Summer borns

[DustShuffler]

Does anyone have any positive stories of their summer borns going to school at just turned 4? My dd will be 4 and start reception just under a month after. She is emotionally and socially mature but I still feel worried at sending her to school when we have the option of holding her back.

Most in my dc school year have been absolutely fine whilst march/oct/jan borns have struggled behaviourally.

Mine hasnt but maybe due to sen asd/adhd etc. And so the advantage of being eldest is it is that it is clearer if say they are still academically/behaviourally the worst that there may be something going on.
The youngest can still exceed expectations.
If you are not thinking of delaying i would just not worry about it especially if you think your child is fine.
They do worse statistially right through to alevel/gcse. But what that data doesnt show is if they have actually met or exceeded at yr r or ks1 how will those do vs those who started behind.

Imo they can suffer from negative impressions from teachers etc due to immaturity/silliness and may not be recognised how good they and obviously cannot concentrate as long so may end up in lower sets than they deserve.

My twins are mid August, DS struggled a bit in reception with sitting still etc, but DD has thrived throughout (just about to go into year 6).

If your dd is emotionally and socially mature don’t hold her back from starting school with her peers.

My dd is August born. We have just had her yr 6 sats results and she is exceeding expectations across the board.

I think you have to remember that they are not a year younger than the whole class, there will be other spring and summer born children too!!

DD is a late July baby, and I remember her going for her taster day when she was still 3!!!
She was very socially able too but was still having a nap every afternoon so I did worry about how she would cope.
She took to school like a duck to water, and is now leaving year 6 with exceeding expectations for her age across the board on her report.

It might have helped that there were 4 other girls in her class that were also summer born (1 with same birthday and 1 the day before!) plus a couple of the boys.

My DD also late July and also leaving Y6 now. She's been fine since the off, she's always been quite confident and outgoing but has had no problems keeping up either socially or academically. She's done very well in her SATs, and as she pointed out herself they are graded against the average 11yo and she is still 10

I remember feeling similarly anxious when she trotted off to Reception at 4 and 6 weeks but we've never had any concerns about her being one of the youngest in the year. The differences between a just-4yo and a nearly 5yo can seem marked, but they fall away very quickly and by the end of KS1 (ie Y2) you simply can't tell the difference in a child's age by looking at their work. I say this as a school governor who has recently spent a lot of time comparing children's workbooks to check on progress!

Hope your DD enjoys Reception, it's such a lovely year.

Dgs1 currently in Yr 1, mid-august birthday, is doing well academically and socially. In the first 2 terms of Reception he was below expected level in writing and at expected level for everything else. Since then he has been been working at expected level across the board. He has lots of friends - a core group of 3 other boys but will often mention he was playing pokamon with a differnt group or playing hula hoops with some yr 2 girls etc. He loves school and even though he was only 4 yrs and 2 weeks when he started Reception he has thrived.

My son is late July and stepson early August. Both were totally ready for school. No problems (at least none due to their ages!) and achieved the same as everyone else.
Only disadvantage is my son has left school (going to apprenticeship college in September) and really wants a summer job but at 15 hard to come by! He has a part time job but everywhere else says he needs to be 16.

Hi,
My DD is an August baby. She was ready for school at 4 although was obv less mature than others. She's thrived at school and just got excellent SATs (exceeding expectations across the board). She also passed her school entrance exams to get into her preferred school.
She has loved her primary school experience - I really don't think her age has had any negative impact. From what you say I think your DD is ready too.

Ds is july birthday just finishing reception in his class out of 30 there are at least 6 july and 2 August birthdays so it is not as if the whole class is October like sometimes you get the impression. He has found some bits easy and some bits harder like most of the children in the class.

I was a summer birthday too and I missed two terms school as a result as back then the school dictated when we started and summer birthdays was post Easter so I think it is much better they all start together now.

As a teacher I’ve found it can make a difference in terms of children’s maturity but not always. I wouldn’t delay reception unless you have a really good reason to. The longer she has to get used to the routines the more at ease she will be and the faster she will learn.

I think it's normal to feel anxious about a 4 year starting school young. However on its own I don't think this is sufficient reason to defer. I think levels of maturity are much more important and can vary so much at this age. I have known many many summer borns do very well in their correct cohort and the differences you may see now diminish as they get older

If she is already emotionally and socially mature and you defer they she could end up in a class with summer borns who will be more than a year younger than her who are not. I think she will learn better from being with older children than younger in this case.

My Ds is end of August. In reception he wasn't interested in the learning side, did what he had to and then played.
Yr1 he was put on the lower ability table, by end of year 1 he had worked up to the higher ability table.
Yr 2 he worked hard and started doing some year 3 work in maths (his new found fave lesson)

He's about to finish year 6....he has got greater depth in all his sats and passed 11+. He is confident and I am glad he wasn't held back.

