summer-born children

[rubo001]

Children born in August, July or June, are nearly 1 year younger than autumn-born children in their class. There is evidence that they lag behind the older children not only academically, but also in sport, and are more likely to be diagnosed ADHD or to be excluded from school. Any parents of summer-born children who have encountered problems because of this? I believe that the authorities are not dealing with it at all.

Children born in the summer months on average do worse academically and at sports.
This isn’t a disputed fact . Top level professional and amateur sportspeople are more likely to have been born in the autumn than the summer here in the uk where the school year is September to August.
This issue has been discussed for many years so I am pleased to hear that there is more recognition of it in schools as per pps. No idea about solutions.

Look for The Calendar Conspiracy on Radio 4 (you should be able to find it on Listen Again or iPlayer). It looks in depth as this issue.

Yes.

Not just in the first year of school - DS hid under the kitchen table on the first day and that was indicative that he wasn't ready.

But the real impacts were when he was older. He did a year at sixth form (and to be fair to him they took most of his desired courses away at the last minute which was a massive blow) but he screwed that up, and he screwed up his final year of GCSEs too - he just wasn't ready.

Now, partly this will go onto personality, confidence of that child so one at 15 will be different to another at 15. Mine (DS) is VERY non aggressive, without any kind of malice, totally not interested in face to face socialising so that and being a year behind makes a MASSIVE impact.

He screwed up his first year of A levels and then restarted BTECs at college and is one of two kids in that course who are a whole year older than the others on the course...

It most certainly has an effect but the child's natural disposition, willingness to try new things etc is also a massive factor as well. This has NO relevance to how bright they are/aren't - they can be really bright but all of that will go to the back if they're not psychologically ready for that point in their life. And I've found that forcing or cajoling doesn't work - they will only do it when they are genuinely ready. Child led weaning etc - it's the same at this age if you're trying to honour 'let them do things when they're ready' - they are either ready or they aren't and the principals you employed at toddler age can't be thrown away just because they are teens.

I would agree with the idea that not all summer borns are created equal - they all have their own experience.

As to what to do about it - giving parents the option whether to hold back their August born would be logical place to start. I don’t really see any down side to this. If you think your child is ready you start them if you don’t you keep them back a year.
No additional cost to the local authority.

There isn’t much to be done once they’ve started though beyond more classroom support or private tutoring if they are struggling academically. As most posters have pointed out they even out academically for the most part in any case.

Socially though, well we’ll all just have to find a way to manage. I want my son to develop some awesome super power like ping pong or singing but so far the only thing he does well is Minecraft...! Better that than nothing I guess!

londonista the downside of allowing parents to choose is that poorer families may send a child to school even if they weren't ready for financial reasons and richer families could choose to delay a child who was ready to gain an advantage.

If children who were delayed were still eligible for free childcare (15 hours/week) then it would cost the local authority more.

I was a summer born, I think there was around 4 weeks between me turning 4 and starting school and it didn't do me any harm however I was tall for my age (by the age of 9 I was both the youngest in the class and the tallest) and apart from my hiccup with phonetics which I loathed, academically capable. I left school at 17 to go to University and again had no issues.

We're now in Scotland and Ds will be the youngest in his class at 4 and half (Feb birthday) and I think that's a fairly good compromise, moving the dates from 4 through 5 to 4 and half through 5 and a half. We could hold him back if we wanted but it's a tiny village school and he's also tall, very good at running and relatively smart.

Our school takes the attitude that age/month of birth is irrelevant. If a child is struggling, they’re struggling no matter when they are born, and need appropriate help or intervention. If they’re doing fine, then all’s well

Who possibly but I think for many families they just want to be able to choose - my school did an interview with us before entry to reception (he’d only turned 4 the day before!) and in that meeting my son cried and wet himself through stress after being forced to come and speak to the teachers; obviously he wasn’t ready, but there was nothing they could do as the LA wouldn’t allow it. Perhaps the schools themselves could take a view on a case by case basis? They do the home visits anyway, so no extra work. I wished I’d pressed the LA further on it, the stress he’s been put under makes me feel sick to be honest. He had a stammer, night terrors and is now a chronic nail biter.

And I’m not sure being up to 4 weeks older at most represents much of an “advantage” though, to be honest!

If children who were delayed were still eligible for free childcare (15 hours/week) then it would cost the local authority more.

It also costs society more at the other end - as adults the income of summer borns is not less than autumn borns despite the small educational difference at that point. So losing 11 months of tax receipts of an adult will have a cost too.

However, it's not been shown that "not being ready for school" is actually the reason for the attainment gap, or that parents would be a good judge of it anyway. The reasons for sport (which don't necessarily match school years, as it does depend on the sport and when the competition cut off is) also suggest it's not about not being ready as it applies even to people who take up the sport later, even after puberty.

My own personal feeling is that it's not simply about being ready or otherwise, but a lot about the psychology of how you're treated, and amplification of differences and expecations. It is interesting for example that the teachers under mark their summer borns compared to independent examiners who don't know the ages.

