August baby - deferring primary school entry?

[Janedoelondon]

Hi mumsnetters,

Nervous poster as haven’t posted before, but hoping for some advice.

My little boy is 5 months old and was born at the end of August last year. He will be just 4 when he can start primary school.

I was chatting to someone at a group today who was saying I may need to look to defer my little boy’s entry to primary school in a few years’ time, as he’ll be the youngest in the year and may struggle vs those who are older in his cohort.

I know there has been quite a bit of research done into August born vs September born babies so this wasn’t exactly news to me, (others have pointed it out to me before!) but has got me a little worried.

Do any of you have experience doing this with your little ones? Or any August babies who started school having just turned 4 who have been absolutely fine?

Also, has anyone made the decision for their little one to start primary school aged 4, see how they get on, and if they are struggling, then hold them back a year? My worry is it may be difficult to know how a child will adapt until they are in a school setting, so keen for thoughts.

Thanks so much, really appreciate it. Anxious mum here!

@Janedoelondon hi there

I don’t have any wisdom but I’m very interested to see what responses you get.
My DS has a July birthday so will also be one of the youngest in the year. I read a book called raising boys and the author is pretty scathing about how we educate our young children and what we expect of them so it does have me worried.

DP is very against holding him back a year though and others have mentioned that young children are very aware of age and he might get picked on for being older so 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t know.

We didn’t but my advice would be to get you DC into a school nursery before you make any final decision as that environment is much more similar to school than a daycare type nursery.

My summer born DS seemed to cope in the school nursery setting much better than I’d have ever guessed (I thought he’d be more demanding of adult attention, and the school nursery staff/pupil ratio is huge) but they said he was absolutely ready for school.

I saw the flip side of this in that my very bright September born was so bored in nursery that extra year, although I think she would struggle socially in the year above (but that's due to SEN more than anything else)

Join the Facebook group about this and get reading. You'll become familiar with the pros and (some would say no) cons in no time.

My DD is July born and will be referring to CSA.

My husband is August born and didn’t struggle. One of my children is end May and finished primary with outstanding results. Equally one of my October children is quite immature and whilst I’ve worried about his ability his concentration isn’t the best. I do think it depends on the child

Should say I’ve no worries about his ability

I think you're worrying about this a bit early... my son is end of July, and when he was born it crossed my mind that deferring could be an option. Now he's 2.5 and I'm pretty certain he's going to be totally fine to go to school with his 'normal' cohort. Wait and see how your baby is doing closer to the time

If I had an august born child I would absolutely have deferred them, whatever their personality/abilities.

I have a friend who did this and it was great initially in reception and year one. By year three though she was bored and friend kept asking for her to be stretched. The school unhelpfully pointed out that they were focussing on the children who needed help to catch up. She really regrets it and ended up going private.

There is a group of Facebook with nearly 20k members for this:

Flexible Admissions for Summer Borns.

They are super helpful and really know their stuff. This is a very misunderstood process in most schools and depending on which area of the country you are in you could have a fight on your hands as there is no official law, only ‘Summer Born Guidance’

The group has sample letters and everything, I would 100% agree with your thoughts if I had a June/July/August baby.

My daughter was end of Aug, and started (excitedly on her part, nervously on ours) at just turned 4. This was when it was harder/more unknown to delay, she’s 12 now. She was ok through reception as it very nurturing and play based, but hit a wall when it came to going into yr 1. Developed severe school anxiety and was nigh on a school refuser. She just wasn’t emotionally ready to be away from us for that length of time. We withdrew her and home educated until she re-entered at her own request in yr 4. She’s now in yr 8, top sets, doing fine in a big high school. Yes, she still has quirks and anxieties, and is a lot younger than many of her friends in various ways but she’s doing fine. If we had our time again, I may have started her in preschool at 3, 4ish and delayed entry for a year.

anecdotally a friend’s child was born on aug 31st, she met another mum in hospital having their little one. Friend didn’t hold child back, other mum did. Friend’s child has needed a lot of intervention etc for various issues, other child hasn’t.

Some kids (like my 3rd child) have been in nursery since 18 months and are ready for school 100% when it comes around. You’ll get a better idea nearer the time.

I'm late August born, & was always the youngest in my year throughout school.
Certainly didn't hold me back, or make me struggle
There was no choice in those days, & DM told me in later life that I was very keen to go & she was glad to get rid of me !

