Youngest in the year - reception

[yaboreme]

Hi,

I was just looking to see how things are/ turned out for any of you that had summer born children who started school at 4.

My son was 4 in August and I'm really worried that I made the wrong decision to send him to reception after only turning 4, 2 weeks prior to the start of the school year.

He's emotionally a little behind and is a little behind his peers with reading, writing etc but I have been assured that he knows the concept of simple math and is very enthusiastic to learn.

My concern is that he may have benefited from an additional year to be 5 when he started to be of a more similar age to his peers.

Am I worrying about nothing? Or should I enquire about resitting reception (if that's another option).

Hopefully this makes sense.

Thank you

@yaboreme remember to think long term. He may struggle with a few things now but he is learning that you have to work hard to succeed. Having a good work ethic is far more important than his reading level (etc) now.

I hear from many teachers that summer borns who have been held back (for no real reason) can struggle when it comes to secondary school because they are used to having an easy ride and it is a shock to the system when they need to work hard!

Obviously I am generalising but you get the point.

I have a 10yo with a July birthday, she was also socially/emotionally behind on starting reception. However she’s been ahead of her peers academically since y2 and will very likely get greater depth (top mark) on all her SATs next month, she’s also gone through puberty and therefore looks older (and has always been taller) than many of her peers. Luckily I did not consider deferring, but if I had I think I’d have had to seriously consider skipping a year as she 100% needs to go to high school next year. if I’d deferred her she’d have been in in y2 when puberty started - which could have been horrific for her!

Better to just let things take their course if you have no actual concerns OP - you don’t know how things will turn out, it’s too early to call.

Hi, have an August (boy) and September (girl). My son really struggled until half way through primary - I remember coming out of parents' evenings quite upset that the teachers seemed to think he was behind. There was always a long list of things he couldn't do yet and he was always smaller and slower than the others for the first few years. Things like riding a bike were difficult for him which added to the general impression he was a bit slow/hopeless.

In contrast my shiny, communicative and confident daughter knocked the socks off the teachers - walking into reception stating "I've read that, that's an interesting one - umm think I will like it here". My son was kind of grunting in the corner bashing trucks into walls as he entered reception, scowling at anyone trying to speak to him. He even had to have speech therapy.

However, taking the long view, he's off to uni in Cambridge in October, and is a champion debater (represents England) - so don't despair. Take the long view and as others have said family environment is the most important thing. Your job is in primary is to give him space just to be and remember the tortoise and the hare. Just let him play and it really doesn't matter if he is a slow reader to begin with or can't form his letters nicely in Year One.

Both my dd are end of August babies, one did absolutely fine, one hugely struggled to the point she repeated reception last sept, however my April born ds is due to start school in sept and is absolutely no where near ready and we are at the point of discussing if he should remain in preschool for another year.

My DS is 6 and coming up to finishing Year 2. Mid August birthday. He's thrived and done very well in school so far. He has loads of friends and is working at greater depth in reading.

When you say 'to be a more similar age to his peers' surely he isn't the only summer born? Statistically age wise he will be within 6 months of half of them. Age is just one factor in how happy they are and how well they do. He's nearly completed Reception now so I'm sure if there are any concerns the school will raise them.

My DC1 is June born and we decided to send them to reception at 5 instead. We definitely made the right decision and they are absolutely thriving at school.

It may not be too late to change your mind if you do feel that redoing reception could benefit your DC but you would likely have a fight on your hands.

My DD was born in mid August and was fine in school, so fine she is now sending her child (born 31 August) to school in the correct year.

Her thinking is she did OK and so will her child.

Late July prem baby she was academically ready at just turned 5. Probably struggled more emotionally but she's fitted in well. Got good a levels and has finished a master's degree

I think we don’t always take account of what used to happen to make the learning gap bigger between Autumn born and Summer born.

My summer born DD went to school part time after Christmas and full
time from Feb half term. So missed 1 term plus of learning when compared to older Autumn born dc. My friend’s DD literally did 1/2 of the summer term as full time in YR. She was part time from Easter. Summer born dc got so little time in YR many of us complained. They just wasted time in nursery whilst Autumn born dc sailed ahead. These days, at least all dc get a year in YR but the stories from Summer borns being behind is often based on old comparisons when DC got 1/2 a term of full time YR.

Both my DCs were youngest in class and both at uni now. DC1 found reception extremely tiring and stressful and used to come home and wee on the sofa e very day. Was ok academically. Did not stand out academically in primary but did in secondary. I think DC1 had to be very resilient in primary because never won anything or got picked for anything.

DC2 settled into reception more easily but suffered terribly with anxiety in secondary. Could have been stress of following in footsteps of brilliant DC1. Or possibly some
Immaturity. Or both.

I found mine was constantly compared to some of the eldest in the year. I had to explain to every teacher that yes she's not as mature as her peers as she is almost a whole year younger than them. I found this quite unfair but that is life.

That's what mine has hated. All his friends are 18 and can drive and go clubbing.

