To ask any teachers this question please

[Desperatetobeamummyonedaysoon]

Do you believe summer born children.. particularly aug born are at a disadvantage or do you believe it's not an issue.. as in they are all in a class and taught the same and irrespective of age they are either "academic" or not and will do well (or not) irrespective of age. I.e it depends more on of they are academic or not, not their age?

I have an aug born boy and i think hes fairly bright/ average but compared to his peers..not so nuch!

Also what about socially? He seems youngs for his year group... which he is! I worry he will get easily led when hes older? Hes only 6 at the mo lol!

It does have an effect statistically. Obviously, that doesn't mean ALL summer born children get lower results, but on average summer born children get lower results than their older peers.

I can't tell individually in my classes who is summer born or autumn born, but I do know my top sets have far fewer summer born children than my set 3 or 4 classes (I only know this because we've done some work on statistics recently and some of the data we used was about their ages)

If you are born between September and November, you are 25 per cent more likely to go to Oxford or Cambridge than a child born in August. GCSE attainment is lower for June-to-August babies by a factor of 6.4 per cent, compared with autumn births.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/september-babies-have-an-advantage-in-education-and-thats-just-the-way-schools-like-it-8611070.html%3famp

Yes I think summer borns are at a disadvantage and yes I would always defer.

I’m only a TA too (I do mean only as I have no teaching qualifications nor do I have the responsibility of a whole class, preparing, marking, parent contact etc) and the evidence does show that on average being summer-born does affect their GCSE results and beyond.
I have seen some late August children who are top of the class, I have seen some September children who are bottom of the class both academically and emotionally. It’s all anecdotal though.
However, statistics can’t affect your individual child. Being a supportive (and that does include considering deferring Reception entry) parent is the biggest factor in how a child performs at school.

@musicMerchandiseWebsite with respect I disagree. I think summer-borns are often tarred with the same brush by educators which is unfair.

As for having your children both in mid-September then that's great but not all of us are blessed with the ability to fall pregnant at an exact time. Perhaps, like me, a miscarriage followed by the loss of much long-for baby before a successful August child happened.

I know a few children where their parents have planned late September babies but ended up with August babies as they were premature. So those children are doubly disadvantaged when they start school because they're still catching up from being premature!

If course there are other factors at play when looking at long term educational success. But if I had an August baby I'd want to defer their school starting age to let them mature a bit more. July would be more based on the individual child, but August would be a definite defer.

I don't for one second regret deferring for my August-born. However, I know I was very fortunate at the time in that I could stay at home for another year so my child was home-schooled for that extra year. It wasn't possible to defer/home school with my second son (May born) as I had no choice but to work ft when he was due to start.

Children continue to get the 15/30h funding so will cost the same that year as being at school.
I think it is good to be able to defer but it being left up to individual LA and HT is an awful idea. Hopefully that will change soon. As it is clear that people feel strongly even if it doesnt affect them. And many HT are unreasonable. And are ignoring the fact that any issues are picked up and dealt with by parents including
Extra help when they fall behind
Support when they are bullied
Dealing with them not being invited to things.
Diagnosed with sen
Dealing with and blamed for any of their dc 'bad behaviour' that would have been fine in the yr below.
Parents live it 24h a day for the whole of the childs life.
And honestly sometimes it is a conflict of interest.

Children continue to get the 15/30h funding so will cost the same that year as being at school.

That still wouldn't have worked financially for me. I started work every day as a teacher from 8 am and left work at 5/5.30pm. That's more than 30 hours p/w so childcare not an option. Luckily my son went to the same school I taught at (as did my other son) so they came in and went home with me.

I am a teacher but at FE level so I honestly couldn’t tell you whether my students are Autumn or summer born and I really don’t think it makes a difference once you reach A levels.

I am also a parent of two summer born children and can confirm it has never made a blind bit of difference. One is June, one is mid August. The mid August born is actually the most academic and, dare I say, the brightest.

@OutPinked. Similar here, teacher (although primary) with an August and May born. August-born is academically the brightest although other son does well, bless him.
Have you also had the "Oooooh a teacher with summer babies?!! Couldn't you do your maths?!!" comments? I have loads. Find it really offensive as I lost babies before my firstborn and struggled to get the two children I was blessed with.

I teach primary level. Some Aug born ch have been the brightest in the class and Sept born can also struggle.

Generally speaking at FS and year 1 it can make a difference especially in terms of non academics and socialising but by the time it gets to year 6 it really doesn't seem to make any difference. (I have worked in yr1 and yr6 )

you have to hold 2 facts in your mind at the same time.

1. Statistically,macros the thousands of children in a year group, summer borns perform less well on average than others throughout education.
2. At the same time, in every year, many summer borns do really wel and outperform many autumn born children.

All the anecdotes about individual children can be true and the overall statistical facts remain true. Other factors such as the background of the family and level of engagement of the child also make a difference on both a ststaistical level of averages and to individual children.

As a teacher I do wonder if some (although I'm sure not all) of the lower performance seen in summer-borns is due to labelling/expectations? So many times I've had a parent say "Well we don't expect him/her to do as well as (non-summer born child) because they are a summer baby. So we don't mind so much if they don't want to read etc...
Absolutely not saying it's the only reason, but I do think it could play a part in some situations.
It's like I was told once (I kid you not, I quote) that my children were "Bound to be a bit less intelligent because they come from a separated family."
I didn't take too kindly to that one!

Statistically, there is a measurable difference yes. That doesn't mean that every individual summer born child will do worse than every autumn born child. That's not how statistics work.

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/14/what-happened-to-allowing-children-born-in-summer-to-start-school-later

www.headteacher-update.com/best-practice-article/summer-born-pupils-whats-the-evidence/109276