Summer borns in primary school

[Userflower]

My son is an August 2021 baby so would be due to start school in September 2024. I’ve recently become aware that summer borns (born after April 1st) can defer and start reception the following year, so in my sons case would be September 2026. I contacted my local council and they approved this straight away, it was very easy. They agreed he could start reception when aged 5 and not miss reception as well as not skip a year of school down the line, he would stay in his adopted year. They said this has become very common throughout the UK and local councils are fully supportive. My son has no reason to be deferred other than being a summer born. I would be interested in hearing from other parents who’ve deferred, has this been a positive experience? I guess my only concern would be, would he feel different and out of place when down the line he’d be aware he’s educated out of cohort. Other than that, I can’t think of any negatives in deferring, only positives.

I did this for my daughter. She was bright and had no developmental issues, I just felt given the option I would prefer her to be the oldest in her class rather than the youngest.

She stayed in nursery as a rising 3, and the first 2 terms were horrendous as she didn't want to go, cried going and was a force of nature whilst there. When she returned to nursery after her 4th birthday (rather than starting reception) she was much more settled and enjoyed it, and began to learn and thrive, so by the time she started reception at 5 she was much more confident.

Now we are almost at the end of primary school and she is an outstanding pupil and I have no regrets at all. Lots of her friends are September birthdays and she is the eldest in her year by 5 days which isn't much, and she doesn't stand out. The other school mums have been supportive and I have never had negative experiences or opinions.

By deferring we give her an extra year of freedom at home, before starting primary school and have given her a chance to mature before starting secondary school and doing her GCSE's and A levels. Now she he will be at the correct age of 16 and 18 for exams, and if she goes to uni she will be 19.

I didn’t think my May-born son was ready for school and he struggled with attention span in Reception. He’s now mostly greater depth in Yr2 so I’m glad I didn’t hold him back. Children change very quickly.

This was my experience. We delayed our early July child, but had we known the confident sociable academic child they would turn out to be I don’t think we would have done.

There is a huge difference between a 4.5 and an almost 5 year old and a child who was 3 until a week or two before starting school.
My child is August and will be deferred rather than starting this September also.
I have absolutely no desire for DC to start school barely a week after 4th birthday. It’s not to their benefit imo.

very common in Ireland too…they can start from age 4 but a lot don’t start until they are at least 5. In my dds class out of the girls the oldest is 13 this month and the youngest will be 12 in July. They are all great friends.

I know someone who did this for SEN DC born prematurely and was happy.

The big issue was she found out is does not carry on to secondary. So DC (now Y7) would have had to go to secondary after Y5. She had to go through many hoops to avoid this- finding secondary schools who would support them with deferring. Had to apply and then defer.

If you google you will find this is the case for most LEAs.

This is generally not the case anymore. The guidelines have changed.

Hmm... not sure, but the only disadvantage I could think of would be if you'd be planning for your child to take 11+ exam to a grammar school - he would not get any extra points due to his/her age.
My younger one is 4 and in Reception (born in June). He is a little slower than other children i.e. with his writing, but we're getting there. I'm expecting him to catch up within the next 2 years. They're really not doing much in a Junior school later on (I have another child who is 10), so I think he'll be fine in a long run.

This was quite recently - child only just started secondary now- and the websites of most places around where I live currently state this is still the case.

@Userflower It really depends on the children. Eldest was a winter baby so deferring was not an option and I wish I could have. Shy, young for his age (even though he’s one of the eldest in his group). He’s fine now but he had to put in a lot of work that I’m not sure he was emotionally ready for even though academically he is very clever. My youngest 2 both summer births but so clued on about everything my god it’s insane how different they are. So we didn’t defer. You know best as the parent as you know your kids.

It’s totally up to you and I would say totally unique to your child. Here’s my experience if it’s helps as I have a 21st July teenager and a 3rd September 8 year old.

21st July birthday 15 year old doing GCSEs in the next few weeks…. I was shit scared of him starting school being so little and looked for options to defer, thought of moving country etc 😂😂. Anyway, decided to take the plunge and see how he would be in school as normal instead of deferring. Turns out he flew through school and enjoyed every second, formed friendships and just loved it, no issues. He got an academic scholarship in year 7 to a great school and in on for A’s in his GCSE’s.

3rd September girl 8 years old. She was due in August but came late. She’s also thriving at school, very academic but struggles as she’s just so much older than the rest. She get irritated by some of the younger boys in her class. Often feels ‘different’ because she’s given extra work as she’s ahead, often dumbs herself down to stay with the class. She is enjoying school but i definitely see her feeling older and it’s mentioned by teachers and kids etc “let her do it because she’s the oldest”. She doesn’t really like being the oldest.dont get me wrong she still loves school and formed lovely friendships and smashing school work but with both of my kids at opposite ends of the school year I think there are positives and negatives to both.

