Will Summer-born DC necessarily struggle with Reception?

[BsshBossh]

My DD was born in June but has been in FT childminder then nursery since 10 months. I don't think she will necessarily struggle when she starts YR this September because she is already used to long, busy days but should I be more realistic?

No, she will probably be totally fine. Plenty of summer borns thrive and do very well - you would probably know by now if she was likely to have a problem. A June born, is only 12 weeks or so older than a march born (like mine) and she will definitely be fine.

er that would be younger!

It's summer born boys that are more likely to have problems. Many of those will be fine too...........I was unlucky in having 3 summer born DS who struggled.

My DS is 31st August and he did struggle at the beginning in reception sadly.

He used to come home from school and for the first term he would just scream with tiredness and was often in bed by 6pm most evenings.

Academically he struggled until EAster time and then things just "clicked" and he actually ended the school year pretty well.

He is now in yr2 and is on top tables for everything although all of the other kids on the top tables are sept/oct birthdays. There is still a difference in maturity between him and his older classmates but the gap is definitely getting smaller.

know loads of summer born DCs that have been fine at school - and it is true that boys do seem to have more problems settling - although I think depends a bit on the school as well
do expect your DD to be tired through school seems to be more tiring than nursery

Thanks everyone. I was an August-born starter (back in the Dark Ages), having been in FT childcare from 8 months and I never struggled with YR. I am thinking about it now because several of the other parents at DD's nursery have mentioned it.

In my understanding YR is like preschool - learning through play.. So the only difference for DD would be that she'd be surrounded by lots more children and that it would be generally noisier...

My DS is 5 on the 25 June, I can honestly say despite thinking he'll be fine it has only been since the start of this Easter term that he seems to have got to grips with the institutional life that is school!

He loved preschool and went every afternoon, I never had any problems settling him in to preschool- he was ready for it, had enough stamina, was very sociable so I thought school would be fine. Also, I thought the school was going to be focused a lot more on play but it is far more academic than i imagined. He just found the whole thing overwhelming - the reception year had 120 students, the infant school is big and the expectation of what they could do for themselves was very removed from nursery school.

My DS is one of 2 boys that are summer born, there are 5 that are Autumn born and 3 that are spring born. This has had an impact on his confidence because despite being popular, he is often told by the older boys that he is small and therefore can't be certain roles in lunchtime games.

Academically, he is very good at maths and his art and written work is very good apparently but he is average for reading. Despite this the teacher relays to me that I need to apply pressure with getting him to be consistent with key words. He is still only 4 and this kind of homework seems very full on. She has also said that he is very slow at everything- he is often the last in the canteen eating his lunch and often doesn't get to finish it. He lost weight as a result and at one point around Christmas looked awful, my whole family remarked on it.

Anyway, IMO and having heard other mums with summer borns, those with girls aswell have similar experiences. To be fair though my NCT friends whose children are at different schools are doing really well. One I was really surprised by as he is very young in outlook and quite introverted. However, it is a small village school so perhaps more suitable for a smaller child.

Oh Goldenbear .

My DD's school is small (despite being London) - only one class per year, so 30 in her class.

Oh I'm really sorry, I didn't intend to worry you.

Your situation sounds a lot better. I think the size of DS's school is a significant factor in the stressful beginning!

School size can have a big effect. My son is in Reception in a small village school, his year has 11 pupils and year 1 has only 3 (I say again 3) pupils! But that does mean that they do get a lot of one-on-one attention and they also spend time with the older pupils. Now the summer born boys are now coming on leaps and bounds. What was noticable though was that the after school club helps tremendously, both with language and social skills for the younger ones as they get to spend time with both piers and the older ones in a less formal environment....
Like you my DC takes forever to eat. The school decided to half his meal, pushing half onto one side of his plate and told him to try to eat one half. This way it wouldnt be so daunting. then if he wanted to eat more he can. There was the speed bonus of "quicker you eat the more time we have at playtime". Again this might be harder to instigstate at a larger school. Sorry not much help, but try after school clubs if available.

Dd is very academic and able and never had any trouble. Her birthday is end of August. I worried about that and reception teacher said it doesn't normally make any difference about birthday, just whether the child wants to work or not. When i helped at dd's school i actually found that the children who were the oldest were the ones less able and/or messed about the most.