DD started at CSA, and I’m grateful every day that she did. Socially, she’s in exactly the right place. Yes, it’s possible that she may get bored academically (as happens sometimes with September born children in their “own” year), in which case a good teacher should be able to set slightly harder work. To be absolutely honest, if a child is academically able enough to be in this position, then they probably would have needed (or at least benefitted from) a similar stretch arrangement if they’d been in the year above anyway.

If I had an august born child I would absolutely have deferred them, whatever their personality/abilities

I find this attitude increasingly prevalent among mc parents I meet and I really don’t understand it at all. Parents deciding months or years before it’s even time to apply that they’ll be holding kids back. There is no need for most kids! Someone has to be the youngest!

All kids are different and they’ll all be at different stages of school readiness when they start. EYFS teachers are totally used to handling this.

My dd is August born and was totally ready for school at just turned 4. She would have been bored shitless spending another year in nursery. Y4 now and she is top set for everything and reads like an adult. Please don’t hold your kid back without good reason (sen, speech delay etc).

I would have done it, like all the middle class parents you refer to, because it would have given my child an advantage.

It’s better to be the oldest in the year than the youngest in terms of academic and social outcomes. Yes, someone has to be youngest, but if it was within my power to have that not be my child then I would unashamedly exercise that right. Just because you didn’t make that choice for your own child doesn’t make it wrong for others to do so.

Sorry, what does CSA mean?

I've seen it go a bit wrong. I think you have to be quite wealthy for it to work well, as I don't think there is any funding for 4 to 5 YOs, outside of school.

A friend is certainly finding this after deferring her August born daughter. Daughter is very bright and is bored. Is in Forsest School, which is all well and good in principle, but they have no indoor space and the DD hates being outside all day in the cold.

There also seems to be some confusion with admissions as to whether the girl will go into reception or Yr1.

Compulsory School Age.

This is the reason children can get a delayed admission if they are “Summer Born”

Children legally don’t have to start school until the term following their 5th birthday. This means any child born 1st May-31st August can be delayed until CSA start (September following 5th birthday) if you follow the proper procedures.

There has to be a cut off somewhere. Our education system is not the best for early years (although improving). There is no real alternative though. Summer born DC will often start off 'behind', but they catch up through primary school.

Please join the Facebook group, and do some reading:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission

once you know what you are legally entitled to request it is much easier. Childcare 30 hours provision is provided for the child up until they reach CSA.

Yes, this is my concern. I will do heaven and earth for my son and do whatever is right for him at the time, but we would need to find the money for an additional year of nursery (at 1.8k per month) from somewhere…

Our son is an August birthday. He's in Year 1 currently so 5.5 years old and is doing brilliantly at school. He has an older sister and is used to being with older children, so would probably have been miffed to be put in with all the younger kids. Our DD, January born, was so beyond ready to go to school when she went, she would have been livid having to wait any longer.

It's not a trivial thing and they do take some time to catch up but the way I see it, someone has to be youngest and if all the middle class parents defer their summer-borns when there is no concrete reason to do so, like being born prematurely or having SN, the new youngest just shifts to being the April/May babies.

Our school take the view that Reception is very play based, and that if a child has struggled they can always be held back at the end of that year. No different than deferring and making them essentially do their pre-school year twice.

In reality if these children had been born a matter of weeks later they would have been in the year below anyway. September borns by and large are not bored at school and if they are it is because their teacher is not differentiating appropriately.

I can’t speak for how the funding works as haven’t gone through it myself but preschools are used to catering for children up to the age of 4 years and 11 months anyway (ie September borns). If your friend has chosen to send her child to a setting that the child doesn’t like then the age of child is neither here nor there.

My DD is the youngest in her year group - her birthday is one of the last days in August. I always worried that she may struggle and I might need to defer her but this has not been the case at all. She was at preschool prior to reception which obviously helped and she had a group of kids who were going into reception with her. I didn't want to keep her back a year in preschool with another group of children she didn't know, I also worried that if she was the oldest starting in reception then there would be even more pressure on her to perform well in her studies. There is no right answer I guess, she is in year 3 now and is above expectation in all subjects so she has thrived. There was one other child in her preschool who was a July baby, his parents chose to defer him and his mum told me she regretted it. He sees all of his old classmates lining up for reception and wants to join them. He also looks a little out of place with the 3 year olds. The schools are well prepared for the children attending at various developmental stages, the first year is just settling in to school life so try not to worry too much. My daughter has close friends she has been with since preschool so I think its nice to keep as much continuity as you can for them where education and care are concerned.

Currently expecting a July baby and feel that I will be differing a year. Think of it that your child will be just four whereas autumn born/spring children have had nearly a whole year of being four before going to school. A year makes a big difference at that age