England/Wales school - “young in the year”

[BringBackCatsEyes]

Do you regard children born end March early April as young in the academic year group?

I don’t. Both mine are end of March and I regarded them as middle of the group.

A friend of mine is insisting that her grandchild will be disadvantaged because of “being young” when their birthday is early April.

Sept - end March = 7 months
April - end Aug = 5 months

They may or may not. DS is summer born and its actually really been a problem. He's resitting y11 now as he just wasn't ready for GCSEs. DD is spring however and totally fine in her cohort. Its child dependent and no anecdata will help your friend ..only time will tell.

No I wouldn’t view them as young in the year. june onwards in my mind. I’d see March as about middle

Really? Is that necessary?

AIBU to not consider that my end of March born children will be disadvantaged at school due to their age.

I think you knew what I meant.

Yes.

May onwards I would say, isn't that when they can defer to the following year? My son is May and he is one of the younger ones in the class.

My ds is mid April and it is actually classed as ‘summer born’. I do think of him as middle of the year though.

Yanbu. Basically only mid july to august is young in the year imo. Youngest 10%

No, my DS is young in the year, August. My March born child is mid i’d say.

My eldest was end of March and I didn’t regard that as summer born. The youngest was mid July and that was.

No. I wouldn’t regard April children as “young in the year”. Obviously they’re in the younger half, but I wouldn’t use that term for kids born earlier than at the earliest June, but probably more July onwards.

Classed by whom?

Genuine question!

Well you can defer the reception place if born after 1 April, so it may depend how many other parents in the year group choose to do that. In a Sept-Aug year I agree it’s pretty much the middle; but that could be quite skewed by lots of deferrals of the other younger ones.

Depends on the cohort - I am a Jan birthday and was ‘young’ in my class because over half had their birthday before mine.
DC is an August birthday (actually the youngest!) but only 1 of her class is a pre Jan birthday, most are March onwards!

I was wrong, it's from April they can defer. I always thought it was May. IMO

Sept- Dec = older
Jan- Apr = Mid
May - Aug = younger

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing

The government - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission/summer-born-children-starting-school-advice-for-parents

My oldest is May born and there are a few summer borns in his year group that deferred entry for a year, which you can do if you're born after Easter. At least one child is a whole year older than him, so yes it's possible an April born child could end up to be quite young in the year.

Obviously not, as it is slap bang in the middle of the academic year.

But even if they were a July / August born baby, it doesn't mean that their grandchild would automatically struggle. Just as they wouldn't automatically fly if they were a Sept / Oct born child. There are lots of factors come into play.

DS is July so definitely summer born
DD April I would say mid year

Someone has to be the youngest and lots of summer borns do really well. Especially as they get older.

I'd consider Jan-April to be mid year. That was me and I remember being right in the middle of my friend's birthdays when I was at school. Also no reason for a younger child to be disadvantaged. The most academic kids in DS class are all summer born!

Worked in education my whole life and from my experience we only tend to call children born in July and August ‘young in the year’, maybe June at a push.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I was mid September and definitely one of the youngest.

Im an end of July baby so I was classed as younger in the year. I would say end of May/June onwards really.

No. I consider children born in July/August as young. But it’s always been the case that some are the oldest and some the youngest. My child was an August birthday and she did very well at school. It depends on the child.