If you thought your summer born seemed ready for school

[Sometherusername]

Were they really? Or did they have problems in reception or later down the line?

DD is August born. We've considered deferring her reception place but pretty much dismissed it as she is (so far - she's only 2.5) hitting milestones on time/early, is relatively confident, and has been at nursery from 11 months and loves it.

Any thoughts? I know that statistically she'll be disadvantaged from starting school so young.

I have 4 summer born children. We had the option to put our younger 2 in the year below but chose not to. Dc2 did part time in reception for the first 2 terms. All are thriving, eldest now in year 12 and it was the right decision.

I have an august born boy in year 6. Deferral wasn’t an option. I probably would have considered it as he seemed so tiny going into school and had some speech issues. However, I’m glad it wasn’t an options as he plays football and would have had to play with the wrong year and not with his friends. He took some time to catch up in some areas physically but academically has always been absolutely fine. He’s more than ready for high school in September. He’ll just be really annoyed the year all his mates turn 18 and he is the last one!

Thanks all, this is really helpful.

@mummywithtwokidsplusdog was there anything specific that made you want to defer, or was it simply that statistics about summer born children? Did they go to reception or straight to yr 1?

@dizzydizzydizzy was there any sign before your daughter started school that she might suffer with anxiety? I ask because as far as I can see my daughter is confident and pretty socially able for a 2yr old (more so than me 😂) but I have no idea how much of that will continue through her childhood. Idk if it's possible to tell?

Thanks again

My June baby was more than ready for school. We've had absolutely no issues with him. He's doing brilliantly. I do think having an older sibling helped though as he seems much more grown up than his brother was at the same age.

@Centraljerk yeah, this is what worries me. My daughter seems to be bright, chats happily to adults etc, but I'm scared of what will happen when they try to make her sit down at a desk 😱

My son was born three weeks early at the end of July. OMG he was SO ready for school! One of the biggest lads too.

My very late July born was more than ready.

He was 4y 1m and a coupe of days when he started. He'd been there everyday from a few weeks old though, as he's the youngest of 5, so couldn't wait to join his older siblings.

He's y1 now and is "meeting national standard" in all areas. This time last year, so half way through the school year, in reception he was mix of "meeting national standard" & "working towards national standard", by end of year he meeting all of them.

We had about 3 or 4 occasions during the winter term where he came home after lunch on a Friday because he was tired but that's fairly standard for a reception child in the first term (all my older dc either came home a couple of times or had a sleep in the classroom, even my Feb & March borns).

He's a happy sociable child who has always liked being busy, both physically & mentally. He loves learning & routine so school suits him.

Dc2(11, y7) May born but premature & delayed (at that point) & June born dc4(7, y3) both started with the correct cohort too & thrived at school.

My August born was ready.

She was lower half of class with writing in reception but otherwise at level for everything else. By Y1 she was in the top group for reading, writing, maths etc.

No issues with friendships or sports either.

Only thing we noticed is that she was very tired after school and would nap in the car on the way home most days. She still goes to bed quite early for her age.

I felt that my august born child was ready to go at 4, more so than his spring born sibling.

He's in year 6 now and it was absolutely the right decision. He's never had an issue in school. Interestingly this year (since he got a mobile phone) is the first time I've ever noticed a lack of maturity compared to his peers. I'm not sure if that's because he's younger, or if it's because most of them have had access to mobile phones for much longer and he's only learning the etiquette now, but he literally got to age 10 before I noticed anything where I thought his younger age might be a factor.

He's academically strong and has worked at greater depth all the way through and just passed 11+ this year.

They don't really sit at a desk in reception. Lots of free play and sitting on the carlet for activities, maths and phonica is usually in smaller groups round a table, but usually pretty relaxed until March time.

Also, it is our responsobility as parents to help prepare our children, so practising sitting at a table. If you don't do that and just send them to reception you are setting them up to fail

My ds is summer born and emotionally was not ready. However, deferral didn't feel like a good option as then he'd miss his reception year. If I could simply have held him back I would have, but it doesn't work like that here. He would then have started school at a year 1 level which is a huge jump from reception and would have been crueller.
Academically, he's totally on track. No more, but not less. He's in year 1 now and still has his wobbles some mornings. He also still counts down to any time off so he can be with me again. That is partly his sensitive personality but wasn't helped by a traumatic pre school experience as he couldn't handle being separated, covid etc. however, he had a perfect reception teacher who was like a fairy Princess and he adored her. He was allowed to take his teddy everyday and they are working on his confidence as he's shy (only at school!!)
So in summary, if I was allowed to hold him back 6 months, I probably would have but realistically it doesn't work the way the school system is here.

My DD1 was due Sept and born late August. No worries and no concerns from us, and we were right because she has no issues at all. She'd been to nursery from 9 months, which made her much more ready for school than a lot of the older children who hadn't. Fast forward and she was top of the class from Y1, now Y7 in a very difficult-to-get-into selective school.
Same story with DD2, July born. No issues at all. Top of the class Y3 now, and will probably be ruling the world in 20 years.

DD was born end of August. She is also very short and thin for her age so a good head or two shorter than most other kids. We did consider deferring her but her preschool teachers strongly recommended no to. They said she was highly advanced in her cognitive skills and would get terribly bored if we held her back a year.

