Weird mistake to make but I don’t think you should go back and manufacture problems that might have arisen from this error in hindsight unless you actually held concerns about her treatment compared to classmates before.

Sounds like she’s doing just fine and in my DS’s reception there’s no expectation that the eldest in the year ought to be further ahead. The focus is on reading and writing in reception which they don’t expect anyone to be able to do already, even if one of the oldest in the year.

If there had been concerns genuinely held during the year, you’d have raised them as and when so I think you’re going back over with this new perspective that’s annoyed you and thinking up reasons your DD is hard done by that don’t actually exist.

I don’t really see the issue.

Sometimes twins are developmentally different.

I know many twins where one is fine and has normal cognitive function but the other has a learning disability, so has to be held back or even go to a completely different school.

The teacher would have assessed each child against the age group of that year, rather than assessing them against the age they think that they are.

Teachers don't expect September babies to start reception with the knowledge of a year 1 child so why would she expect it of a deferred August child?

No - but they expect older children in the year to be slightly more mature & independent than the july/august children. Because they typically are. Summer born children are actually more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD because of how they compare with older peers in the class.

Its honestly not unusual for teachers to have higher behaviour expectations of older children, girls especially.

In this timr of August babies being held back a year, more understanding of developmental delays and twins being treated as individuals, am I the only one that doesn’t think this is terrible? Only if she thought she’d had them both in class at the same time would it be really bad.

In terms of your dd, August babies often are developmentally behind and struggle socially (on a population level), it’s crap - I’ve had a summer baby and the legacy is longstanding. Go to Australia and you see the same effect with their autumn borns who are youngest in the year and not the oldest.

Did you or DH definitely put her DOB down correctly on the forms? I only ask as I'm a preschool teacher and looked after a little boy who's mum put the wrong month on his forms and made him 3 months younger than his actual age! It didn't actually affect anything and we only realised when his 3 year old funding kept getting denied!
If this is on the teacher though, then this is a shocker of a mistake!

I bet if you clarified this with the teacher, they didn't genuinely believe your two children who they taught both of, are really twins...

I would have thought with registration, regular report writing, recording of data etc, the teacher must surely be using the school’s management information system on a daily basis. Date of birth would be on there for sure

I was in the same class at school with a lad who has the same date of birth as me. More than one teacher thought we were twins, despite having different surnames (and parents!) admittedly that was secondary school but still…

If she’s been assessing her against the standards for a child a year older… that’s messy.

This has surely been some type of misunderstanding, children talk about birthdays, ages especially at reception stage. As a teacher I always check dob on register there are lots of deferrals and it gets confusing. Theres so much assessment days during year requiring us to put actual age in years and months eg reading age so I don't know how she could really have your child's age wrong all year

Possibly tongue in cheek and stopped short of saying Irish so as to not sound offensive?

When I was at primary school every child had their Date of birth next to their name in the (handwritten) register, don't they do this anymore, but then I am 48.