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

I don't think of April as being particularly young for the year, but that's probably because my DD is August, and when she was at school, you couldn't defer.

That said, it was very noticeable that all the kids on the 'top table' in her primary school were all September/October birthdays, who were stretched more than the younger children, so I think anyone born later in the school year can be at a disadvantage - it's almost a self fulfilling prophecy as the more the top table are stretched, the harder it is for others to catch up

The gap does narrow as the children get older, but even by A-levels some research suggests that summer born do statistically worse on average than older, are 30% less likely to attend Oxford/Cambridge, and more likely to do vocational courses.

My DS is March born and his birthday will only be the 7th in his class so far this year. Over half the class have summer birthdays. I think there are 8 in August.

There is one August born who should normally be in the year above. They will turn 6 while some other children in the class are still 4. I’ve no idea why they deferred but they do look a bit out of place physically although that will of course become less prominent over time. I suppose it is more obvious in this specific class as there are so many summer born children who are all nearly a year younger.

One area where I have had experience of it making a difference is in sport. You can track down from elite level professional sport all the way through to youth representative level and there is a clear correlation between birth month and performance. The general consensus is that the older children on average are physically more advanced than their younger peers in the early years and as a result get selected for regional teams more often and with that they get more coaching and opportunities.

It is worth noting though that deferring a year for educational reasons can cause significant issues with certain sports as many will require the child to compete in their age group and not their “wrong” school year age group.

I do think perceptions will start changing if most kids born in the (actual) summer defer. It will mean that April/ May babies become the youngest of most of the year, with a few total outliers born in June/July / August.

Thanks all. I was just musing really. Mine are 26 and 16 now so it's not really something I think about, but my friend was adamant her grandchild will be on the back foot.
It's one of her traits - a bit of a doom monger.

June-August is late in the year as it’s the last quarter of the school year. April/March are not, but ime really it’s July-August who are most affected (dtds are end of August - premature).

I was worried about this. Lots of my peers were talking about defering and that would make my April born potentially youngest of a year and a half gap!

I was adamant about not defering.

a) because we couldn’t afford it with childcare - this is now resolved with free 30 hours
b) the brain is most plastic between 3-5 - I honestly think that’s when 90% the groundwork on intelligence is done. Having some formality and structure towards the end of that period is good I think.
c) he was either going to be youngest or oldest by a long gap - I don’t think oldest by a year and a half is beneficial either. No one really truly gets something until you get to the next level out your comfort zone and you test/ apply that building block.

So basically I doubled down on prep since around 3. I didn’t want him to feel behind. And I am so pleased I have. It’s made such a difference and when I even compare him to his peers in private prep he seems ahead on a number of topics.

So not a bad thing to freak out a bit about it if it triggers some action.

I view March and April as being in the middle of the cohort, and I’m saying that as someone with a birthday in March who was one of the youngest in my primary school class. It was an odd group, with almost everyone having their birthday in September, October or November. I was one of only two children with a birthday after Christmas. However, I accept that this is highly unusual. I was fine in that group other than feeling a bit different when everyone had their birthday parties and mine was almost six months away.

In England?

I see it in terms

sept- dec - older in the year
Jan-April - middle
may-august- younger

I have an August born and a September born. No noticeable difference now other than the sept born being tall for her age. There was a difference when they were reception-year 2 but now both kids are older - both seem about average academically with the August born being better at sports in his year

All children are different. Mine is end of August but the teachers said they would never have guessed. Some kids can be December babies and still act young for their year.
I remember having kids over a year younger than most in our year at school, they were all mature and very intelligent.

It’s all getting a bit silly isn’t it. My eldest is April born and has always been ahead, she’s now in year 10 and doing amazingly. I would consider her middle of the year but not young.
I’m July born and always at or near the top of the class. I’m so glad I wasn’t held back a year!
It’s not just girls either, my nephew is late August born and he’s never had any problems in school.
Someone has to be the youngest, teachers know there’s a lot of difference in ability and maturity in primary school and they are good at adapting to accommodate for that.

I have two born in May, one in late July and one mid March. I considered the May ones as "slightly" young for their year, July definitely young, March in the middle. I'd consider April to be in the middle too.

although the government website includes april-may, my view is certainly more towards july and august.

In England, yes.

You’re not the Thread Police

I’d say March is bang in the middle.

It's month 7 of 12 in the school year so of course it's not. Many classes don't have an even spread of birthdays anyway - in my current class, three quarters haven't had their birthday this academic year yet.

As a teacher, I consider the ones that don’t have a birthday until the summer holidays “young in the year” as data about the ELG and “good level of development” used to measure against being 60 months old (5) and it was often those children not achieving but it was never considered that they weren’t even 5!

My youngest was born in the last week of August, but was at primary school before deferring was an option. She was behind all through primary school, but the gap has definitely closed in secondary school.
Work ethic, resilience, joy if learning, and commitment aren't influenced by age, so I think a lot of it comes down to personality.

apr is also considered summer born because when you wiuld get the free hours from term after 3 that is sept for them too. Likewise they can start reception in apr though technically not due until 5 its apr to hold the place.
Generally i wouldnt defer a apr or may kid unless very prem of sen.
But our 2 form entry the girls clique is sept - march (they are also the sporty ones

Exactly. I was the youngest in my year and my youngest daughter was also one of the youngest. I was one of only five from my year that went to Uni in the early 80s and my aforementioned daughter has a First in Maths.

The only ‘struggle’ was waiting for our 17th birthdays so that we could learn to drive as most of our classmates had already passed their tests!

I think some people are obsessed with this tbh.
Most children are born in the summer term-look at any birthday wall display and youll see at least a third, if not half the class are born April-August.

Plus teachers, espscially in younger years, look at things like birthdays, theyre not monsters who forget that Jonny was born 31st Aug etc.....but march?

Apr-aug is 5m so would expect 5/12 to be born then not a third and i would think that very unlikely. In fact the bulge of birthdays are often sept oct etc.

TBH yes theres a concern in reception etc but ultimately who wants a child to be 12m younger doing gcses? All scores sats/gcse and alevel are scaled against the cohort. Likewise setting at secondary you are fighting for position. Eldest doesnt guarantee top sets but- youngest makes lower set more likely. Probably most likely middle sets.

However my eldest is doing ok. Shes at top of set 2 of 5. And its sen not age stopping moving up. Her classmate thats aug is though the only kid she knows who is set 4.

As y9 they are going to be let know soon who is allowed to do separate science from testing. Mine is borderline of top 1/3 so doing ok - for age in year but probably wont be allowed.

My kids were born early and late April and I never considered them young for their year and they never struggled at school either academically, socially or emotionally.

How??