So we didn't. She's doing fine academically as expected but I do think she lags behind the other kids in terms of physical and social skills. I also sometimes feel sorry for her as she never really gets a chance to shine. I mean she's good at a lot of things and for her age really excels at others but because she's up to a year younger than everyone else her "great" is still average compared to the other kids (or lagging behind in terms of physical skills). She also gets pushed around a bit, maybe because she is so much smaller than the other kids. In hind sight I think we should have deferred. A lot of her classmates are born early September and I don't get the feeling that they are getting bored or struggling with not being challenged so I don't think she would have either.

I don’t think anyone says “all” children are unready/disadvantaged by being young in the year?

But statistically summer born children are at a disadvantage, on a population level.

Children at a high quality early years provision should never be “bored rigid” (a phrase that people always use in this context) as a good provider should always be able to stretch and challenge and provide greater depth through play, exactly as they do in Reception.

As all children are different it’s impossible to say how things might have been different if a different path had been chosen. It doesn’t follow that a summer born child who thrived in reception at just turned 4 wouldn’t still have benefited from deferral.

Anecdotes are basically meaningless. You can only go on what your own child is like, and consider that together with the statistical evidence.

All mine summer born, one June, one July and one August . The August one started school 4 days after they turned 4 and has never had any problems - in fact if she was in the year below she would have been bored.

The (end of ) June one never had any problems.

The July one - I think he could have done with being in the year below but he managed. He had trouble in his teens at school which were compounded by other things going on in his life as well . I think this is all down to his personality as much as his month of birth as there are only 6 days between him and the June born one.

At DD's school there are quite a few children in the year below but who are her year, and although they are in that lower year for a variety of reasons I know one who is summer born. There is also a summer born girl in my daughters year but she should be in the year above.

I'm in Scotland where it's a different intake policy (no one starts school before 4y6m) and I deferred both my feb born dc, so they were both 5 and a half starting school. Never regretted it at all. Didn't have the opportunity to defer dc3 as she was a November birthday, and she did struggle more in school than the older 2. It's very common in Scotland to defer so it wasn't placing them outside their peer group at all.

They went to bilingual school (Scottish Gaelic/English) and the extra year in the nursery brought their language skills on quite a lot, so the total immersion Gaelic in P1 wasn't too much of a shock! They're all very pleased to have the extra language too.

They've all left school now and doing very well in their respective studies/jobs.

DS2 is end of May so only just summer born. He was chosen in reception with six others to go into a year one class (due to excess numbers) and had no problems at all. Did great in his SATS, mostly 9's at GCSE , predicted A grades plus at A level and and hopefully off to do Chemistry at uni this year.
Interestingly, others that went on to do best academically on leaving school in his year group, were older ones.
He has an older brother though and had been at nursery since five months old so no problems confidence wise.

My 3 year old Hulu born daughter is due to start reception in September. If it was up to me she would start now she's more than ready.

As a teacher I’ve never seen an unhappy child who has been deferred.

I have seen lots of unhappy summer born children in their ‘normal’ year group.

It’s not so straightforward - like I said up thread we chose not to defer our dd - but this idea that all these children would be deathly bored with another year of preschool makes zero sense when you think September borns do 2 years of preschool and none of them are giving up in boredom after the first year. Basic facts are that a September born has 20% more life experience than an August born at the point they start school. Of course there are always exceptions and lots of summer borns do brilliantly but I remain convinced they would do at least as well a year later.

I'm late august born. It was absolutely fine. My dd (not august) missed the whole first year due to living elsewhere, also fine, kid I know, with the best GCSEs and a levels ever at the school (12 a* and 4 a star) was not only august born but arrived in year 1 in the summer term not speaking a word of English!

Your child's academic success, ability to manage school etc has many factors and month born is just not that significant in the long term

Jesus I mean just born not Hulu 😂

OMG JULY born ffs 😂

August (25th) born DD was very socially ready, she was first in her class to be a free reader and get a pen licence so no issues with motor skills etc. However, she slipped behind with maths and I honestly believe she wasn't able to keep up with the pace due to her age. She didn't do SATs (covid year) but I'm not 100% sure she would have passed based on practise papers.

Now she is in year 9 and we have had a maths tutor for the whole of secondary school to plug the gaps.

My July born DS is currently in year 5 and Greater Depth at everything. A fast paced learning style suits him.

I don't have the answers and am not sure I could have made the right decision at 4 but just be aware that issues may take a bit longer to show and be proactive about addressing them.

This is really interesting, thank you.

@AnonymousArabella it's a really tricky decision! I don't think DD would be bored necessarily, but I think she'd be disappointed (she knows she's going to the pre-school room next summer, and then "big school" the year after). She has friends in both year groups though, so it wouldn't be a disaster if she stayed on.

One potential issue is that we might put her in for grammar school exams and I don't know how they calculate the weighting for children outside their year group.

My July born DD seemed ready. She was confident, very articulate etc. She was absolutely fine… better than fine actually. She could read before she started school. She’s in year 3 now and still doing brilliantly. In the top set for maths, reading age of 12 according to her last report, and loves school.