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

Yes your generalisation doesn’t reflect the data on this and would be weird to hear teachers saying that as the summer born policy has only been around long enough thst the first to take advantage of it will have only just started transferring into secondary education, so certainly not in a position to have their outcomes (as compared with the solid body of evidence showing the summer born disadvantage follows kids throughout their secondary education)

id let the research guide me on stuff like this, rather than anecdotes and armchair expertise. There’s a lot of ignorant teachers and a lot of worried parents feeling stressed or guilty about their decision.

Even if you I didn’t delay my summer born I wouldn’t be swayed by that; I’d find the data reassuring to remind me there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with my kid, they’ve just has a years less time to develop and use that to reassure them and me :)

Worked in childcare? In what kind of settings? I ask because reception certainly isn’t about mostly playing.

Kids are expected to be fluent readers and not only writing sentences but forming letters properly, doing arithmetic etc in maths by end of R. From y1 those foundations need to be in place or they quickly can’t keep up. it’s crazy how much pressure they’re under and hard even on the older ones to cope with what’s expected. I think this country has it so wrong; we are one of only 12% around the world who start kids at 4. The countries who don’t start formal Ed until 6/7 have much better longer term outcomes for children. And we wonder why there is a mental health crisis in children :(

Also just to correct: a delayed start means the opposite of missing a year? They GAIN the extra year that autumn borns get as default / take for granted.

Agree the mum guilt is real regardless - and extra hard if you have people telling you they did the oppposite for their kid and delayed them as then you feel worse not to have taken the opportunity to correct the disadvantage :(

I’m in the same boat. My youngest will be 4 on the 29th August. He will turn 1 this year so I have some times to think about it. The advise I was given was “if he is ready to learn send him or if he seems a little immature don’t but request a delay because you don’t have to use it” I know it’s a little late for you but holding him back especially when he will make friends is a little harsh. Unless he is crazy behind. It might mean just sitting with him at home to do some extra learning. My 4 year old was easy for school at 3..5 but she is going this year. Each child is different

it was a while ago so things may have changed but we were not offered reception a year late - even though I asked - she had to stick to her cohort. Maybe this is what has changed

I have a September baby in year 2 and a June baby in reception. My June baby has found school much easier to settle in to and my September baby struggles with writing and phonics.

@Jiski ”progress? Is he not just allowed to live? Does he have to be advancing academically at age 4?

Age 4-5 is 1/5 of his life. Of course you would expect him to be advancing academically if he’s ready to do so. Some DC can learn quickly and should be allowed to. Nursery is prep for YR. It’s not there to replace YR.

My son was born at the end of July and started during covid so had the added complication of schooling at home and not attending a full school year until year 2. I work with children so could definitely see the disparity in emotional and academic ability when they were younger but now he is in KS2 he is excelling in all areas and if you didnt know the childrens birthdays it would be difficult to point out who are the summer born children, in fact, some of the summer born are more mature and emotionally intelligent. So id try not to worry and just focus on developing his individual needs, as they all develop and mature at their own rates and it definitely starts to level out by KS2.

Better to leave him with the friends he is now making rather than have him start again in September and wonder what he has done "wrong" when all the others have moved on. In terms of academic progress, the school know his age and will let you know if there is anything to be worried about

Hi

My dd is a July baby and now in year 2. The teachers are amazing and know how to deal with the younger ones. I’m sure yours will be fine too. She is a bit behind academically but it’s to be expected when there’s some almost 12 months older then her. I remember worrying before she started reception as she’d only just turned 4 as still needed help for the toilet and getting dressed but she was fine, at that age they love school too quite often… the teachers make it fun a lot of the time too. Good luck op xx

2 of mine were youngest in their year ( 40 yrs ago )they coped well, both highly qualified and successful now.

Well, good for all those people whose kids had no problem but my Summer born boy struggled massively with starting school at 4 yo and it is is my biggest regret that I did not keep him in nursery until he was 5. The problems at school were subtle at first and the damage was not obvious until it was too late. Not helped, admittedly, by a god awful reception teacher who he distinctly remembers poking him really hard in the belly because he was not focused on the task in hand and who was generally really negative with him about his struggle with literacy. The ridiculous thing is that from age 7 literacy took off and by 9 had a reading age of 13 so if he'd been educated in Scandinavia he could have been spared all the shaming that went on because he could not sit still and wanted to play. He ended up being diagnosed as dyspraxic at 10 only because we went to a private OT consultancy. School never once seemed to pick up on his dyspraxia despite the obvious gap between his excellent verbal skills and school performance. They also did not spot that his sporting and social problems were due to his co-ordination issues/inadvertently being too rough with other kids due to sensory feedback issues. This is a school that had a very good rating by Oftsted as well. His self esteem definitely suffered, which, unfortunately, is not uncommon in dyspraxic kids but he has really clear memories of feeling out of place in his early school years which still make me feel very sad.

