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Original poster

youngest in the class

28 replies

coffeebean · 04/02/2005 15:24

I have just put ds1 name down for local primary school. because his birthday is end of august he will only just be 4 when he starts and will be youngest in class - can / should i defer him starting for a year - what are advantages / disadvantages? any ideas or similiar experiences?

OP posts:

jenkel · 04/02/2005 15:35

My daughter's birhtday is the beginning of August so have a similar problem to you. I think it will all depend on the child, some children will thrive at primary school some wont, A friend of mine is a primary school teacher and she says that some children do so well and for others its clearly a bit too much too young. My daugther is just 2 1/2 and she goes to nursery a couple of mornings a week plus we also go to mother a toddler mornings and she has a big circle of friends, so I think she will be able to cope socially at school. She seems to love her nursery and they are quite strict so I'm hoping all this will help prepare her for school.

Just need something to prepare me for school

Tommy · 04/02/2005 15:53

My DS2 was born 27 August so he is in the same boat. DS1 is 20m older but they will only be one school year apart. I believe you can keep them back a year if you want but it probably depends on the child. DS1 is starting nursery class next week and if all that goes well then DS2 will go there at 3 as well. I think that should prepare him well for "big school" even though he'll only have been there for 3 terms and DS1 will be there for four and a half.

Scarey though isn't it? We were hoping DS2 would wait until eptember to be born but by the time 27 Aug came, I was only too ready for him to be born! (very hot summer 2 years ago )

milliways · 04/02/2005 16:18

My DS is an August birthday and would have been sooo bored if kept back a year. They have to have a cut off point somewhere, so somebody has to be youngest. I fekt awful when he had to ake Yr2 SATS aged 6, but he did v.well, and if there had been an issue they do take age into account. The teacher once said she had to remember he was so young as he was prone to being emotional, but no probs with work and emotions now settled.

logic · 04/02/2005 16:28

We have the opposite problem with ds being born in early September. He will be 5 starting school which I think is a bit late and he will be the eldest. Personally, I would prefer him to start the year before but then he would only be 3 going on 4. It's all a bit of a nightmare isn't it? I think we will solve the problem by leaving him in pre-school for the extra year so at least he is getting some education as I've been told that the curriculum is similar to the reception class one.

lowcalCOD · 04/02/2005 16:29

logic me too
ds2 is sept the 5 th!
ds1 is augustt he 8th

lowcalCOD · 04/02/2005 16:29

oh and deffo better later
ds1 was too young

iota · 04/02/2005 16:32

can I join in? ds2 is a Sept baby. He should have been August but he wouldn't come out in time - in fact we had to go in and get him.

At the time I was pleased that he wouldn't be the youngest, but looking at him now, I wish he'd been an August baby. He thinks he's the same age as his older bro

Dingle · 04/02/2005 16:37

My ds is in Y1 now and his birthday is 30 Aug. I was lucky enough to have 2 intakes when he started reception so he started in the January after he was 4.
I know you can defer, but I thought they would then miss out on Reception and go straight into Y1, which(if that is the case) I feel would be much harder, other children will already have settled,formed relationships and know routines.
I also don't think the schools have to keep a place open, so if it is over subsribed, you may risk a place!
On a good note, although we did have a few teething problems, my ds is doing well for being the youngest in his class. He found Y1 more of
an upheaval, he said it was boring and that he did too much "sitting around." Emotionally he struggled, his concentration levels were immature, but he has proved that academically- he can cope very well and has just moved up 2 reading colours withing a few weeks and is far from struggling that I worried about!

logic · 04/02/2005 17:03

Thanks cod...we'll have to see how confident ds is at the time I suppose! I think it's down to the individual child as to how well they'll cope in either situation. Ds is a very shy child, easily overwhelmed so maybe later would be better.

starlover · 05/02/2005 10:04

my birthday is 28th august, so i was always the youngest... but i never had a problem at all!
I started in the easter term before my birthday.

if he is already at nursery/playgroup and has friends who will be starting at the same time I am sure he will be fine... and it would probably be worse for him in that scenario to stay back a year because all his friends would be going and he'd be left behind!

jellyhead · 05/02/2005 10:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lowcalCOD · 05/02/2005 10:55

logic deffo as sa1 is super confident and still found the respobnsibilty ofr personla organisation very waering
started sleeping at lunchtime ( he only did mornings)

its very different to nursery

lowcalCOD · 05/02/2005 10:56

agree with jelly about personla organisation etc
someof reception in our schol are far too babied byt heir mums and need to do their own stuff more
Mind you half lf them went to school in buggys upt o 6 motnhs beofre!

wordsmith · 05/02/2005 11:00

They avoid this in my LEA by having 2 intakes, in sept and jan. cut off point is end feb, so those born before mar 1 start in sept, those after in jan. only problem is the jan starters can't understand why their friends are going to school and they're not. ds1 has just started in jan, but i must admit the last 4 months of 2004 were a trial! he was well ready in sept.

wordsmith · 05/02/2005 11:02

plus i think their pre-school experience counts for more than their age. those children not used to being left for a few hours and socialising without their mum have a harder time in the first few weeks, ime.

