Page 2 | To ask how many children roughly will be younger then my child at school

Onlytime4000 · 2023-03-30T18:38:05+00:00

I’m due 16th August up likely to be induced around the 4th August would my child be very young in their school year?

Spendonsend · 30/03/2023 19:57

There were 4 august birthdays in my sons class

mogtheexcellent · 30/03/2023 19:58

It really depends. DD is late july born i thought she would be one of the youngest but there are about 10 august borns out of 60 kids. The most popular birthday month is june.

Obviously something in the water locally.

cadburyegg · 30/03/2023 20:00

I have an early august birthday. I was always one of the youngest ofc but there were always a few younger than me. Depends entirely on the school. My friend's dc has a 7 august birthday and he was the youngest in reception.

FatGirlSwim · 30/03/2023 20:02

In England and Wales yes.

in England you have the right to request a reception start at compulsory school age. In Wales it’s more complicated

Lancrelady80 · 30/03/2023 20:02

slamfightbrightlight · 30/03/2023 19:46

Yes but as a summer born you will have an option to defer their start.

They would def be one of youngest (assuming in England) - it's weird how few children seem to have August birthdays! However as pp said there should be the option of requesting a delayed start as your lo will be summer born. It's not guaranteed it will be granted but you can ask if you feel they are not ready enough. Generally needs to have a damn good reason though (not necessarily SEND ) not just because they're still dinky. So keep an eye on milestones and emotional development if you start thinking about that later on. If you do want that, you might have to be quite insistent on it, and may find they try to get lo to miss a year somewhere along the way to catch up, as it messed up their systems. Our summerborn was delayed (he has SEND and really needed a delay) and the EHCP coordinator keeps trying to bump him back up to the "right" cohort as it upsets the computer having him a year later. Fortunately our SENCO agrees with us that it makes no sense for a child with an EHCP to miss out a year! She helps us fight our corner year after year. The head on the other hand has muttered a few times about "rejoining his cohort." SENCO just says (as do we) that the children he is currently with ARE his cohort now.

Meandfour · 30/03/2023 20:03

They will be one of the youngest but you may be surprised. One of mine is 7th August and he has 5 children younger than him in his small class.

thegrain · 30/03/2023 20:04

You never know. They might be a class of all August born. I doubt it though.

voxnihili · 30/03/2023 20:09

My DD is mid August and the youngest in her class of 30. It’s been fine though - she was totally ready for reception. If she had been born just 2 weeks later she’d have still been at nursery, which she would have totally outgrown by now. She was 100% ready for school.

JoshLymanIsHotterThanSam · 30/03/2023 20:11

Couple of days away from my birthday, I was one of the youngest in the year in secondary school. The youngest in primary.

I love it now though-all my class mates are hitting the big 30/40 etc before me 😆

covetingthepreciousthings · 30/03/2023 20:14

@Lancrelady80 being summer born is reason enough, you don't need any more of a reason than that.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 30/03/2023 20:15

Mummyboy1 · 30/03/2023 19:40

They'll be one of the youngest, depending on class size, but you might have a a couple younger than them.

A lot of those parents will be wanting to defer a year (as the Law provides for).

Mine would have gone absolutely spare had I tried that, mind.

Meandfour · 30/03/2023 20:22

NeverDropYourMooncup · 30/03/2023 20:15

A lot of those parents will be wanting to defer a year (as the Law provides for).

Mine would have gone absolutely spare had I tried that, mind.

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I have 3 DC in school, older nieces and nephews and lots of friends with children and the only time I’ve ever heard of anyone deferring is on MN.
I really don’t think it’s that common.

Cuwins · 30/03/2023 20:29

I wouldn't worry about that yet. You have no idea when they will actually be born after all. Friend was worrying about a Christmas baby only for baby to be 6 weeks early.

SmallbutMighty1 · 30/03/2023 20:34

I teach and honestly sometimes it makes not a scrap of difference. I'm pregnant with number 3 due in August and I really couldn't care less that it is an August baby.

Also never had any kids deferred a year.

slamfightbrightlight · 30/03/2023 20:35

Lancrelady80 · 30/03/2023 20:02

They would def be one of youngest (assuming in England) - it's weird how few children seem to have August birthdays! However as pp said there should be the option of requesting a delayed start as your lo will be summer born. It's not guaranteed it will be granted but you can ask if you feel they are not ready enough. Generally needs to have a damn good reason though (not necessarily SEND ) not just because they're still dinky. So keep an eye on milestones and emotional development if you start thinking about that later on. If you do want that, you might have to be quite insistent on it, and may find they try to get lo to miss a year somewhere along the way to catch up, as it messed up their systems. Our summerborn was delayed (he has SEND and really needed a delay) and the EHCP coordinator keeps trying to bump him back up to the "right" cohort as it upsets the computer having him a year later. Fortunately our SENCO agrees with us that it makes no sense for a child with an EHCP to miss out a year! She helps us fight our corner year after year. The head on the other hand has muttered a few times about "rejoining his cohort." SENCO just says (as do we) that the children he is currently with ARE his cohort now.

