August born baby

[navalpenguin]

Hi

I think this topic has been done to death, however I hope you will indulge me.

My baby is due on the 31st of August.

Firstly, would this mean he would be the oldest, or the youngest on his entry into reception (on Wikipedia it says "Age of the 31st August").

Secondly, as a parent can I choose when and into which year he starts school. So if I wanted him to go into reception and be potentially one year and one day older than another child in the same year, could I choose to do this? Or would he have to start a year later and go into Year 1, still almost a year younger than a potential classmate?

If the answer is no, has this ever been challenged through the courts and if necessary to the European Court of Human Rights.

I have a daughter who is 13 on Tuesday (31st). She started school on 4th September aged 4 years and 4 days. She couldn't read or write anything but her own name, but she was level 5 in English and Maths by Year 5 (expected in Year 9) and has always been a high flier and has a mature outlook. Incidentally, she was due on 1st September!

As a primary teacher, I've taught many summer babies and find that in each class there are 30 individuals and their birth month makes little difference. There has always been a child in the top group who is one of the youngest in the class, or even the youngest child.

"31st August will be the youngest in the class, and no, in England you can't choose which year your child goes into school - you can choose to miss reception, but then they'd start in Y1 the following year."

Not so in Leeds - we often have children whose parents have deferred entry until the following year. They start in Reception, and remain out of year group throughout their schooling, even through secondary.

My dd will be 1 on 31st August - when I went into labour I was going on about her having to wait till 1st September . It does freak me a little - but my dd1's birthday is 16th August and she is about to start year 2, she has coped. I would say in her case it wasn't the academic side of things that she struggled with but more the life skills like getting dressed, zips and buttons, toileting etc.

As a former secondary school teacher I did a lot of 'research' and found that there was an even spread of birthdays throughout the ability groups.

Where I live a child born between April and August can defer entry from the Sept of Reception to the April of Reception. I never bothered with the 3 of my children who this applied to as I figured if they were going to struggle because of their age then starting 2 terms behind everybody else would do more damage. As it was they all went in the September of their respective years and are all doing very well both academically and socially. Out of all 5 yr group of my children I have only known 1 child to have deferred entry til the April.

no deferring here other than that whole missing the foundation year and starting in year one. And they all start at the same time in September - full-time the week before october half-term .

Feenie,

is the Leeds policy still in place then? Bradford has now changed its policy although there is a special needs exception.

I myself have a child born on the 31st of August starting school in September just after her 4th birthday and I have pondered across this question a lot over the years as you can imagine.
yes I can keep her at home or in nursery for another year although she will start in year one by this point I think she will be at a major disadvantage not only educationally but foremost socially her friends that she would make at nursery this year would not be in her year making the transaction more difficult with no familiar faces, by this point the year one children will be in a routine and have formed friendships she will have to start from scratch to fit in with this and i think it will be a major disadvantage to your child.
I think the BEST advice I could give you is find a good nursery to send your child look at ofstead reports ask around at children?s centres etc, My child went to a fantastic nursery in which only takes children aged 3 and 4 and has both a September and a January intake it dedicates everything to a preschool age group unlike some day care nurseries that has children from 6 weeks plus so have lots of age groups going on it is open during school hours and has a primary school type set up it has ex primary school and early years practitioners working at the nursery who are VERY good at what they do and it is very much a pre school and I believe that they prepare the children for school whatever the age i believe that through there hard work and dedication to each child my daughter will do very well at school and I also think that a lot they will do in the first year she will have already done, my daughter loved her nursery and really enjoyed her time there if she has half as much as a enjoyment as her new school I will be more than happy they have prepared her well i the transaction and she is eagerly awaiting the start of school,
she is a bright kid and she loves to learn I do agree in some ways he seems and looks somewhat babyerish than some of her friends because she is nearly a year younger than them and because I have kept her that way nowadays too many parents make there children adult like too young which is a factor in children that seem more grown up she doesn?t watch adult TV or listen to adult conversations wear adult clothes she is very intelligent but she watches in the night garden and not Hannah montanah or high school musical she?s in bed before eastenders is on and i intended to shield her from adult themes for as long as possible environmental factors can make children ?seem? older but that doesn?t mean that educationally or intellectually she will be at a disadvantage we have done loads of work with her at home to help her into school i read to her EVERY night and because of good parenting as well as her good preschool education i believe no matter what her date of birth because of this she is at an advantage! She is confident and happy and i think the maon concern on the day will be mummy falling to pieces because i will miss her loads!!! Hope this helps

Lingle, I have no idea if it is Leeds policy, but it's routine in our Leeds state primary - we've actually got another child coming into Reception next week who is chronologically Year 1. As Literacy and Assessment co-ordinator, I check the lists to enter children for Y6 assessment - this year there were two who were flagged up as out of year group (a year older), but it's just a check, they are simply allowed to sit the tests in the year they are Y6.

DD was born by EMCS at midnight and I was given the choice of days by the doctors. Unfortunately the choices I was given were the 30th or the 31st of August, which was no bloody use at all.

DD is definitely in the top band of her class, and August babies certainly save you money on childcare, but from my experiences with a family full of August children I would always choose a September birth if possible, especially for a boy.