When would a child born on the 1st Sept start school

[cantdecideonanewname]

My DH and I were discussing when children were born and when they started school. I'm expecting at the moment and baby is overdue so wondered if the baby wasn't born until 1st September would that mean they would start school with the children born at the very end of August or the following year.

I was unsure because the only information I could find said children started school the September after their 4th birthday but the school term usually starts around 5-6th September so wondered where the cut off actually was.

Hope I've made sense.



I'm sorry if this has been done many times before, I've done a search and didn't find anything relevant.

[Vietnammark]

I was born on 1 September and was the oldest in my year. I used to be a keen chess player, but couldn't represent my school team and enter competitions for my year because the cut off date for chess was 1 September rather than 31 August.

My chess master who was also a local chess administrator managed to get which ever chess federation it was to change their cut off date to coincide with the school year, but it took a few years to do this.

When I took the eleven plus I was told that I had to do better than all the other children in my class as they would be given additional marks because they were younger than me. Does this still happen?

[thegreylady]

My ddil was born on 31st August and dd on 6th August-both excelled academically and socially from the start.

[Littlemousewithcloggson]

A colleague of mine has twins.One born just before midnight on 31st August and one after midnight (so on the first). They are 2 now and, doing it early because of the implications, she is already having a major battle with the council to allow them to start school at the same time!!

[CrispyFB]

It would be nice if for August and September babies, parents were given discretion over which school year they went for. DD1, mid September, would have been fine in the year above and was desperate to start school. DD2 at that age would not have been ready. You know your children best!

[Hulababy]

CrispyFB - that would be good. So any child born between 16th August and 15th September would be able to chose which year they started maybe.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Littlemouse there is precedent to hold a child down a year I know one one who has just one a case with our district council.

[upjacobscreekwithoutapaddle]

My ds is a 1st September baby and starts reception next week. Went into hospital on the 31st and my husband, who is a teacher (this somehow got dropped into convo) was scolded for his bad timing. I was examined and midwife declared 'don't worry dad it'll be a September baby'. At that point in time I would have given my left leg to have had an august birth. What will be will be! And best of luck.

[HaveToWearHeels]

CrispyFB that's a brilliant idea, my DD turns four mid September and is desperate to go to school and is so ready. I am dreading taking her to pre school next week when all her little friends have gone

[littlemiss06]

My lads were due at the end of October but arrived 31st August so babies in their class, they have done well though but I think it would be better to be older :-) (did you hold on till September I wonder? )

[Meglet]

havetowearheels DD is an early september birthday but also lost lots of nursery friends over a year ago when they went off to school. And sods law most of her 2013 school-leaver group had spring / summer birthdays so she's been light years ahead of them. It's been a strange year as she could have sailed into school and started quite happily last year. At one point I did rant about putting a uniform on her and sending her into reception class to see how long it would be before they noticed as I'd had enough .

cantdecideonanewname hope whatever happens (or has happened) goes well.

[pooka]

It's my ds2's 4th birthday today! So he will be starting school next year aged 5 and a bit.

Personally, I am pleased that he will be the oldest. He is no way ready for school yet - seems so young still. He is the youngest of 3 and very much a 'baby' to us. But - the downside is that being the youngest he naturally gravitates to older children and when he goes back to preschool all of the children he talked about will have left and gone on to school.

Ds1 is early September too. He really needed the extra year at home because he was a bit socially immature despite being very very ready academically.

Dd is a July birthday. She has never had any issues with school, is doing very well. She started in January because the lea still had two formal entries at that time.

She will be sitting selection tests in a couple of weeks and my understanding is that the results are standardised according to age, so if she gets the same raw score as a child born in September, compensation is made for her comparative age. Obviously that will be great for her, because there is no indication that her age has any impact on her performance. On the flip side, the adjustment takes Into account the fact that research does show that it can be necessary. I'm not sure how I feel about it, because looking ahead, ds1 will fall foul of the adjustment and thinking about it, tests based in knowledge acquired should surely recognise that a child born in September hasn't any more had extra time in school and also hasn't been taught 'more' than a child born in July iyswim. But that's prob just me being selfish! :)

[LIZS]

So any child born between 16th August and 15th September would be able to chose which year they started maybe. Trouble is you then get parents of children just outside this period wanting the same "rights" and it mushrooms ! I'd be interested in research from other countries with a different cut off date, as to how their youngest perform relative to oldest, academically and behaviourally. Sometimes I think we instil a certain expectation in the younger ones to do less well.

