date of birth and education

[ja06le07]

Hi, i was just wondering if any one would share their opinion on this bit of information? Do you have two or more children, are you in agreement?

Children born in the summer achieve lower grades than those born in the autumn.

Thank you!

I always thought this was true and I tried my best to engineer an Autumn birth. DS was born in October and is as thick as mince.

rubbish. All females in my family are late summer born and all adult ones have at least 1 good degree, the small kids don't seem too stupid either

Statistics show that autumn term children continue to have an advantage all the way up to university level. Obviously that's on average and everyone will know of individual children that buck the trend. That's how averages work.

My summer born DD is in top.sets at secondary

It is statistically true. But of course that means there are lots of people who are summer born and still did well (like me)

Autumn born Ds1 near top of class at primary. Summer born Ds2 achieving same grades as Ds 1 at same chronological age but because he is younger in class he's more like a good average. At his age his brother was in the next year, iyswim!

Well, don't like to blow my own trumpet but...I'm a July baby, consistent high achiever, top set for everything, 11 GCSE's 4 A-levels, honours degree.
My sister, December baby 7 GCSE's 1 A level, 2 AS levels, a foundation course & an HND.

They could find a positive correlation between children born in August more likely to become pig farmers if they tried hard enough. now lets play spot the mother with a June & a July baby

Not in Scotland!

They've had this thread before. Lots of people come on to tell how their July and August born DCs have achieved excellent grades.

I quite like middle of the year birthdays - feb march (though PITA for parties); as they are always within 6 months of everyone else, so not too pushed or too bored. Wouldn't work in Scotland though.

Why are you asking and in such a strange way? This is an issue I feel very strongly about and have done a lot of reseach into. Go and read the Cambridge Primary Review. It will give you answers. The Rose Review will give you evidence which you are not allowed to look at and will then draw conclusions totally unsupported by the evidence.

More importantly what are YOU going to do about it?

Ds1 October baby excelled at primary, particularly infants but tailed off at senior school. Average at best.

Ds2 May baby always a good average at primary, but excelled at seniors. Top set a/b student.

Don't think it matters one bit.

DS (Y3, Oct born ) top sets across the board, excels at stuff he's interested in incl mosts sports, getting slapdash and lazy tho, tone deaf
DD (Y1, Aug born ) bottom sets for handwriting and Maths, top set for Literacy, reading level bang on average, more of a plodder, great imagination and musicality

I don't think its anything to do with when they were born. They are the people they are.

Absolute rubbish.

DD top of her class, born September.
DS1 February Rubbish
DS2 May Top of his class
DS3 In a group of much older children, is better than all of them!! (not at school yet)

Statistically that's true, but that doesn't mean it is true for individuals.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15527145

it is statistically true

Both me and Dh aRe end of June and we both were top set and great gcses. I think its bollcks x

Of course it's not bollocks or rubbish. It is statistically true. However, the fact that it is true on average doesn't preclude individual children born in the summer doing well academically. So the OP has no way of knowing whether her summer born children are likely to do well academically or not.

But it annoys me excessively that so many people come onto these threads and say "It can't be true because my daughter was born in July and is top of the class." No amount of individual, self-selected anecdotes on a message board negates the data.

As others have said, stat. speaking summer borns do less well (where the school year begins in September, obv Scotland is different).
I'm July born, always felt at a disadvantage.
Yes, yes, like many of your stories above, I did go to Oxford, but still, I felt disadvantaged - "later" to develop as a teen, later to do certain stuff, smaller, slower, cuter tho probably got away with more too and it was nice to always have a birthday in the holidays...
And yes, of course, I know some September kids who turned out to be right thickos - but imagine if they'd been August born? Double bad. Certainly, it has been clearly shown that children are advantaged if they're older in their year.
I'm actively hoping to have DC born in the first half of the year....

Are you a journalist OP? There's a media section for that.

Thanks everyone.

Yes stats show (on average) summer borns educational attainment is usually lower, but as many of you said some summer borns are in fact very academic...

As parents I think we know our children?s capabilities and weaknesses, so why is it so many parents state there summer born children are doing fine/ above average. Why is the research finding contrasting with the views of parents? If it were as clear cut as researchers suggest wouldn?t parents of autumn and summer borns agree with it?

Could it be teachers are in agreement with this finding therefore their time is spent teaching the more old...more capable children. (I think we all know low abilities are taught by the TA) Could it not be the biggest contributor to this research finding is the sfp???? (Self fulfilling prophecy?)

My youngest is summer born and in yr 2, she seems to be exactly where you'd expect for her age, in the bottom half of the class, but those ahead of her are mostly older, with the obvious exception or two.

Could it be teachers are in agreement with this finding therefore their time is spent teaching the more old...more capable children. (I think we all know low abilities are taught by the TA)
When I stop laughing ...