A friend has done this. In our area its the individual school that has to agree it. Some schools will only let them go straight into year 1 if you defer.

Also some warned that secondary schools can also not acceptnit and put them straight into year 8. So may be worth checking.

There are not several hoops to jump through, you simply have to apply and defer the place the same way you did for reception.
Similarly to joining in reception vs Y1 in the past, it is almost never suggested that skipping the last year of primary is in a child’s best interest. It doesn’t happen, they remain with their cohort.

🙄

This is incorrect btw. There is a process to follow yes, but a child should stay with their cohort.

The only bit that sits slightly uncomfortably with me is the gap between those summer borns who are not deffered, where they struggle, parents aren't aware or can't facilitate another year of childcare etc. It can't be good for those kids to no longer be compared just to September borns but children maybe 15 months older than them.

Similarly will March, April, May born kids become the new summer borns.

Not something for the deferred summer borns parents to solve of course, defferal makes a lot of sense on an individual basis.

I think if your child is bright they might benefit from being stretched by being with the older children but if they are average / below average then obviously they will struggle and potentially become demotivated. I am a September baby and I would have benefitted from going to school sooner / being with older kids so if I'd have been an August baby that would have worked well for me to go when I was just 4 but for other children that wouldn't be good for them.

I have a June baby who is starting school in September. We have not considered holding him back a year because he is interested in reading so we have started teaching him at home. He also seems keen to do basic Maths so I think he will enjoy school (which at this age I think is the only thing that matters).

Yeah - I suspect it's another source of inequality, unfortunately. Interested and informed parents (who can afford the extra year of childcare fees, or where one parent doesn't work) will defer their children and more disadvantaged children will just go by default regardless.

It's so individual for every child. People will always say that it's better for the child to defer, or that their child was summer born and doing fine starting when just 4, but really the decision needs to be made for the particular child, some may be better off deferring and some may not. My dd is summer born and we didn't defer her. She was already bored in nursery at the end of her pre-school year and would have hated another year of it. She started reception last September as one of the youngest in her class, but she has thrived and is in no way behind her peers, in fact she is already in the top half of her class and moving up reading groups quickly. Socially she's at the same level as most of her peers in class and has made lots of friends and has no trouble there, she sees the children in the nursery class as younger than her and a lot more babyish. If this hadn't been the case and she wasn't ready to start school we would have deferred her.

That would be worrying for my summer born. As it is, we didn't defer her and nor did anyone in her class as there are no older ones in her reception class currently, they all started in their correct year. She's also not the only summer born and not the youngest. I think if it had been more common here and there would have been a wider gap then we would have deferred her.

A deferred summer born is still entitled to the 30 hours at nursery so not really dissimilar to the school day and any extra childcare that is needed to supplement that.

My eldest was a nightmare for the last few months of nursery because he was bored, starting around the time he turned 4. He's now getting on well. My youngest will be starting school just after he turns 4 and I'm planning to keep an eye on it as you can always do shorter days and weeks until they turn 5 anyway.

My DCs weee both born in July. I wanted to defer their school places but back then it would have meant starting in year 1, which clearly would have heaped disadvantage on disadvantage.

So DC1 started school just after their 4th birthday. They coped intellectually but not in other ways. It was obvious because they would come home every day and wee on the sofa, even though they had been dry for nearly 2 years at that point. All through primary, they seemed fairly average to a bit above average most of the time. In year 6, they started to find their groove, especially with maths and moved up the class. By year 7 (in a comprehensive) they were top in everything. Did amazingly well in GCSEs, A-Levels and degree.

DC2 was pretty much the same age when starting school and seemed to be coping better than DC1 (but they were excited to be with DC1) and again was pretty average all through primary. I was expecting greater things in secondary but DC2 ended up being above average but not amazing and failed to get onto their dream uni course because they neseded fantastic not good grades ......... but whole other story: After finishing school we discovered DC2 was dyslexic and had ADHD. DC2 is now doing very well at uni though in 2nd choice subject.

So long story short - it is a big advantage to be one of the eldest on the class. My DC2 clearly had quite a few disadvantages and may have achieved better academically if they had been in the year below.

Yes true, good point.

Late August DD was not able to defer as she was born before that was permissible. Going to school at barely 4 was a total nightmare for her as she just wasn't ready and everything was always dismissed as she was "very young in the year" rather than dyspraxic and dyslexic and a slow processor. So she didn't get a diagnosis until secondary. We were lucky in that she eventually went to a state sponsored specialist provision and was able to drop down a year as it was just all too much.