[HaveToWearHeels]

Meglet it is frustrating isn't it. DD is at a pre school that is a charity, it is not affliated to the primary school she will hopefully go to (our catchment school). They rang me in January as I had her name down for it when we got the state funding and offered me a place but I said she was happy where she was. In hind sight I wish I had taken the place for this September as I think she has now out grown the pre school she is at, she will now be surrounded by younger children which she has no interest in

[junkfoodaddict]

So glad DS was born 30th December. if he had been born on his due date in January, he'd start Nursery a term later in April but can now start in January meaning he has five terms of Nursery before he starts Reception whereas his little friend born in August only gets three terms. Summer born children are at a disadvantage because they get two terms less of 'free' education than their year group peers.
Even if they stay in nursery until the term they begin 5 - resulting in 5 terms of nursery, they will then only get 1 term of reception.

I taught a Y2 class and did some research on the class I had. ALL summer born children were in the lower groups and predicted level 1s or 2cs in the summer because they had 2 terms less of education than the autumn borns who were, excpet one child, in the top set.

[Elsienc]

Hello - has anyone had any success with appealing for a child born in early September to start school a year early?

My son was born on 1st September 2010 (2 weeks overdue), so is due to start school in September 2015 when he is already 5. Around the time of his birth, I was quite pleased as everyone said what an advantage it would be. But I no longer think that.

He is my second son, and only 20 months younger than his older sibling. My older son is bright and physically very capable for his age, and the younger one seems to be only about 8 months behind him developmentally: I get asked on a regular basis if they are twins. He is also part of a very close circle of friends who are due to start school in September 2014. They have played together on an almost daily basis since they were born, attended the same toddler groups and now attend the same nursery together. They are also all very likely to attend the same school.

I'm not a particularly pushy parent, but I think it's going to be far more damaging for him to wait until 2015 to start school when all his peers are starting a year earlier. He likes his nursery school, but he's going to be bored silly doing a second year there. His nursery teachers agree that he will be more than ready to start school in September 2014.

I've written to the council about it and received the expected standard response, so just starting to look into whether we can appeal and how to go about it. Any advice very welcome.

[Periwinkle007]

I don't think you will manage to get him in a year early Elsienc unless you pay to go private. My daughter was due mid August but was very early september and yes that extra year at home was a pain and yes she could easily have coped a year earlier and would probably easily cope with the year above now (she is yr1) but whilst I would in some ways have liked her to be the year above I can only imagine the pressure put on a child in that situation. When I was at school there were 3 children who were put in the year above where they should be in Yr1 (that was entry level at the school). In Yr2 2 of them were kept down to join our year, in Yr3 another one was kept down to join us.

[LIZS]

I have friends who sent dc privately so were able to advance their Sept born a year. It hasn't been plain sailing and led to direct comparisons being made between the two as they were in consecutive year groups, shared interests, clubs and friends. Elder in particular struggled to get an identity and became frustrated .

[Ihatespiders]

Has anyone heard from OP to find out when her baby did arrive? :-)

[BirdyBedtime]

So any child born between 16th August and 15th September would be able to chose which year they started maybe.

You know having the flexibility causes problems too. We're in Scotland where Jan/Feb birthdays can defer (and even some Dec ones do too). In our area it is virtually expected.

DS is a mid-Jan birthday and DH and I were keen for him to go to school and after much agonising decided he's start this August. We've had such negative reactions from many other parents some of whom implied we'll have done him untold harm by starting him so early. There is a boy in the same year 13 months older than him. I would much have preferred not to have the option to decide.

Incidentally 5 weeks in he is loving it and the teacher mentioned the other day that he is one of the most mature in his class (he is the youngest), so I'm happy we've made the right decision

[NewBlueShoesToo]

I heard about some twins who were born one on the 31st August and one on the 1st September, but were minutes apart. Goodness knows what will happen when they get to school age but there is more flexibility in the system now than before.