Summerborn reception

[Userflower]

I just wanted to share some good news, my friends child started reception this week (deferred summerborn so is already age 5). There are 7 summerborn children deferred in her class. There are no children born in July or August 2021, as they’ve all deferred to start next year!
Times are changing!!

I doubt that this “huge” child is any taller than if her birthday had been on 1 September. There’s always a big range of heights within a reception class.

In NI the cut off is 30 June/1 July so the July/August borns are the oldest in the class and June borns are youngest, so at least 4 years+2 months before starting school. NI kids do the same GCSEs and A levels as English and Welsh kids (and perform better year on year) and then go to the same universities. I don’t know why the government doesn’t just make this change in E&W as well - no just turned 4yo needs to start school.

And can you not share what you got sent from the FOI?

Or the government findings that you state "ultimately the research shows it’s categorically best to defer all summer borns but I appreciate a lot don’t have the financial means or knowledge on how to do"

https://schoolofeducation.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2023/05/24/should-your-summer-born-child-start-school-later-heres-what-the-research-says/

This link has some hyperlinks to research studies for people but nothing as resounding as what the OP says the government states apparently.

I agree for some summer born children it will be better to defer but for others not. Please don't take local statistics/Facebook group discussions/small number of sample surveys and then state the government state this unless you can also provide this 'categorical research' as actual published confirmed studies.

It's not fair to make parents feel guilty about the decisions they made about their children.

I suspect the reason OP isn't sharing the studies and evidence from the FOI, is because the results aren't as 'mindblowing' as she claims they are. 🙄

Personally if deferring had been an option when my now 18 year old late August born Ds started school, I would have done it. I agree it's child dependent, but he really wasn't ready.

He was still napping in the afternoon, was so tiny we couldn't find school shoes to fit, didn't have the motor skills to excel at any activities provided which knocked his confidence. I remember him telling us he had been given special scissors to use (spring loaded handle) because his hands just weren't big or strong enough to use the normal scissors, he was always one of the weakest at sports.

He has done well, got great A' Levels and has been offered his first choice uni, but we always felt he was playing catch up.

Funnily enough he has decided to defer his uni place for a year!

I do think some children are ready, his elder sister stopped napping at 2 and was always very dexterous, she'd have coped well, but I'm glad people now get the choice.

I’m in Scotland so DC are that bit older for starting but with deferrals I’d say (anecdotally) it’s very school dependent. My school was very keen on deferrals and helpful. Apply for school place plus full time nursery and make your decision later on as dc change quickly and big gap between application and starting. Pretty much everyone who could deferred.

Another school 20 miles or so a way had really few deferrals. My friend was considering it and they were pretty negative about it. Your entitled but it’s not recommended better to be with cohort type attitude.

I think if they released a map of deferrals they wouldn’t be evenly distributed. There’d be clusters in some schools. I did defer my child as I knew they’d of run into the previous years deferrals and would of had kids over a year older than him in the same class. They were all at school nursery together, I wasn’t a bonkers stalker type person!

Hopefully it means the children will all have a smoother start and be more ready for school when the time comes.

@Userflower You keep referring to middle class highly educated families choosing to defer. This demographic are also those more likely to seek out competitive advantage with schooling (use of tutors, extensive extra curriculars, parental support with homework). The “benefits” therefore cannot be 100% attributed to age.

It’s also not all rosy later on down the line. Look at the admissions criteria for grammar schools. In Bucks it is down to the discretion of the school as to whether or not they will accept an out of year group application. They require evidence as to why the deferral was done in the first place. They are very accommodating to those with a medical, learning or social need and where the child was born prematurely. Not so where there’s a May born child deferred “just because”.

Your information regarding sport isn’t entirely true either. Take rugby for example. Special permission has to be granted by the RFU to play down a year. In many age groups they don’t allow children to play up a year. It’s a dangerous sport and one where being older, bigger, stronger and faster could result in serious injury. I know of one boy who was deferred academically as he was born prematurely. He’s now 15, doing exceptionally well at school, but cannot play in his revised school year or club team because he’s 6’3” with a muscle bound solid physique to match. He’s had to refer to his “proper” school year.

I think there are some exceptionally good reasons why children should be deferred, but it should be based on the needs of the child not some smug middle class way of “winning”.

Educated and well off parents can defer because they can afford to.

Parents who are juggling warehouse and call centre jobs can't defer as they have to both keep working to pay their rent.

To add that those June borns in the school you mention are now at an even greater disadvantage. Now instead of having classmates 11-12 months older than them, they are now 13-14 months older. But I guess that doesn’t matter if it doesn’t affect you.

When I was pregnant with my oldest child and friends and colleagues found out that he was a boy due in August I was told by some that he would struggle at school. He passed his first GCSE with a 9 aged 13. Ironically one of his closest friends at primary was a boy born in early September and he did actually struggle in the first few years of school.

