PARENTS' ANXIETIES IGNORED OVER AGE SUMMER-BORN PUPILS START SCHOOL

[wotnopulling]

I'm gutted, my august born babe will be forced to start school days after she turns 4.

there's money to throw at the banking system, the obliteration of the taliban and keeping royal family (in no particular order of parasytical- or dysfunction- ality) but eduction, child protection, health... better start shaking a tin.

A serious campaign for what exactly?

What will you campaign for? I think a flexible start is a pretty good option. At my dc's school, younger children start part time and can continue that way for as long as they need. It works pretty well I think (as the mother of a summer born boy).

glad you asked that. have been too busy being furious to frame my aims properly but flexibility - probably the right to start part time and the option to defer a year (as quite agree not all children are the same).

my dd is an end of june baby, poor little thing

Defer a year and start in reception? And would you have a cut-off for that?

I'm with you. DS (a mid July baby) has suffered and now in Y2 has finally caught up socially (i.e. he understands the 'rules' of school) but not academically. He has a great teacher this year who has worked really hard with him but he just didn't 'get it' for a long time. This wasn't really an issue in Reception but a problem in Y1 when the 'work' started and he was expected to listen/concentrate, etc. Despite the fact that his teacher said that she knew he was young we felt allowances still weren't made and this wasn't helped by the fact that he is a tall boy.

His friend who is a mid September boy has had an extra year of playschool (shown by research to be advantageous) because they both started when they were 3 (mine 3 and a month, the other boy, just 3) and he will have an extra year of school when they are 16/18. So the 8 weeks age difference between them will result in a difference of 2 years of preschool/school education with my DS coming off worse.

I feel like I have let him down. He was effectively robbed of 2 years of his childhood by being viewed as a bit of a pain and has been chasing his tail in an attempt to catch up ever since.

By "defer a year" do you mean join the year below?

Where would your cut off be for children to be permitted to defer or start part time?

of course it's sods law and it'll turn out that dd2's educational struggle will be inversly proportional to the amount of time i spent fretting over it. ie my august born and my october born will both buck the trend!

Of course home ed is not for everyone but i was answering the OP who had said she was considering home schooling.

Many schools will let you do half days. And many summer born children do just fine.

changer22 - exactly - i'll feel i've let dd2 down if i don't do my best to change things.

and yes, i quite take the point about there being cut offs and dates - keep it as august 31st but bring in part time hours at the beginning or allow a january start or allow children to defer a year (so instead of my end of august baby starting when she's four and a couple of days, she'd be five and a couple of days). Give families options and allow parents/guardians to chose what is best for the child.

So would you allow all parents to choose to defer?

we're in haringey and they don't allow any flexibility. it's start full time the sept after 4th birthday. that's it.

Is your summer born your second child? That makes a huge difference (generally speaking). First borns tend to be "younger" then subsequent children. Both DSs have the same birthday (end Feb/start March) yet DS2 was ready to start school a year earlier than DS1.

i don't know thefallenmadonna, i confess i need to do some research and i really don't have it all worked out. as i say i was pinning my hopes on education review and hoping i wouldn't have to grapple with this.

that report does specifically say "However, he will also call for more opportunities for younger children to go to school 'part time' for 15 hours a week."

I agree with Dragon.
Try it and see.

nightmare for local authorities maybe. at the moment nightmare for parents and (potential nightmare) for summer babies (see accompanying pov piece in observer). personally i'd give the nightmare to people who are paid to deal with the complexities not leave it at door of parents who have no control over issue.

I really must go. sorry to bail out.

But if your kid does not have to be in Full time ed till 5 then oyu can decide if they do half days or not.

FWIW, I think the flexible start suggestion made in the review is a good one. That and a good foundation stage with less overt emphasis on formal learning. It has served my (first, summer-born)ds very well indeed.

I had a few qualms about dd starting at 4 and a few days full time but she's outperforming most of her "peer" group academically - she's just 7 and some have already turned 8 - and really has not shown any signs of suffering for it, apart form beign physically slight and less adept. In fact it would be more of an issue if she were in the year group below. I think you're jumping the gun to be so concerned so early on.