DS is a June birthday and had absolutely no problems settling in at school. It's a huge (500+kids) inner London primary and there are 3x reception classes of 30

Never tired, doing very well with his reading and writing and has made lots of friends. He also goes to afterschool club till 6pm some days and loves that.

However, he had been in nursery from 8am-6pm 3 days a week since he was 1. I'm not sure whether that prepared him well for the long days and structure/ routine of school. In addition, his school had a 2 week settling in period of half days.

I think it really depends on the individual child.

DD is a Summer-born - birthday at the very end of July, yet there were about 5 younger than her in the class!

She had been at day-nursery 3 days a week before, and did not struggle at all with reception, but was very tired after school - I remember her almost dozing off on the sofa as the other three 5yo's (we looked after each others DC one night after school) and her 3 1/2yo brother jumped about around her

just to buck the trend slightly

DS1 is a mid-Aug birthday and sailed into school as if he owned the place and was most put out to find they had staggered the starting dates to bring the youngest in 1st!

DS2 is Oct birthday and kicked, cried and protested at every half term

DD is June birthday and has never as much looked over her shoulder at us as she wanders into school - despite having SN

like PPs have said, it really does depend more on the child than their age

good luck to your DD

My summer born DS who had been to nursery took Reception in his stride. In fact I was prepared for him to be tired but actually he spent the first few weeks being full of energy after school - he found it less tiring than nursery.

DS has June birthday & struggled with speech + sometimes behaviour, but was quickly in top groups (that was in reception, not now in y3!) for academics. I only know because I kept asking if his bad speech was holding him back.

I think he's still immature for the year, prone to behaviour problems.

Half day start to reception for first 12 weeks was immensely helpful.

DD will be 5 this month, and has been happy in reception from the start. This is despite the fact that she had a severe speech delay.

The school is large (120 children in each year), but she is my fourth, so she knows the school well, which I suspect makes a difference.

But although I'm pretty laid back (impossible not to be by the time you get to number 4), I still found it a shock when she started school, as my previous three were all old for their years.

DD, end of August born, never settled well in nursery; nearly every drop off was met with tears or shyness, so I was worried about her starting school. My fears were quickly allayed when she skipped into school the first day, gave my hand a squeeze, said 'Bye, Mummy!' and ran off with the other kids.

She didn't seem any more tired than any of the other kids and she settled really quickly into the new routine. In fact, one of the October born kids struggled to settle and was often in tears at drop off during the first term. I do think it depends on the individual child, rather than their age.

DD is mid-July born and was more than ok. She struggled with tiredness as a full day school is very much more demanding than full day nursery. Until the Autumn half-term we had tears most evenings and she started having naps at the weekend again. But that was what even mums with Winter-babies told me.

But confident wise and picking up new skills, letters and numbers she is definitely where she has to be.

DS1 was born mid-July & his only problem in Reception was that his 2 best friends from nursery had Sept birthdays & were in the class above with Y1 (they had to do that to even out the numbers) - he was very cross about that.

Apart from that he was fine. It depends so much on the individual child. His sister with an early April birthday was the one who used to come out exhausted every day & hit me & wail

Lovely, thanks all for sharing. I am actually looking forward to her going to "big school"

DD is a July baby and she's in reception now. She is absolutely fine at school but can be REALLY tired and grumpy when she gets home but then can most of class apparently- doesn't seem to make much difference when they were born.
There are 10 June, July or August birthdays in her class of 30 and you wouldn't necessarily be able to pick them out from the older ones at the end of the day. (Also small London school with only 30 in a year ).

DD is a June baby & was in a class of post January births for reception. We had taught her to read & write before she started school & at this point we had no idea she was dyslexic. By year 3, the school had to mix some of the pupils with year 4 pupils. The criteria used was to put the top 11 academic year 3s with 15 weaker year 4s. Out of the 11 yr3s, 5 of them were summer born. DD was the youngest by a couple of days. Academically this class was successful for DD but socially & emotionally it was a nightmare & I had her moved back to the larger yr3 class. This kind of answers your question from my point of view. Being summer born didn't hold DD back

I think you can see from the posts that you have to suck it and see. You won't know until she starts. Her personality will count as much as her age. Also some of the older ones will find it hard too at the start, it is a big change to go everyday and to have one teacher and one teaching assistant for 30 children. DS is Autumn born but first half term needed to go to bed 6.15 some days.