My niece is a mid August birthday. She went into her correct year. A few days after her 16th birthday she got nine grade 9s at GCSE (and one grade 8) - for those who don't know the new system, that's like nine A* and one A. My sister is a primary school teacher and did not take the decision to defer.

With regards to sport, my deferred child was given the option of either playing football with the cohort he “should” be in (I.e the year above), or his adopted cohort.

He chose to play with the year above and the difference in his physical stature, core strength and competitive nature are very evident to see. It’s also very obvious during the training sessions that he is a year younger than some of the other boys just by his maturity levels and his inability to sit and listen, and focus in the same way they are.

When he started school in reception, although he was the oldest in class he was still one of the smallest.

He’s in Year 3 now (‘should’ be in year 4) and he’s still one of the smallest in the class.

Although he’s the oldest in the class, there are 6 other children who turn the same age as him within 7 weeks of his birthday.

There is this idea out there that deferred children are so much bigger than the rest of the class, and 14 months older than the rest of the rest of the class, but in reality, they are no different to the September, October and November born children.

My son’s best friend is an early September baby, his friend’s birthday is only 5 days after my my son’s, so I’m not sure my son being the eldest in the class by six days puts him at any huge advantage.

One thing I have noticed though is that my son is in a friendship group of 6 children and coincidentally they are all Sept-Dec birthdays, so I do wonder if naturally children do just veer towards other children that are at the same emotional/maturity stage as each other. Like I said, could just be a complete coincidence though.

Agreed!! It’s not fair

As you have this information already, could you share the paper please? There is no point in me making a FOI request, wasting everyone’s time, if you are already in possession of the information that I’m interested in.

I think the OP has been a bit goady

i am happy to report that my late August born ds, who started school a few days after he turned 4, did well in reception, and then in the rest of school, and will be going to Oxbridge next month.

It actually cost us more when we sent our son to school.

Prior to going to school he had the funded childcare, whereas when he went to school we had to pay for breakfast club and after school club. We were about £400 a month worse off.

My summer born did struggle at school at first. However.... she has dyslexia. She would still have still dyslexia if she was in the year below. It was just more obvious quicker as she was very behind in Reception and Yr1. Being in the year below would have made those years easier academically, but she will have had difficulties eventually.

I think its too early to really work out if its beneficial. Shes in Yr10, so the first year group where it actually became legislated before. No one in her year at her school or that weve met have deferred. They don't really know how it's going to play out for upper Secondary yet. They could have staff younger than pupils theoretically for example.

I think we need to look at the format of early Primary again really. Move Reception year to be a part of preschool not infants like how it was supposed to be. English children have 14 years of school currently plus the part time nursery year. It is a lot. (And a year more than Scotland)

Those of you who deferred, did your child attend pre school the previous year? A friend of mine has deferred until 2026, but it having difficulty getting a pre school place as the pre schools don’t want to take him due to his age.

I would prefer that the education system was adjusted to take account of child development a bit more, and has less high stakes testing. Things like the phonics test correlate more strongly with age than reading. So maybe shift the test by 6 months for everyone.

This is nice for these 7 summer borns, but presumably the May / June babies are now not just 11-12 months younger but 13-14 months younger.

Someone has to be the youngest.

There’s very little difference between the last year of pre school and reception class.
to defer makes very little sense imo.
Fair enough if they were expected to sit at desks all day and do calculus in reception class but they reality is, it’s all just okay based. 4year olds are absolutely emotionally ready for this.

That’s not quite true. You need to get dispensation from the FA and the FA need to justify why its fair for all children, not just yours. The dispensation exists mostly for prematurely born children not merely summer born.

I am university educated, aware of the possibility to defer, don’t find nursery fees unaffordable (because we get free hours and only need to use 3 days, not because we’re rolling in money) and won’t be deferring my late July born. I find it incredibly condescending that you think I couldn’t possibly make a sensible decision for my own child without you being here to educate me on what’s best

A friend was just in hospital having a baby and she said the 31st of August was wild as people were desperate to get them out and save a ton of money.

In Scotland they don't have a reception year though that's done at nursery (Scottish people am I right?!).

I think the same in Nordic countries- they have kids in nursery settings doing play based learning until they start school.
Reception in England is very playbased (or should be) so it's not wildly different. Year One should also have lots of play. I purposefully chose a school like that for my summerborn.

Also lots of kids are taught in mix aged classes anyway which means it matters less.

I mean yes I'm in exactly the same position and I've also taught for 15 years! I expect the teaching staff to meet my child where they are.

That’s your choice and that’s fine but the statistics are what they are, there’s no bias or defensiveness in them