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!

Once they are in the school system, there's no going back. I have one deferred child just now. What a difference the year at nursery has made.

IME if the child doesn't start the September after they turn four when they do start they go into year one. They are in the class with the kids they should have been in but have missed the whole of reception which is an important year. My dd started school at aged four and a month. It wasn't full days to start with.

So much misinformation in this thread... I would really recommend joining the facebook group Flexible admissions for summer borns for accurate information and non-reactionary discussion!

Since 2014 it has been the legal right of parents to ask for their (summer born) child to be educated out of age group. Lots of loud opinions on this thread, but the support on facebook is great and will help you choose the right thing for your DC.

@mayblossominapril

In the 1980s and into the 1990s most schools had two reception intakes, one in september for the older children and one in january for the children born in the latter part of the year. That system does not exist now. Yes it meant the younger children lost a term of reception but they were more school ready when they started reception.

I have a summer born DS and debated holding him back a year. He is very bright and academically able but has speech delay and is emotionally very immature and despite my best efforts not school ready with dressing/undressing, using a knife and fork etc. In the county we live in they have to return to their age group at the start of secondary school. I felt year 6 was too important to miss. The very helpful woman in the admissions department did say its mothers of summer born boys who are always worried.
I am sending DS in september but if he could have gone in January it would have been better. The progress he has made from January to now has been huge, the same again and he'd be fine.

You could send him in January if you wanted to! Compulsory school age starts the term after a child is 5. You are well within your rights to accept the place but not start straight away. Your authority can’t have a blanket policy of insisting children leave before year 6! You would speak to the high school. Are you in the flexible school admissions for summer borns Facebook page? They will help more than my vague memories from when I was on it but I’m sure I have the basics right! Luckily we moved to Scotland so my son was 5 and a few weeks when he started.

@Heathofhares

So much misinformation in this thread... I would really recommend joining the facebook group Flexible admissions for summer borns for accurate information and non-reactionary discussion!

Since 2014 it has been the legal right of parents to ask for their (summer born) child to be educated out of age group. Lots of loud opinions on this thread, but the support on facebook is great and will help you choose the right thing for your DC.

Legal right to ask, not all LA or schools will agree.

My birthday is early September and I went through primary school as the youngest in the year above the one I was supposed to be in (my parents got me put up a year so that Dsis and I wouldn't be in the same school year and class. Probably quite reasonable) and secondary as the oldest in my actual year.

I can tell you that being the oldest in the year was a whole hell of a lot easier in many ways. Academically I was fine in the year above but physically I struggled and always thought I was really crap at sports when in reality I was just smaller and younger. Socially it was really hard too especially as we got older and puberty started for them but not for me.

I essentially repeated the last year of primary but it was in a new school so I didn't notice. If I'd gone on to the same school as my friends I would have been incredibly upset to repeat that year.

As long as they get to stay in their year group then it seems obvious it will advantage summer born DC to hold them back a year but if they ever had to miss a year to catch up that would be a disaster.
I sent my own summer born DS in the right year as there appeared to be not much option at the time and he seemed behind where DD had been until probably Y2 but now by Y5 he's flying and is in top sets etc.

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?

This ^

Also, just because your dc is an August birthday, doesn't mean they will struggle, or be behind. The biggest influence is likely to be who a child's parents are - your involvement, your education etc.

The law in the UK is that a child has to be in education at the beginning of the first term after their 5th birthday. If you live in the Uk then you apply for the school year after they turn 4 and then defer. You don’t live in the Uk but you could defer.

@SunshineCake

IME if the child doesn't start the September after they turn four when they do start they go into year one. They are in the class with the kids they should have been in but have missed the whole of reception which is an important year. My dd started school at aged four and a month. It wasn't full days to start with.

This is simply not true. Summer born children can request starting in Reception at 5 (compulsory school age). I know of quite a number of children who have followed this route for various reasons. It's not always a straight forward process which is what makes it so unfair for people who cannot negotiate the system.

Contrary to another post up thread. Children starting at CSA also receive funding for 30 hours at nursery until they turn five (6 terms funded, in comparison to 5 terms for an Autumn born child).

@BackforGood

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?

This ^

Also, just because your dc is an August birthday, doesn't mean they will struggle, or be behind. The biggest influence is likely to be who a child's parents are - your involvement, your education etc.

Unfortunately it's not as black and white as this😩

DS has just missed cut off date in Scotland for deferment and has additional needs, was born very premature, amongst other reasons. Local authority won't allow it. There are parents very angry about the complete obsession local authority areas seem to have on birthdate alone. There is more than birthdate to be considered when it comes to a child's readiness for starting primary school!

