To worry that ds will be the youngest in the school year

[tifflins]

not till a few years yet but his birthday is late august, his development seems normal but not advanced, he is quite shy and clingy, but probably just the baby phase. Am I worrying unnecessarily?

We live in Scotland and our DSs are in the Scottish system. The cut off point for admissions here is at the end of February. It is getting increasingly common for parents with children with January or February birthdays to defer their entry for a year. Most councils were doing this automatically but I have heard that with the recession councils are becoming more reluctant to do this in some cases. It is also fairly common in some areas for people with kids in December or even November to seek to defer. In theory each application for a deferral is meant to be looked at on an individual basis. I don't think the system here is that much better - it still means that someone's child will be the youngest in the year and I agree that statistics show that the youngest children are less likely to do well, although date of birth is only one among a huge number of factors. Our DS1 has a late November birthday and is one of the youngest in his year. The only advice I have is to remind the teachers when the time comes that your DS is very young in the year. I found that the teachers seemed to forget about that and expected the same degree of maturity from DS1 that they expected from children who were almost a year older.

Jaffa, the system in Scotland is slightly better because the youngest child starting in the August will have been 4yrs for at least 6mths since the end of February. Whereas in England, a child may just turn 4yrs on 30th Aug and start school 2 or 3days later so very, very young.
That 6mths can make a huge difference to their maturity even though they may still be the youngest in the class.

Am I the only one with a late August baby pleased to have avoided another year of childcare fees?

Both me and DH are late summer babies, and both DC's are. In fact in my family we have 10 birthdays in August! I never felt at a disadvantage at school, and as far as I know neither did any of my relatives so it has never occured to me to worry.

They all catch up eventually. The most athletic person in my family (National standard) was a late developer and a mid August birthday. It is about the child not their birth date.

As I understand it, primary one in Scotland is more academic than the Reception year in England in that it is less play based which can make it harder on the younger kids. On the other hand, children in England get one more year of education in school, so it probaby balances out at the other end.

I should have added that DS1 is now in P3 and the differences between the oldest and the youngest in the year are less marked now than they were in the past. I try to remember that date of birth is only one factor in how well kids do at school. As we can't do anything about it I try to concentrate on other things that may help to influence how he does at school.

YABU, can't change the birthday so why fret.

Oh absolutely! DOB is just one factor which has an influence. I think it's unfair to the OP for everyone just to say it makes no difference and he'll be fine. I think the best advice for her to to be aware of it but not let it be something she spends the next few years worrying about. There is nothing she can do about him being an August birthday. What she can do is foster his independence and enthusiasm for school and support him in the same way she would a Sept baby. There is so much that affects a child's chances and outcomes and the OP is best to concentrate on the ones she can influence.

DS is late august and was a premmie, if he had been born full-term he would have been in the class below. He is year 3 now, and doing absolutely fine. The only thing the teacher notices is that he fidgets a lot, and he can be a bit silly at times, but I suspect that is his personality! Try no to worry, your DS will be fine.

DS is a mid-August baby. I personally think it depends a lot on the child - and I definitely wouldn't defer a place for your child. DS had many friends with September birthdays so they went to school a year after him. Pretty much all the parents were tearing their hair out with their children as they were so ready for school by about January but of course couldn't go. DS loved it from the minute he went. Although personally I hated the staggered start as he joined a month after the older children and there is still a big gap in friendship groups etc between the children.

But what I would say is the teacher they get in reception is huge influence. DS's was dreadful with the younger ones and didn't step in when DS was being bulllied about his age. I was tempted to move him out of the school for year 1. But his year 1 teacher was wonderful and did everything she could to support him, got him extra support for his writing as it was so dreadful and he did really well that year and is now a super star in year 2. I wish I had been more forceful with reception teacher and pushed her and the school to support my son. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Please don't worry - weren't the stats something like 20% were at the bottom for August borns vs. 7%?

So yes, they're more likely, but that's still 80% of August-borns being just the same as 93% of not August borns - I'm pretty sure there are other things that make much more of a difference.