Is the summer-born curse real or can 7+ be realistic?

[skh2021]

DD is a late summer born child - birthday is the 30th of July. She's tracking to expectations at Reception despite being one of the youngest. Is 7+ really out of the question for her? How real is the summer curse? Does it really doom them for life unless we pay for super expensive tutoring? (which we have not at all, and as mentioned, she's trending well). I need some advice here because I'm stick of all the dooms day predictions - so many people say she will never exceed expectations or get to "greater depth."

DS passed 7+ for one of the very sought after London schools. His birthday is in the last week of August.

The schools adjust for age to accommodate summer born children, as far as I am aware.

I’d imagine most of the children are tutored whenever their birthdays.

I was born mid August and ended up a partner at a silver circle firm in the city, so I don’t think she’s “doomed” by dint of her birthday….

Just because she’s average now, it doesn’t mean she will be in a year or two. While computers expect kids to track the same line, my experience of being a mum is that kids learn in jumps and starts and can exceed the line that their starting point suggests.

Also depends on which 7+ schools you are aiming for since competitiveness varies.

No idea about the 7+ or private school entry requirements, however in response to:
I need some advice here because I'm stick of all the dooms day predictions - so many people say she will never exceed expectations or get to "greater depth."

Of course summer born children are perfectly capable of doing well academically. If you are interested in learning and share that with your child, that will work wonders. Show an interest in the world, be impressed with your child's achievements, make art together. Read for fun (not just with/to your child) and talk about your book with them. All that sort of thing is a great pathway to a happy life and has the nice bonus of being useful for doing well at school too.

The best thing you can do for your child is teach them to be a happy and independent adult. This does not necessarily mean top grades, private school, or tutoring.

What the hell is the 7+??

I think it depends on a mixture of the academic level of schools you are applying to and your child’s ability.

7+ exams for the top schools far outstrip the level of reception and year 1 taught in schools, so I am
not sure that is the best benchmark.

If your 7+ target schools are less academic then you maybe fine without tutoring but for the leading ones I’m afraid tutoring is probably required

I've heard a number of people talk about exams being age adjusted but never seen any evidence!

I wouldn’t call it a “curse”, but the age gap is very real, especially in the early years.
A summer-born child can be almost a full year younger than some of their classmates, and at 4–7 that difference in language, attention and emotional development is significant. It’s often mistaken for ability, when it’s really maturity. By KS2, many of those children have caught up or even overtaken.

In terms of 7+, it is realistic. Some schools do take age into account when standardising scores, so while it can feel tougher, there is some adjustment behind the scenes. I’ve seen many summer-born children pass year after year.

The key is not to rely on papers alone. Lots of discussion, strong language development, practical activities and building thinking skills alongside any preparation tends to work far better at this age.

It comes down to the individual child, not just their birth month.

What’s this summer curse? Late July baby here who had no problems at a school, went to a grammar, got a good degree, got a post grad degree and became a teacher. One of the youngest in my year group- a late August baby- is now a neurologist. She flew through school and was consistently top of our year group in the grammar.
I do think that sometimes society nowadays creates these problems with younger born kids without realising it- like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Parents putting every blip in the educational road down to the child being a summer baby. Years ago, people didn’t even consider it an issue.
Yes a late summer born kid can be nearly 12 months behind some of the other kids in the year, but people seem to forget that the kids are spread all over that year so they won’t be 12 months behind everyone, they’ll be 6 months behind some, 2 months behind others.
I think if anything, it’s emotional maturity that is the thing that is more obvious.

My DC are both August born. Year 3 and Year 5 currently. DD is greater depth in all areas, DS is greater depth in one area and confidently working at expected level the others. Neither have had any tutoring.

I can see a lot of ‘I was fine’ confirmation bias type posts. However, it should be noted that times have changed. The competitive schools are soooo much more competitive now.

I think it’s more of a struggle for most summer borns at 7+, they are just so little and the year makes a big difference, so generally they need to put more effort in to be ahead. By 11+ I don’t see the same problem, the sometimes look smaller (but not always!) but in terms of 11+ it’s harder to tell who is a summer born.

My Personal, biased of course, view is that you shouldn’t put too much pressure on. If the school can’t adjust for summer borns, or see their potential, then it isn’t the right school for them.

I don’t know how relevant her birthday is because it’s hardly as if these schools don’t have kids in the class born after January but a child tracking at meets expectations isn’t going to be successful at the 7+ (assuming you’re talking about v competitive schools not just ‘state til 8’ then off to the local prep) without a substantial amount of tutoring.

