August born children and starting school

[viagrafalls]

Hi, I have a little girl who's birthday falls at the end of August meaning she will be one of the youngest in her year when she starts school. I have recently heard that you can now request for an August born child to start the following year instead, meaning they would be the oldest in the year. I wondered if any of you had any experiences or words that would help me to decide what to do. She's very confident and bright but I'm worried that she will be lost amongst all the older children i guess (PFB?)
But equally, do I 'hold her back' for a year when i think she is probably ready? Stories, experiences, advice all greatly appreciated!

I have a mid august born DD who I would love to defer entry to reception. I think 4 and 2 weeks is far too young to start school. But our school won't do a Jan intake so I have no choice but to start her in September.
My Autumn born DS, currently in Reception, is sailing through with confidence and doing really well academically, and there does seem to be a difference ability wise between the summer borns and the older ones. But that's from just his friendship group though, not a big sample size.
I was actually the youngest in my year group, and I did pretty well, so I know it's not a given that DD will find it hard, academically anyway. But emotionally DD is shy so that's what I worry about.

But our school won't do a Jan intake

If you are in England this is your choice, not the school's. They cannot insist that your daughter starts in September. If you want your daughter to start in January she can start in January regardless of whether or not the school thinks it has a January intake.

Have a very late Aug born DS (youngest in year) coming to end y6. Academically very able. Gifted reader & writer. Physically he is taller and stronger than most of his peers. Can be a little emotional at times. Can be a little immature at times. Would I have held him back? No! Just remember to remind teachers at first parent evening each year! And cut them some slack...may take a little longer with neat handwriting for example.

I was eldest in my year. Not much fun either as i remember. Huge expectations to be mature and grown up...at 5!

Don't forget it's not your August born and a bunch of autumn born children - on average one sixth of the class will be July or August born.

I've taught reception for several years and have found that the August borns have done well. Reception is very much about letting the children go at their own pace.

Having sent DD to a primary school nursery where they all did full 9am -3.30pm days from September - youngest was just 3, eldest was just 4 - I didn't have any worries about Reception. We even moved her to a different school and then 3 weeks later to another one when our first choice came up with a place.

Reception is just the next step on from Nursery. They're not expected to read or write, the staff give lots of hugs, there are cushions in a corner for those who flake out and need a nap and a large box of clothes for 'accidents'.

I wouldn't want to defer entry - they will be able to see that other children are now reading and writing and will have missed all the introduction to phonics games. IMO having to play catch-up as well as getting to know new friends and adjust to being a school must be pretty hard.

Children are generally much more resilient than we give them credit for.

My DS1 is a mid August and has not had any problems. He is doing very well academically but he loves school and has a real aptitude for learning. He is actually one of the tallest in his class. However, I found that he always found sporting activities a litter harder. He was always the slowest etc, it seemed to even out once he reached the end of YR 1 but it did knock his confidence a bit.

DD is mid August birthday and just wasn't sporty. Was good academically though. Reception was not all play at her school and she certainly learnt to read. Very quickly. She was never tired. Some children are ready for school and robust. She would have hated not going. I never ever considered not letting her go.

In my day we were desperate for the August birthdays to have a fair crack at reception as they used to get half a term! The fact that the summer borns were having so little time in reception often meant it took years for them to catch up. In fact she got extra marks at 11+ because she was summer born. I hated the idea of a truncated reception and was very pleased the school changed its admission policy. Now, people don't want their children to start and want to defer! Funny old world!

here in Scotland, the cohort runs from March to end of Feb (ie you are 4.6 at least when you start school), but Jan and Feb birthdays have the automatic right to defer to the next year ie 'proper' deferral rather than just joining the class they would have been in anyway. It is increasingly common for Jan/Feb children to defer. We considered it for DS2 (now 7) who is a late Jan birthday, but for various reasons decided against it, mostly because we were thinking at the time of moving back to England. In retrospect he would have benefitted, I think. He is absolutely fine academically, but still struggles emotionally and is always trying desperately to be 'one of the lads'. I think it's probably more true of boys than girls. The HT at the time told me that she has never had anyone regret deferring, but has plenty of examples of people regretting not deferring. And certainly none of the people I know who have deferred have regretted it.
I'm not sure how much that helps if your DC would be going into the same class anyway - that strikes me as potentially creating more problems than it solves, as they'll then be struggling to catch up with what the rest of the children have covered already. In short though I would consider it for emotional/social reasons, but wouldn't worry about it academically.

M

My eldest son is a 28 August baby.He never seemed to have any problem,and always seemed to stay ahead of his classmates,even till the end of 6th form.My youngest is a 22 June child and is the same,ahead of the game. I didn't even know that there was concern about "summer borns" until I came on to MN ! OP I'm sure she will be fine.