I think you'll find it was true @Heathofhares in my experience. I didn't say it happened in every school.

Contrary to another post up thread. Children starting at CSA also receive funding for 30 hours at nursery until they turn five (6 terms funded, in comparison to 5 terms for an Autumn born child).

In the private sector a summer born can get the EY funding offset against fees for three Reception terms.

Did I read your post correctly OP? You're asking about your child starting at a school at some point within the next 5 years?

Beware. DS, 2nd of September born, was taken in a year too early, apparently. I was notified when they broke up for the summer holidays.
He had to re-start the school year. Lost all his friends, because he was born one day too late.

Hi OP, a lot rides on which county you are in as to whether it's a straight forward approval for a deffered start. I deferred my child (best decision) and he has 3 other children in his class of 22 who are also deferred due to being summer babies. We are one of the only countries that start formal education at 4 years of age. There is so much research out there showing summer-born children are at a disadvantage right through to GCSE''s.

I highly recommend a Facebook group called' Flexible Admissions for Summer Borns' it is full of very knowledgeable people and heaps of useful info.

Yea I could send him in January but the whole scheme of work is based on September starters so he will miss out. In the past teachers were planning for two sets of starters. They might tell you they will teach him separately and make sure he catches up but it won’t happen

But that is completely different @HarrisMcCoo

The OP has specifically stated that this thread is about a child who has no learning difficulties.
Two completely different scenarios.

@Heathofhares

So much misinformation in this thread... I would really recommend joining the facebook group Flexible admissions for summer borns for accurate information and non-reactionary discussion!

Since 2014 it has been the legal right of parents to ask for their (summer born) child to be educated out of age group. Lots of loud opinions on this thread, but the support on facebook is great and will help you choose the right thing for your DC.

Oh, choice! Hasn't it already been made clear that it isn't actually necessarily a 'choice', dependent on which EA you're in, and the opinion of the HT?

Somebody has to be the youngest.

You clearly don’t understand the issue if you think it is just about being the youngest. It’s about the disparity between the older and the younger children in terms of maturity. There is no issue with a child being the youngest if there are only 7 or 8 months spread in the ages of their peers.

There are only 13 months between my sister and I. Her birthday is just before the cut off, mine is just after. There are two school years between us. She started school when she was a whole year younger than I was. She was not ready, she struggled all through school and achieved poorly academically, she was also bullied. She was forced to do fifth year at school because she wasn’t old enough to leave yet. She saw her friends go off and start jobs or go to college and she had to waste 6 months in school which gave her no benefit whatsoever. I did really well at school and went on to further education. She is no less bright than me, she was fully capable of achieving as I did and there is no doubt her problems were because she started school far too early.

Sure, some kids manage, but plenty don’t. Getting it right for the individual child is what’s important.

My son was born Aug 30. We are American and it is very common there to hold back summer born boys so I didn’t think it would be a problem. Also it is an independent school. I brought it up and they said I could keep him out of reception but he would start the next year in Year 1 anyway. There didn’t seem to be much point to that so he started reception.

This was a while ago now and I can tell you that he absolutely thrived in Reception and all of the years since. He is taller than average, quite bright and reasonably sporty so all of that helps. Many of his friends were born in June, July and August as well so they aren’t too far apart in age. Someone has to be the youngest so why shouldn’t it be my kid?

@Miljea I was the youngest in my school year and none of the things you mentioned were ever an issue.

Another perspective from my 17 year old who mentioned this today out of the blue “if I have an August baby I’m definitely going to chose for them to be the eldest in the year not the youngest”. This is purely from a teenager’s perspective on social life (they’re now allowed to meet outside), learning to drive, choosing/considering university etc. In her view, if the parents have the option, there is a significant social benefit to being the eldest in the year not the youngest.

@MintyMabel
I have literally no idea how you can't understand the problem here, when you've correctly noticed that it's about the disparity between the ages.
Deferring summer born children is literally PRECISELY what is exacerbating this problem.
If no one does this, you have a MAXIMUM of 12 months between the oldest and youngest. Yes, the younger one is statistically likely to not do as well.
But, by allowing children to defer if their parents want, INCREASES THE DISPARITY! you now have possibly 16 months disparity in one year group. (If May is the last allowed month).
And, if everyone from May defers, all you've done is shifted the youngest in the year from august to April.

Children who were born this late in the school year have been starting school at the correct time for many many years. Schools are used to it. Unless children were born very prematurely or gave sen there is no need to defer entry. I have an august child. Was fine at school and has been very successful in life.

Move to Scotland. Your DS will start just as he turns 5 and will be right in the middle by year of age.

Even the youngest born (Jan and Feb babies) have a choice of whether to start young or wait another year.