Summer borns in primary school

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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.

We deferred my June born DC and it was absolutely the right decision. I did a lot of research and couldn’t find any disadvantages to deferring. People don’t like to hear it but the statistics speak for themselves, summer born dc do worse in many areas throughout their lives I.e more likely to have mental health issues, less likely to be successful at work. Children start school ridiculously young in the uk, it is later in the majority of countries and deferring is common place.

Just be careful op. Round my way a lot of the primaries allow you to defer but one of the big main high schools doesn’t. So summer borns miss year 7 and have to go straight into year 8!

That’s a surprise to me.

In Wales, rugby and football all seem to be tied into school years. Hockey too afaik. In New Zealand I know that rugby is tied into the child’s height / weight which seems far more sensible and safe for all involved.

This is something that definitely needs more thought, particularly at secondary school where a child being 16 months older than another could create safety issues in certain sports, as well as a degree of unfairness.

I deferred my 31st august son and it was the best thing for him. He is absolutely thriving at school. There was no way he would have been ready at 4 and a few days. Go with your gut feeling. People have strong views about this and I would try to avoid and just look at your child and what is going to work for them.

I’m just explaining why I disagree with your opinions - that’s what this board is for, no?

If a reception teacher is unable to ensure that children across the ability and age range in their class are interested and stimulated, and thinks that it’s inevitable that a bright autumn born child will find school boring and a “waste of time”, then I’m afraid I’d disagree that that teacher is “fucking good”.

Oh just stop it. I said nothing of the sort. You need work on reading comprehension as well as empathy. I gave an opinion that differed to your own, and you have repeatedly told me that I must be rubbish at my job.

DD is an August born baby now in year 7. Academically she has done really well so far, socially I wonder if the extra year might have benefited her as she seemed really young next to some peers.
i would definitely have looked into more flexible schooling as full time reception was a lot for an only just 4 year old but my work commitments ruled that out sadly.
I do think we start children on formal education with not enough play far too early in this country.

This LA is acting against the guidance issued by the LGO several years ago. I sit on the panel for summer born admissions for community and VC schools and collate the responses from academies/VA schools for summer born requests. The guidance is that the Admissions Authority should be deciding that once a child is of statutory school age is it in their best interests to start school in Reception or Year 1. I cannot and do not believe it is the best interests for a child to immediately go into Year 1 without the skills they learn in reception (not just Phonics but that is a big part of it) so I will approve them. We do consider that there could be an issue for sitting the 11+ in a neighbouring LA and that should the family move LA they may find schools in the new area won't offset. Our secondary schools are happy to keep children who have deferred with their offset cohort. The only time it's an issue is where children in Independent schools are deferred or in a lower year group and then either apply for a state secondary place at transition or for an In year place.

Any school can offset a child at their discretion but lots aren't too keen on it. It seems to very much depend on how clued up the Head/SMT is

Based on my own experience over 10 years I'd say most requests come from the more affluent areas for children without SEN and then evenly split between areas for children with SEN.

Most deferred children are summer borns which basically means they are not still 15 when they take their GCSEs. Nobody thinks of that as 'later', they just stay part of the cohort they have joined.

August 29th born child really does have every right to feel more comfortable with kids born in early September and less so with those much older than they are

My son is tiny……he’s an absolute dot compared to the Year 3 children he plays with. I really worry about him as the opposing team always make a bee-line for him as he’s obviously smaller and they push him around a bit and he does get hurt.

That’s the reason why I keep asking if he wants to drop a level (in terms of age banding) so he’s playing with Year 2 children who are of similar size/build to my son, but he keeps saying no.

I find it hard to watch sometimes 😬

@ThesebeautifulthingsthatIvegot I haven’t repeatedly said anything. If you’re not able or don’t want to justify your position that’s fine. While we’re on reading comprehension, I’ve been speaking only in hypotheticals.

I’m still interested though in understanding why my 4yo’s preschool teacher shouldn’t be following her (self-driven) interest in learning by teaching her things she wants to learn, and why you believe this will mean she will be bored and lack intellectual stimulation in school even if she has an excellent teacher. Bright children are very rarely bored, when they have good teachers.

My overarching point is that in my experience it’s been a massively positive thing for my child to be the oldest in the year in every respect, which is relevant for those considering deferring their kids and worrying that there might be disadvantages to that.

Former TA (Upper KS2) here with August born DD1 now in Y12.
When we were applying for school for DD1, there was no flexibility about deferring a year and starting in Reception, it was start at barely 4 in Reception or defer for a year and start in Y1 at barely 5. So no way would we deprive her of a whole year of education and socialising and she started at 4 years and 3 weeks.
The research at the time said that summer borns fare less well all the way to A Level, I can’t remember all the details but on average they scored 0.5% less in their GCSEs for each month after September that they were born. If they had managed to get to university, then they actually scored slightly better. The research wasn’t sure if the strugglers had been weeded out by that point or the summer borns had developed good coping skills…
Looking back over the 7 years I worked as a TA, I would say that the of the 4 brightest boys and girls we had, 1 boy and 1 girl were summer borns and 1 girl and 1 boy were autumn borns. There will always be outliers, that’s why you need to look at proper statistics.
Personally, I think the issue is that children start school far too early in England. They should ALL start later.