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There is an absolute guaranteed right to delay start - nobody but a parent gets to make that decision.

The decision the local authority has to make is whether, having delayed their start, the child joins in reception or year 1 the following year. Obviously joining in year 1 risks defeating the object of deferring in the first place. There’s published guidance about what needs to be considered when making the decision and there is no requirement for a child to have SEND - “it is not necessary for a child to have medical or special educational needs in order for it to be in their interests to start reception age 5.” The best interests of the child rather than needs of the school are the consideration. Councils get this wrong a lot, and there are lots of advisory groups out there for summer borns who can advise about deferring.

PritiPatelsMaker · 30/03/2023 20:37

Cuwins · 30/03/2023 20:29

I wouldn't worry about that yet. You have no idea when they will actually be born after all. Friend was worrying about a Christmas baby only for baby to be 6 weeks early.

Exact same thing happened to my DF. Baby was Due on NYE, arrived middle of November.

Lancrelady80 · 30/03/2023 20:38

Yes, it's law to be able to request based on being summerborn only. But no guarantee that it will be granted. An Ed Sec (Gove?) wrote a letter several years ago encouraging schools to allow this more, but it's still at the discretion of the LA/head. Hence a good idea to have reasons at the ready - even if not diagnosis or SEND.

Lancrelady80 · 30/03/2023 20:41

slamfightbrightlight · 30/03/2023 20:35

There is an absolute guaranteed right to delay start - nobody but a parent gets to make that decision.

The decision the local authority has to make is whether, having delayed their start, the child joins in reception or year 1 the following year. Obviously joining in year 1 risks defeating the object of deferring in the first place. There’s published guidance about what needs to be considered when making the decision and there is no requirement for a child to have SEND - “it is not necessary for a child to have medical or special educational needs in order for it to be in their interests to start reception age 5.” The best interests of the child rather than needs of the school are the consideration. Councils get this wrong a lot, and there are lots of advisory groups out there for summer borns who can advise about deferring.

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Yes, this. If you want child to start later but not miss out a year somewhere along the way, is where the fight is. As poster here says, many places get it wrong.

Okunevo · 30/03/2023 20:45

In England they could be the youngest depending on where birthdays fall in the cohort or if other August birthdays are deferred, or there could be a few other August birthdays.

My primary school class was skewed towards the summer birthdays, another could be skewed the other way with half the class being autumn, it's just luck really.

Even distribution and no deferrals and you'd be looking at likely two younger children.

Raindancer411 · 30/03/2023 20:48

My son is middle of August and I have always worried about him being the youngest. He is the second youngest in his year. Defering wasn't really a thing for when he was going into school but to be honest, each time he has made me proud and I haven't had to worry. In fact he passed his 11plus and I have just been told he was one of the highest scores in the maths tests!!

FLOWER1982 · 30/03/2023 20:51

My dd was born end of July. She has absolutely thrived in school and can read very well at still only 4. She has lots of friends and loves going. Being one of the youngest has certainly not held her back. There’s quite a few with July and August birthdays. To be fair with 30 birthdays they’re spread out fairly well!

PinkEdgeOfMind · 30/03/2023 20:53

Possibly no-one younger, my DD is end of July born and there's 1 other in her year group of 60 younger than her, and thats only by 2 days. There's no-one in DDs year born mid or late August in her year.

Refrosty · 30/03/2023 20:58

I'm mid August I was probably one of the youngest, I didn't know anyone younger than me in my year. Nobody would have guessed it if asked, as I was average height and one of the smartest/more mature students in all my classes.

TeenLifeMum · 30/03/2023 20:59

My twins were due early October but born 30 August. They are the youngest in the year but from year 4 it evened out and they were not behind at all. Now at secondary dtd1 is predicted 8s and 9s and dtd2 is 6s and 7s for GCSEs (Although they are age 11 so likelyy to change). Dtd2 is quite short which she’s aware of but in proportion so I think she’s just due a growth spurt.

Mueslikid · 30/03/2023 21:00

If you assume an even distribution of birthdays, you’d expect 10 or so children born Sep-Dec, 10 or so Jan -Apr, and 10 or so May - Aug.

But you can’t actually predict it. You might end up with loads of summer Borns, or everyone else in the class with a, say, February birthday, or all the other summer born children deferring to the following September. Who knows.