England/Wales school - “young in the year”

I have no idea. Apparently, my parents were given the option to hold me back a year but decided not to.

I only really became aware of it mid way through secondary school when I realised that some children in the year below were older than me.

It does of course vary massively due to statistical variance. In my DS’s class there are only 6 children with birthdays before Easter this year. Well over half of the class have June - August birthdays.

It must vary because it's heavily weighted towards Sep-Dec birthdays in my son's class. Not many during the summer term.

How??

My kids were born early and late April and I never considered them young for their year and they never struggled at school either academically, socially or emotionally.

Apr-aug is 5m so would expect 5/12 to be born then not a third and i would think that very unlikely. In fact the bulge of birthdays are often sept oct etc.

TBH yes theres a concern in reception etc but ultimately who wants a child to be 12m younger doing gcses? All scores sats/gcse and alevel are scaled against the cohort. Likewise setting at secondary you are fighting for position. Eldest doesnt guarantee top sets but- youngest makes lower set more likely. Probably most likely middle sets.

However my eldest is doing ok. Shes at top of set 2 of 5. And its sen not age stopping moving up. Her classmate thats aug is though the only kid she knows who is set 4.

As y9 they are going to be let know soon who is allowed to do separate science from testing. Mine is borderline of top 1/3 so doing ok - for age in year but probably wont be allowed.

I think some people are obsessed with this tbh.
Most children are born in the summer term-look at any birthday wall display and youll see at least a third, if not half the class are born April-August.

Plus teachers, espscially in younger years, look at things like birthdays, theyre not monsters who forget that Jonny was born 31st Aug etc.....but march?

Exactly. I was the youngest in my year and my youngest daughter was also one of the youngest. I was one of only five from my year that went to Uni in the early 80s and my aforementioned daughter has a First in Maths.

The only ‘struggle’ was waiting for our 17th birthdays so that we could learn to drive as most of our classmates had already passed their tests!

apr is also considered summer born because when you wiuld get the free hours from term after 3 that is sept for them too. Likewise they can start reception in apr though technically not due until 5 its apr to hold the place.
Generally i wouldnt defer a apr or may kid unless very prem of sen.
But our 2 form entry the girls clique is sept - march (they are also the sporty ones

My youngest was born in the last week of August, but was at primary school before deferring was an option. She was behind all through primary school, but the gap has definitely closed in secondary school.
Work ethic, resilience, joy if learning, and commitment aren't influenced by age, so I think a lot of it comes down to personality.

As a teacher, I consider the ones that don’t have a birthday until the summer holidays “young in the year” as data about the ELG and “good level of development” used to measure against being 60 months old (5) and it was often those children not achieving but it was never considered that they weren’t even 5!

It's month 7 of 12 in the school year so of course it's not. Many classes don't have an even spread of birthdays anyway - in my current class, three quarters haven't had their birthday this academic year yet.

I’d say March is bang in the middle.

You’re not the Thread Police

In England, yes.

although the government website includes april-may, my view is certainly more towards july and august.

I have two born in May, one in late July and one mid March. I considered the May ones as "slightly" young for their year, July definitely young, March in the middle. I'd consider April to be in the middle too.

It’s all getting a bit silly isn’t it. My eldest is April born and has always been ahead, she’s now in year 10 and doing amazingly. I would consider her middle of the year but not young.
I’m July born and always at or near the top of the class. I’m so glad I wasn’t held back a year!
It’s not just girls either, my nephew is late August born and he’s never had any problems in school.
Someone has to be the youngest, teachers know there’s a lot of difference in ability and maturity in primary school and they are good at adapting to accommodate for that.

All children are different. Mine is end of August but the teachers said they would never have guessed. Some kids can be December babies and still act young for their year.
I remember having kids over a year younger than most in our year at school, they were all mature and very intelligent.

I see it in terms

sept- dec - older in the year
Jan-April - middle
may-august- younger

I have an August born and a September born. No noticeable difference now other than the sept born being tall for her age. There was a difference when they were reception-year 2 but now both kids are older - both seem about average academically with the August born being better at sports in his year

In England?

I view March and April as being in the middle of the cohort, and I’m saying that as someone with a birthday in March who was one of the youngest in my primary school class. It was an odd group, with almost everyone having their birthday in September, October or November. I was one of only two children with a birthday after Christmas. However, I accept that this is highly unusual. I was fine in that group other than feeling a bit different when everyone had their birthday parties and mine was almost six months away.

I was worried about this. Lots of my peers were talking about defering and that would make my April born potentially youngest of a year and a half gap!

I was adamant about not defering.

a) because we couldn’t afford it with childcare - this is now resolved with free 30 hours
b) the brain is most plastic between 3-5 - I honestly think that’s when 90% the groundwork on intelligence is done. Having some formality and structure towards the end of that period is good I think.
c) he was either going to be youngest or oldest by a long gap - I don’t think oldest by a year and a half is beneficial either. No one really truly gets something until you get to the next level out your comfort zone and you test/ apply that building block.

So basically I doubled down on prep since around 3. I didn’t want him to feel behind. And I am so pleased I have. It’s made such a difference and when I even compare him to his peers in private prep he seems ahead on a number of topics.

So not a bad thing to freak out a bit about it if it triggers some action.

June-August is late in the year as it’s the last quarter of the school year. April/March are not, but ime really it’s July-August who are most affected (dtds are end of August - premature).