Summer born headache.

Thank you. I will speak to the LA.

OP, I may be wrong but I believe prematurity can be a reason to ask to defer - whether summer born or not. So if you want to defer, do ask. Schools will vary on their response but I’d hope they would be more sympathetic to a deferral for a 28 weeker born in March than a full term child born in April!

My DD2 is 16 nearly 17 and didn’t defer so started school at 4 and 2 weeks. She got 8 A and an A at GCSE and is predicted 2 A and an A at A level. She is horrified at the thought of having been with the year below.

The only disadvantage I see right now is driving and drinking legally much later than her peers but other than that? 🤷♀️

My son was born late July and was so ready for school! In fact a number of kids in his class were late summer babies. No one was deferred from previous year but there were a fair number of September- November kids too. Actually really couldn’t tell the difference between the lot of them after a couple years.

That’s mad so many deferred. My son is August born and was tiny. He was behind but he soon caught up. Just graduated with a 1st class degree and got top mark in country for one module

Exactly, my similarly premmie DS was well behind on physical milestones and very tiny. Intellectually, he was fine but that's not the only consideration. Social elements can be impacted by physical delays.

15 is extreme!

Honestly, speaking as an experienced primary school teacher, I don't think it does them any real favours either. They won't get that full year in reception, or if they do, they'll have hassle later on, either having to move year groups, or find a school that will accept them being a year older in the year below.

Honestly, I think kids do better just cracking on and starting reception, whether the parents think they're "ready" or not. You'll usually find that the kids do better than the parents think. They've been overly-babied and they're more than up for the challenge. Little kids are tougher and more resilient than parents sometimes thing.

And for what it's worth, some of the brightest kids I've taught have been July/August births.

It’s not in all areas (although it is where I am now for the Birmingham/wolverhamton schools).

And a few of my friends main concern for their summer borns was concentration levels for prep work. A child 10 months older would probably have more understanding and be able to concentrate more on practice papers/tutoring from year 4 than a younger child. they were going for the super selective grammars where you need eye watering results to have a hope.

The 11+ is weighted based on the age of the child. So the raw score is raised if the child is younger.

I think deferring can be the right thing and should be considered on an individual basis. We spoke to the school before we deferred and they felt it was the right thing for our son. They also highlighted that it's not just when they go into school but also the age they will be when they come out and potentially go to Uni.

I had the same! I was booked in for an elective section on August 30th - both the registrar and head midwife really pushed the consultant to delay it until Sept 1st!

She came 2 weeks early anyway but I'm always grateful that they not only suggested it, but tried so hard to arrange it.

It doesn't work well here (in Scotland). Parents can now defer winter-born children and affluent parents are doing this. My daughter is a November birthday and we didn't defer and she wasn't the youngest at all (she's 12 and we don't live in an affluent area), but it's changing. It absolutely disadvantages certain groups of children while adding yet more privilege to those who can afford it (of course there are lots of reasons why deferring is great for specific children, and arguably 4 is actually too young for school)

Personally, I think they should also start after the age of 5. None of mine were ready for school when they were 4. DS2 couldn't talk properly at that age.

My August born was actually due on 9th September.

I was having an elective section, even when my consultant and my midwife were having the discussion of when to book the date in for, they were both talking about school cut off dates! I had September 2nd booked in, dd decided to arrive a week earlier. The first thing my consultant said when he saw me was, “oh dear, we couldn’t make it until after the school cut off date!” So it’s something that’s on a lot of people’s minds!

Spot on

I think some posters have missed the OPs child was severely premature so while being brn on March, he was due June. So developmently, he could be well behind some of the "summer born" children eligible for deferment.

it is not right for some to be given an advantage by the education system when it does have a detrimental effect on others.

But I feel like what you really mean is 'the children who should be disadvantaged by virtue of their birth month should stay disadvantaged and not complain about it'.

September burn children are ALREADY given an advantage by the education system but no one's making a fuss about that?

It's never been a consideration for me (winter born DC) but what happens when the kids reach secondary school age?

Surely you can't have kids going into Y7 that are a year older than the majority of their peers?

The secondary school application forms have an age range when you start the application process (IE "this is application for child born between X and Y date") so can you even apply if you fall outside of this date range?

So many question.

Of course, I can only talk about my friends in one particular area. Everyone will be different.

‘London’ is a big place. I can assure you in my area, and the area I work in (different borough), it’s is practically unheard of. I asked at my child’s school if any children would be deferred and there are non who have been held back. I’ve asked on school tours and been told it’s only in extreme cases.

My daughter is August born and I, nor any of my friends, are holding our children back. I don’t know anyone who is, except one ‘friend of a friend’ who is, apparently.

OP I wouldn’t worry… I’m not worried about my august born, it is what it is. This is a ‘Bermuda triangle’ - you except it to have much more of an impact on your life than it actually does in the end.

Nobody's 'freaking out': it's an option, some people are taking it, nothing more than that.

There are statistics showing summer borns do perform more poorly in GCSEs. Hence the option to defer was introduced - it wasn't on a whim.

You can argue around this all day saying 'they catch up', 'I was top of my class', but the data just doesn't reflect that.

If I know this, why would I purposely disadvantage my child by choosing not to defer?

It's down to parental choice right now - so not all are being deffered. Parents are looking at their children and making a choice based on their best interests - surely a good thing.

As PPs have said March children are older when they start anyway. I don't think it's being 'the youngest' that causes the disadvantage, it's being under 4.5 and starting school?

I know my August born would have got bored if held back. They are all so differnt though. My March born struggled to walk and reach any milestones. I feel for him starting school with all the ones who have been held back . The crazy thing is he was due in June and been born a couple of days later I could have deferred him! One of the ones being defered was born 2. April. I total understand cut off days etc. I just wish they looked at the child and not the DOB

Yes, I feel the same about my August born.

Shes only just about to turn 5, but I have adult children and she won’t have a much fun after A levels etc.

I had it the other way. I was a year ahead at school (rural school in the 80s, not sure how it happened, I was quite clever and when they school expanded from 2 classes for the whole school to one class per year when I was 6, I was put in the year above for some reason).

I wasn’t allowed to go to secondary school with the rest of my class, so I had to stay at primary and repeat year 6. I went from a really clever kid, to one that was bored shitless, unmotivated, did nothing for a year but help the teacher sort books, hated school and completely disengaged, which continued until I left school.

My eldest was late August and absolutely thrived (despite some SEN) - I actually didn't worry about him at all through primary (although it was a close run thing having him toilet trained enough!) - it's later in secondary that I actually see the difference in the youngest and the oldest kids (I live in Ireland, where there can be 2 years between the oldest and the youngest in the class - and he's the very youngest) - especially as he heads into senior cycle, he'll be the last driving, won't be able to go for the celebratory drinks after exams - and whilst yes, my parent head says 'good, those things can be trouble' my other head feels sorry that by the time he reaches all those milestones, all the other young adults will have had that freedom for months.