Original poster

coffeebean · 05/02/2005 12:13

thanks for advice / comments - will see how he goes and try and make sure he has as many independence skills etc. he is currently at pre school 2 mornings and really enjoys that.

OP posts:

Azure · 05/02/2005 12:33

DS is 4 at the end of August. When visiting schools I asked how the younger children cope and all the teachers commented that it can take a little longer to settle in, but they catch up by year 1. I agree that it depends on the child - DS is used to nursery and the feedback I'm getting is that he is ready to start school in September.

roisin · 05/02/2005 12:55

I think you can still clearly tell the difference between summer birthdays and Autumn birthdays right up until the end of infants, (i.e. age 7). But the differences are often social and behavioural rather than academic.

In the classes I've known there have always been several summer birthday children on the 'top table' for every subject.

A friend of mine has a dd who was several months premature, born at end of August - so was very young when she started iyswim. She's in yr1 now, and is one of the best readers in the class.

Blossomhill · 05/02/2005 13:15

My dd is the youngest in her class (dob 31.08.99) and is currently in yr1. She also has language diffculties. However excels in literacy (reading, writing and spelling) that she actually gets taken out twice a week to go into a yr2 literacy group. So for dd it has worked out as imagine how she would be if she was in Reception now, bored probably!

mummygow · 05/02/2005 13:26

Hi everyone I'm from scotland and I think we work different from you either that or I am totally missing what you are all saying - this is the policy for our entry age

Your child will be automatically admitted to school in August if his/her 5th birthday falls between 1st March of that same year and the last day of February of the following year.

My dob is 19.08. therefor I went when I was 5 but my friend who is in Jan went when she was 4 but she only had 5 months to go until she was 5

Tiggiwinkle · 05/02/2005 13:28

I have had two August babies-DS2 was born on 2nd and DS4 on 29th (and DS4 was 6 weeks premature as well so not actually due until October!)
Both were very young in their class and I did worry about it at the time,but both did extremely well. DS4s teacher at primary said she could not have imagined him in the year below as he was always in the top groups: so it obviously very much depends.

mummygow · 05/02/2005 13:31

so the point I was making sorry is that here in Scotland The oldest in P1 can be 51/2 and the youngest 41/2 - not any younger unless we want to make a request for early entry - which I have rarely heard of

Furball · 05/02/2005 13:40

I've an August boy too, starting reception in September this year. I too worry for him as he will be soo young going. Acedemically he'll be fine, it's just behavioural. At our local school they start the eldest ones first, then the younger ones join a few weeks later. I think thats even worse as the older ones will know the routines and will have made a few friends before the younger ones go. I suppose it will (hopefully) all even out after a few years.

HappyMumof2 · 07/02/2005 12:54

Message withdrawn

Ailsa · 07/02/2005 23:12

The Infant school that dd1 & ds went to allows parents choose when to start their children (if their birthday falls after January), September or January, and, full-time immediately or part-time for the autumn term. Both dd1 & ds are july babies, both started full-time in September as they had always attended nursery 5 mornings per week, so the school day was only 2 hrs longer than their nursery mornings.

DD1 settled alot easier than ds, but academically she struggled through reception and yr1 (bottom of class in both years), but after the autumn term of yr2 overtook everyone else in literacy, attaining Level 3, in numeracy she attained level 2.

DS on the other hand, took until yr2 to settle in. He struggled academically, and still does. He's at the Junior school now and is much more settled. He was only 4yrs & 6wks when he started the infants, but I don't regret sending him at that age. As others have said, if they start later the other children have already formed their bonds and it may have been harder for him to settle in had I sent him later.

I will have the exact opposite with dd2, as she is a September (2nd) baby and will be the oldest, and will already have had her 5th birthday when she starts school (the school usually has 2 TED days at the beginning of the Autumn term).

Not sure if my waffle has helped coffeebean, but basically you can't tell how things will turn out until it happens.

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