It’s for prep school entrance exams.

Its not a "curse" it is statistically fact that summer born children in general do not do as well academically as autumn born children. However as in all statistics that does not mean all summer born do below average and all autumn born do well.

I am July 23rd and I have done very well academically and In my career. My eldest is July 3rd and finds school very easy. But I know other summer born children who find school more challenging for a variety of reasons.

Its much easier to consider an individual child and their abilities and strengths rather than write anyone in or out of success over the chance of their birth date. My son would have hated being deferred to start a year later but a friend's kids have been hugely benefitted in doing so.

In short.. you know your child.

There’s no such curse, kids learn at different paces, im late august born myself and was the best reader in my class in year 2, represented my school by year 3 in maths and chess. Super competitive schools are just that, if by a year of reception they are average it doesn’t mean they are average forever but perhaps a super competitive school isn’t the best choice. My dd failed her year 2 sats (0 and 1) then 2 for literacy in year 6 (4 is a pass) but clicked age 12, got decent GCSE’s , very good a levels, good degree in difficult subject and a masters … now does one of those jobs people cite to express difficulty as in it’s not xxxx! They can be slow off the blocks yet highly successful

Summer born children do struggle for KS1 against their peers. This is a well known fact. However there are children it doesn’t affect as much. It comes down to you as a parent, how much you do at help at home and your child’s natural ability.

I am the very end of august and maturity was my biggest problem even as a teenager. But I did well at school.

DD is a late summer baby - and was premature - she is and always has been academically bright. She was the only child in her class at primary to score full marks on all SATs papers at KS1 and 2. She is set to achieve 9s at GCSE. Definitely a myth otherwise the implication is all children born in the summer term will always be under achievers which doesn’t make sense!

I have a summer born boy (June). He's 10 now and about to sit sats. He's tracked GD definitely for maths, and is almost certain to be GD for reading and spag. He goes to a bog standard school that has a high proportion of free school meals. No tutor. No hot housing. Just making sure he reads 5x a week and he does his homework.

People saying “I/my child was summer born and they got into a top uni” etc are completely missing the point.

Most summer born kids do catch up over time but OP’s child doesn’t have time, because she’s talking about entering her for the 7+ entrance exams which take place at the beginning of year 3, by which point her daughter will have needed to complete at least the year 3 syllabus - ie be working up to a year ahead of the autumn born kids in her class (who will also have been tutored) - it’s a big ask if she is just meeting expectations now. Not impossible but why not let her catch up and focus on 11+ instead?

My DS is early summer born and wouldn’t have passed 7+ I don’t think, mainly because he didn’t have much interest in school work and tutoring would have been horrible for both of us. He suddenly blossomed in year 3 and is now working at year 5 level and we’re considering 11+ inc for super selective grammars.

This is super helpful, and thank you for understand the underlying intent. Did you start tutoring your DS at Year 3 or was it just that "things clicked for him" without that? Thanks again for your answer!

No idea about 7+ but my summer born DS is at a super selective grammar after passing the 11+, and autumn born DD doesn’t want to sit it ( she would be unlikely to pass anyway as less academically minded). Saying that it did take until around the end of year 1 before DS started hitting greater depth.

He hasn’t had any tutoring - things just clicked for him I think. We will likely start during next year (year 4, which is standard) if we do decide to go down this route.

He’s always been obviously very bright though - eg spoke very early and was reading before school, but was a typical boy who had no interest in writing and would much rather have been playing outside than sitting working at a desk. I have a DD as well and the maturity difference at same ages is striking.

He did get greater depth at school in year 1 and 2 (they don’t do it in reception) but it was more his attitude - he had a tendency to rush, would make silly mistakes, had no interest in going above and beyond what he did at school, didn’t really read independently, and is very resistant generally to being taught by me so I just knew that any additional work would be an ordeal. This year though a lot of that has changed and he’s just rocketed ahead. Eg he loves TTRS and is top of year 3 and 4 in the school leaderboard, and that fluency has enabled him to access a lot more maths, has developed an interest in creative writing etc etc.

I think a lot of it is dependent on personality as my DD is much more compliant and conscientious and I can imagine would enjoy tutoring. I don’t have any actual experience of the 7+ process so hopefully you will get feedback from those who do. Could be worth posting in the private school section as it’s obvious most of the posters who have responded dont understand your question.

Be very careful what your child picks up about this-that’s the real “Summer born curse”!