As pp has mentioned there will be other summer born in your DC class. My son's classmates are still having birthdays now and one just after they break up. My Ds was youngest but only by 2-3 weeks.

My dd is a July baby. She’s sailed through school without any issues -academic or social.

My ds is November and I’m dreading him starting school. I don’t think he’ll be ready at almost 5.

I think it depends on the child.

Thank you all, that's all really reassuring. I guess my main feeling towards it is that I was always the oldest in my year group and found school really easy... if anything I was probably a bit lazy because of this! I'm hoping being one of the youngest my dd will 'rise' to the challenge. The school seem supportive and they can start on half days if they are struggling.

@Helix1244 please could you point me in the direction of the data that says children who are deferred do worse long-term? Thanks

My work includes processing Admissions applications and our LA has had a policy of agreeing to deferred entry for summer borns for a number of years. I was at a training event a couple of weeks ago and the LA said they were now reviewing automatic approval because research from their own authority had found that those who deferred were more likely to have confidence issues and mental health concerns at an earlier age, which tended to show around the age of 7 when they realised that other children in their year group were 'a year below'. They are now looking into this further as they feel there is a definite link.

My late July born has just gone to secondary and is doing really well. He loved primary and did much better all the way through than my November born twins.
Schools are very used to summer borns and do take their birthdays into account. All assessments, right through primary, are scaled taking into account their age.

Sorry to clarify i mean summer borns in cohort do worse not deferred kids.
Supposedly deferred dont do as well as sept borns but that i assume is due to the reasons many are deferred. Also it was for the phonic test and that idnt very stretching but will be effected by kids with s&l or communication issues.
Likewaisw the ks1 reading isnt that stretching but on small numbers deferring ech has a large effect

RedPostbox that is rubbish they are definitely NOT scaled to accounf for age eyfs,phonics,ks1 or ks2.
Expected is expected for that year group and is clearly based on abilities of the eldest.
The grammar entry is though.

I also think to decide to stop CSA starts for the kids MH is rediculous (sorry) as their MH is affect in year group from reception. My dc refused to go in after a few weeks and was pretty much dragged there. He has said 'i dont want to go to year 3 as there will be more, harder maths'. And wants to know why they have to go everyday.
Basically not a good start. And yet they were very bright before school (i would say capable of top 10%. And they did do well on some things and were top anyway. But on others theconfidence knock is harsh. Im sure they will continue to overtake.

It's not like the sept 7/8 yo are sat there thinking they must be thick if they aren't top is it!? People dont lose confidence from being good at something

Expected is expected for that year group and is clearly based on abilities of the eldest

No, it's based on the expected ability - although it's certainly going to be easier for those who have more time to reach the expected ability.

It's not like the sept 7/8 yo are sat there thinking they must be thick if they aren't top is it!?

I certainly have heard of this - and heard of kids who have entered with the advantage of age (and an academic parent/nursery environment) losing confidence as they're no longer special for being best at reading etc.

It's so individual on the kid, population wise there are clear differences, but given that those most able to access deferring tend to be privileged, so likely to be higher attaining anyway it's not guaranteed that deferring is best.

Maturity and mental and physical capability is what will provide an easy transition to school, if you have any doubts on those, then deferring might be right, if you don't, then I think it's not worth it, certainly with DD, deferring would not have been a positive thing, and if anything I am glad she is summer born.

I'm late August! Honestly over time they will be fine, perhaps slightly harder at first but some born September 1 will struggle more as every kid is different

Thanks you @Helix1244
I was curious there. People keep saying ‘research/evidence shows’ but not actually linking to anything. It’s early days for us but for my child it was absolutely the right thing to do and he in fact loves being the oldest in the class and doesn’t want to be with his Natural year group. One other interesting thing is that his best buddy is the youngest in the year so there’s more than a full year between them and yet they are such good friends. I presumed incorrectly that he’d gravitate towards the older autumn borns but I was wrong!
I think as a parent you follow your gut and do what’s right for your individual child. It’s good to debate the issue but my only advice to those thinking about it, don’t be swayed by people coming on and saying ‘my summer born did really well/didn’t do well’ as that’s not helpful to you. You are going to get children of ALL ages who did well or didn’t do as well. Just go with your gut. Is your child physically, emotionally and developmentally ready? If yes, don’t defer, if no then do it if you can.

My DS turns 5 the last week of term and has done brilliantly in his first year of school. He is happy, has made lots of friends, and is as expected or exceeding in all areas. In fact I think he's probably handled as well if not better than his dsis who was born in January.