my DS is 23 Aug. He’s been fine. Just about to go to Oxford Uni. The only things that affected him were he was tiny. Late bloomer too so was small until he was 16 when he had a massive growth spurt and is now 6ft 2. Also that last year when everyone turns 18 can be a pain for them with travelling in the summer after A-levels. Hostels were tricky for an under 18 travelling with 18yr olds. Now he’s great though and thriving.

My daughter has a mid July birthday, and she will be starting University this September. I think in retrospect that she would have benefited more from starting reception a year later, and so would still have a year before this big step. I think starting in reception at only a few weeks after her fourth birthday was too young. I think 5 is a good age to begin school and no younger than that, in my opinion. Too many reasons to go into here.

This was me. I turned 4 a few days before starting school. I was shy and quiet, but I did make friends & loved school. When it came time to finish primary school, I was kept back a year because the reckoned I wouldn’t manage well at junior high - not academically, but socially. Was sad at the time because my friends moved on, but I made new friends with no issues and stayed in touch with a couple of my old ones. Was a bit boring for me in P7 because I already had studied all the stuff before, but they put me with a different teacher so that mixed things up a little at least. It worked out just fine. Don’t overthink it.

He will catch up by the end of the year, don't worry about it.

My daughter is a July baby and at 4 was very small and had speech and language issue. I was worried but didn’t hold her back, I think it did more good than anything. She was fine and speech issue also resolved by time she got to year 1

It depends on the child. My middle son was born in september and had a nightmare in reception. We knew he would struggle and did. My youngest was born in September, starts reception this year, and I have no worries about him at all.

Sorry should have said youngest born in August.

I have 2 DC. One is the eldest in the year and one is one of the youngest. I can see a HUGE difference between them in their attitude, ability and behaviour. Eldest in the year DC was delayed a year at school so should be the year above. We could have done the same for other DC, but didn’t feel it was right for them.
If you think they would be better starting next year, speak to your LEA (if England/Wales) and discuss the options. You know your child best and I’m sure that rushing them towards the workplace isn’t a priority. Good luck!

@yaboreme my daughter started reception 2 weeks after her 4th birthday and I was worried she was too young but she now just about to finish year 2 and shes at the top end of her subjects. My little boy is a September baby and I’m dreading him being the oldest in the class. I feel he’s going to get really bored and end up getting into trouble as he is advanced and i worry it will be too easy for him. X

My DD is August born and in reception, I’ve had the same thoughts as you at times. I have an older DD who is one of the eldest in the year and doing well academically and it’s hard not to compare. I keep reminding myself that DD2 will be the same age when she finishes reception as my eldest was when she stared and on that basis, she’s doing brilliantly!

My August born son went into reception at CSA in September 2018. The option for summer borns to start school at 5 has been available for 10+ years. The guidance from the DofE is national, at least for England. We have never had a single regret.

Hold him back a year!!!

Generally speaking the top performing half of the class are the oldest in the class. There are always exceptions.

But just as you can tell a 6-month old baby from a 1 year old - age is the biggest factor in development.

Confidence is also a factor in learning. If you can throw better, read a book better, are stronger, more dexterous - you want to be heard and noticed more.

I've always thought in schools, which generally have more than one class per year - should split them into 6-month age groups.

There's a big difference between someone who turns 5 on Sept 1st and someone who remains age 4 right the way through a school year until August 31st the following year.

When I was young, there was no opportunity for August babies to be anything other the youngest in the class.

Now they allow August babies to be the eldest in the class.

You'd be foolish not to give them that opportunity.

DC born in July. He was always slightly behind in reception but he was ready to learn. He could barely hold a pen when he started

he’s now in year one. Still slightly behind on his writing but on track for his maths and he’s miles ahead with his reading

doing maths and spellings and reading on the go (reading signs) helped and we could do it on the go but he struggled with his writing and wouldn’t sit down and do it. He’s come on massively this last year and I don’t regret sending him while he was on the young side because even though behind I feel like he was ready