I'm late august born. I never even got 1 detention in school. I got 10 GCSEs A*- B along with 12 BTECs worth ( top three in my school, they didn't tell us the order). One being an A in sports and finished all my dance grades with top marks. My sister is winter born and did exactly averagely in everything except music (she went on to do music as her career). I think you're putting way too much weight on birth date, and others are too which is causing the very problem

If you defer the child is still eligible for their 15 hours.

If you don't your child is disadvantaged more. A September child gets 5 terms of early years education before school. An August born gets 3.

So those two children, starting on the same day - one is almost a year older and already has 2 extra terms of education behind them.

londonista it's not a case of being 4 weeks older, it's actually going from being the youngest to the oldest in a year group. That is a big advantage.

I would agree parents alone shouldn’t be the judge. I was desperate for professional advice, I’m completely aware I’m not an expert and very subjective. In my case the teachers agreed he wasn’t as ready as most but it was a flat no from the LA. There are so few summer borns really (only 3 in my sons 2 form entry year) that surely they could assess on a case by case basis? As I said they need to do home visits anyway.

It’s a moot point for me in some respects. I’ve investigated a private school to hold him back but they weren’t keen on letting him repeat if he is not academically behind.

Who ... and? How does that affect other children?

What would disadvantage an autumn born more, I wonder? Being in a class with a summer born child who was deferred, and therefore a bit more emotionally mature, or being in a class with a summer born who wasn't ready and therefore needed much more support and more of the teachers time, and caused more disruption to everyone's learning? I know this isn't representative of all summer born but if you took them all and blended them into one 'average' child it wouldn't be that far off the mark.

I have family in a different country, they normally start school at 6/7. I think cut off is end of June, not end of Aug for starting the following Sept.
If you are going to be one of the oldest in the year, it is possible to start school a year early and be one of the youngest instead - DN did this and started school at 5 years 11 months. Not sure where the cut off is, I think it is Jul-Sept birthdays who can choose to go early. Not sure how widespread it is.

I'm pretty sure you can also defer if not "ready", whenever your birthday is, so there can be a wide spread of ages - but presumably they are developmentally similar at least. Again not sure how many end up doing this.

I'm not sure if they can be made to repeat a school year as well, if they are struggling.

(DN did fine in primary being youngest, but struggled when starting high school)

londonista err.... This whole thread is because younger children in a year group are disadvantaged compared to older children. For children to gain an advantage (by being deferred unnecessarily) it must mean other children are being disadvantaged.

The advantage they would gain (more confident, more mature) is personal and not dependent on others being “disadvantaged”. We’re talking about a handful of children whose parents may or may not decide to defer them, who might be at most 4 weeks older than the nearest child. I really don’t think that’s going to drag down the rest of the cohort at all. Not as much as a summer born who isn’t ready and needs more support, that’s for sure.

My 2 are early June and late July born. It never occurred to me that they may be at any kind of disadvantage, they've been fine.

However for one of DS2s friends it's only now in year 4 that his family feel he's finally catching up and hitting his stride. Knowing the teacher he has I'd say a lot is to do with her input, she is awesome. He finally no longer feels like the bottom of the class, doesn't belong, etc.

londonista it's not been established if the attainment gap is caused by simply being the youngest in the cohort, or if it's about maturity. Your assertion only works if it's about maturity. With sport and similar things the evidence is strongly that it's nothing to do with maturity, but simply comparison between older/younger and amplification of differences.

To the people saying 'it did me no harm' please shut up...
The academic expectations of the current curriculum are vastly different from those 20 odd years ago and it's impossible for you to know whether the psychological impact of always being the slowest / less able in those early years made any difference because you have no idea what the outcome might have been had you been one of the eldest in your year.

There is significant evidence that there is real disadvantage for summer borns, your anecdotal evidence is worthless.

And a further point, why is 'coping' bounded around as good enough? Surely we want our children to thrive not merely cope?

And it's not just the academic stuff that very young children struggle with, for example sitting still for a long assembly can be very difficult for a 4 year old.

Baby Sure, but someone is always going to be the youngest or slowest, aren't they? No one here has proposed a way of changing that because you can't

SirFred there is no attainment gap in my son now he’s in year 5, I agree. There is however a substantial maturity gap, and this has made his school experience a bit fraught, unnecessarily in my view. There would have been absolutely no consequence for anyone other than him to let him defer.

I had a June girl who was not ready when she started. School was poor. Diagnosed with ADHD, I eventually took her out and home educated, but she did go back to an excellent school and is now doing very well. I think she just needed more time, she wasn't ready.

My summer born daughter is August born and started an excellent school and has had no issues and doing well. I would have delayed her entry except the school an academy who doesn't except flexible admissions. I suppose I agree with PP that it depends on the school. An average to poor school it's better to delay. Good-excellent schools summer borne are more likely to do ok. My choice was delay and go to a below average school or just turned 4 at an excellent one. I hope I made the right decision.

Excuse my typos! Accept not except. (I'm a summer born with ADHD too ).