If he had been deferred, he would have the opposite problem - he would be 18 by the end of Yr 12, but all his friends would be 17, maybe even still 16 if they were summer-born, and not able to go pubbing and clubbing with him.

We are a bit further ahead than you as my August born is in university. I'm not going to say he achieved academic greatness but he wouldn't have anyway because we aren't gifted. I will say he was happy and academically he's done well enough to get to a good university. I don't think deferring was a thing back then but even if it was I'm glad he went when he did.

DD and DSS were born 20th and 28th August. Both struggled immediately so went mornings or afternoons only until well after Christmas. They were tired, over whelmed, over stimulated. By the middle of year one, they were all caught up, doing well and loved school.

I hear from many teachers that summer borns who have been held back (for no real reason) can struggle when it comes to secondary school because they are used to having an easy ride and it is a shock to the system when they need to work hard!

I don't really understand this point - why wouldn't this apply to everyone? If the gap between primary and secondary causes a shock it would be the same no matter your age.

and I'm really worried that I made the wrong decision to send him to reception after only turning 4, 2 weeks prior to the start of the school year.

There are plenty of kids like that. And tbh reception is not about serious education yet. It is very similar to the nursery. They just get to know letters and numbers.

My August baby is in Reception too. He's one of the smallest in the class and definitely looks a lot younger than most of the others but he adores school, is excelling academically and has a nice group of friends.

We were told when we were considering deferring that the school would let him repeat Reception if it was in his best interest although they don't advertise that option.

Thank you everyone.

I think I'm going to stick with it and see how it goes, he seems to have made a little friendship group and I don't want to disrupt that.

If we endeavour issues later on, perhaps an additional tutor would be an option.

I appreciate everyone's input.

Children don’t all mature at the same rate either. My DD went into YR and a couple of summer borns could already read. Some of the September borns were still struggling. Age isn’t the only factor that defines achievement at school. However being settled with friends is a massive bonus. I would not disturb that either.

Hi
I'm a KS1 teacher. Summer horns generally catch up just fine by y2

@Geordiebabe85 Some DC never catch up! Autumn born or summer born. Its just ridiculous to say this because we all know that same dc are high achievers, middle achievers and low achievers. Some DC have learning difficulties and are always behind. The average child will be at expected and some will of course exceed in everything. Others never get expected in anything.

He'll be absolutely fine. Don't worry.

Reception is a year spent learning through play it really isn’t anything too taxing education wise

Mine are both August born. Just had my youngest’s y7 parent evening and she’s in the top 5 out of 300 kids for her attitude to learning and positive behaviour points. She’s also exceeding all her academic targets. She flew through her SATs and has been given higher targets than most for her year group and has exceeded those too. For those that understand GCSE graining and minimum expected grades, for a y7 they’re generally working at a grade 1 and would work their way up to a grade 9 by the final exams. Her teachers said most were given 1+ targets but she was given 2= as her target and has achieved alot of grade 3s. This is the equivalent to an old fashioned gcse grade D at age 11. She looks young compared to the September kids. Especially girls. Some dress like they’re 16 and would pass for it but she definitely looks 11. Emotionally she’s still 11 as well. What I will say is that she was due on the September but arrived a bit early. If she had been born on her due date she would have been in y6 now and possibly quite bored. Even at pre school her teacher was saying she was picking things up quickly.

My eldest is on y10. She’s in a mix of top sets and middle sets. She’s always achieved well and sometimes above expectations. She’s also autistic so finds some things challenging and if she can’t do something well she gives up easily. She’s always come across older and people often mistake her for being older aspire the fact she dresses down and never wears make up. She has a mature sounding tone. Her year group had a lot of summer born kids and also a lot of Autumn born and not many inbetween. The summer born were mostly on the top tables during primary and my daughter was on middle tables and top tables. There were also some summer born kids on both year groups who achieved a year behind (probably more at their age) and would have benefitted being in the year below. But that’s not really an option.

From what I was told, if we had delayed reception for a year then she would have skipped y1 and gone straight into y2 the following year and wouldn’t have been able to stay a year behind. Not sure if this has changed or if you can do this under special circumstances such as send reasons.

All kids are different but schools (the government) has to draw a line as to the age range for classes and someone will always be the youngest or oldest.

Also fwiw, as parents I achieve a couple of As and and and mostly Cs at GCSE and was a spring baby. Their dad was also a spring baby but was partly Cs and below and didn’t massively achieve. I’ve done uni several times but dad has never done for further education. So genetically they have a mix of genes but non massively high achieving.

I have an August born child who started Reception aged 4, she only had 1 year of Nursery beforehand and was that bit behind academically and in some ways socially and emotionally ( in part because of a lot of personal challenges) but she made a few friends. She is now in Year 5 and has caught up to her peers in a lot of respects despite needing that bit of a push and needing someone to keep her on task (I personally think she has a bit of autism or ADHD going on), she is also popular in the class and has good friends of both genders.