My personal opinion would be the best thing to do would be to gradually move the starting age to 4.5, a month at a time.

(My other unworkable ideas would be two entry points a year, but sticking with that with exams available twice etc so everything is six months delayed for the younger half. The other be an assessment at the end of a joint preschool/Recep over who is ready to move onto formal education in Yr1)

Can anyone expand on why summer borns are more likely to be diagnosed with SEN? I am not deferring my child on the basis that they would have to skip reception and start in Y1 but I didn't know about the SEN point. I think it's a fine line, in my child's case I think another whole year at home would be too long, it is a shame they can't start part way through the year like I did.

Because sometimes the symptoms of SEN are very similar to signs of immaturity... or in the case of summer burns, just acting in an age appropriate way. So they are less ready to sit still, or be able to pick up phonics, or struggling with numbers.

Plus, you can ask to start half way through the year, but its not considered beneficial as they lose out on the education that happens in the earlier part of the year.

the trouble is not many children have a development delay formal diagnosis at that age so if it’s based on development delays, how do you decide? do you still just take parents word for it? Which is pretty much what we have now. My child had no development delays and was actually exceeding levels on reading, writing etc but ended up being diagnosed autistic at age 6. His delays were on the practical and social side of things and he immediately struggled when he went into year one. He may have got on better if we’d deferred a year but it wasn’t an option when he started school. Just becuase your children got on ok starting on time doesn’t mean you have to take everyone else’s choices away about what is best for them

Just go with your gut instinct. I didn't defer but I know loads of people who did. Possibly more common in Scotland though.

My daughter is the youngest in her year but it doesn't bother her and I think she would have been fed up with another year in nursery, so it was the right choice for us. I know quite a few people who deferred and say it was definitely the right choice for their child.

The only real issue is if you live in an 11+ area as the child needs to be 10 to sit it

interesting question. I would guess it’s because a lot of the early signs of Sen are just typical young child behaviour but children develop. If you have a summer born Sen child then they will have the double whammy of Sen and being less mature due to age so it’s very much more obvious. With an autumn born child with Sen although they may be less mature/ developed than children their immediate age it would not be as obvious to spot when comparing to a typical child that is 9 to 12 months younger,

a lot of Sen children, non diagnosed autistic especially, get on fine in primary and then things go wrong in secondary when I guess the maturity within a year group levels out more. It would be interesting to see if the late Sen/autism diagnosis were mainly autumn born children where it hadn’t been so obvious when younger

Lots of false information on here and personal experiences not backed up in fact. This is what always happens when this topic is raised. It is extremely straightforward to organise a deferral. Your child will not have to miss reception and start in year one and they will go up to secondary school with their adopted cohort. Join the summer born admissions group on Facebook as lots of good information on there

I agree lots of people love to spread rumours and misinformation about this topic for some reason. I had someone argue with me recently who worked in the DoE that I couldn’t defer my summer born as our local school “doesn’t accept deferrals”.
It’s really weird that people seem to prefer to spread rumour than raise their awareness of the actual policy.

I’ve also found in real life that people with summerborn Dc who didn’t defer are extremely defensive on the subject. I keep quiet about it. My DC would probably have been fine to go a year early but they are thriving with their current cohort. I see no disadvantages to deferral. An extra year to play at home and being a year older when you sit your GCSE’s can only be a positive thing

As another poster said, it’s because they are emotionally and socially immature compared to the children who are older, yet they are expected to show the same behavioural traits and skills that the older children do. When the summer borns are unable to do this because developmentally they aren’t at that stage, their behaviour is questioned as being due to SEN as opposed to simply understanding that they are too young to behave like the others.

For example, me and my friend both had Summer Born children, born within two days of each other, and she sent hers to school just after he turned 4 whilst I deferred mine.

In Year 1 the teacher raised concerns about my friend’s son’s inability to stay focused on the academic learning and getting distracted comapred to his classmates, and by the second half of Year 2 he had been referred for SEN assessment. He’s now in Year 3.

My son is almost identical in behaviour to my friend’s son, they act exactly the same age (because they are) but her son is query SEN whereas mine isn’t. My friend’s son is being compared to the other children in his Year 3 class and his behaviours and academic abilities are deemed to be below the expected levels (for want of a better word), whereas my son is being compared to his Year 2 classmate and he is deemed to be perfectly fine.

I’m definitely not saying it’s that black and white, but it’s just an example of how summer borns can be labelled as being low achievers, or displaying disruptive/problematic behaviour, when actually they’re are fine but they are just being compared to other children who are in some cases much older than them and are more developed in their social and learning skills.

Her son is now being taught one-to-one in some lessons (maths and English) as his inability to focus like his peers has meant he has fallen behind them over the years. On his report he is classed as “achieving below expected standards” even though his reading and maths ability are exactly the same as my deferred son who is classed as ‘achieving at expected standards.”

My friend isn’t pursuing the SEN path for her son as she doesn’t see anything in his behaviour at home that warrants a diagnosis (nor do I and I spend a lot of time with them). She really wishes she’d deferred her son a year as she thinks all of this would have been avoided.

Our summer born grandchild is one of the youngest in his reception class and is excelling in every area. Absolutely loving school and learning.,

Obviously, each child is different but it’s been a wholly positive experience for him.