Summer Babies - starting school

[MathsMadMummy]

Hello Mumsnet, this is my first post!

I have a 2yo DD, and I've only recently discovered that in my town - unlike the rest of our region - all children start reception in September. She was born in late June, so I'd assumed she'd start in January.

I've been told I could keep her out of school until the term after her 5th birthday - so a whole year later - but she would lose her funding for nursery. She's got friends who turned 3 in autumn, and although my DD can certainly give them a run for their money, I sometimes can't believe they'll be in the same class and expected to do the same things in a couple of years. How is she supposed to catch up with them, when they've had 2 more terms at nursery than her?

Two of my friends are homeschooling for the same reason (although one tried normal school for half a year first, her DS didn't cope). I'm considering it for a year or two but I don't know if it'd do more harm than good!

Anyway it probably seems a bit early to worry, and I know birthdays aren't everything (at my grammar school there were plenty of summer babies) but it's been playing on my mind lately. There's been so much press about summer babies being disadvantaged. My DH reckons the sooner they start school the better but I'm getting a bit worried that it'll be too early for her. I reckon she's pretty clever, but as she's my PFB I don't have any frame of reference! Her language is advanced (IMHO) but her speech - i.e. clarity - is quite poor so I also worry about that affecting her fitting in.

Any advice or experience would be much welcomed!

Thanks
Maths Mad Mummy

my dd is starting school in sept, her birthday is 1st april.

as far as i'm aware for the first two terms she will only be going in for 1/2days.
not sure if this is any help to you

good luck in desciding what to do
x

Think you are worrying way too far ahead tbh you've got at least 18 months for her to develop. dd is youngest, born end of August, went ft at just 4 and is a high achiever even in comparison to those born the previous September. Don't right your dd off before she has a chance. There are lots of other threads with anecdotes to argue the case either way.

I don't know why you may lose funding for preschool/nursery as technically she is eligible until the term after she would be 5 but having a school place, even part time, may mean they get first call on that. If you don't take up a place during her Reception year she'd start Year 1 the following September, possibly not at a school of your preference. Socially she could face 2-3 terms of nursery with children much younger and she might find it harder to fit in to an established group of her peers if she joins later on.

Thanks
So do you think all these news stories about summer babies are just scaremongering? Wouldn't be surprised
3M

Hia Mathsmadmummy

My DD was born end of June 2007 and she will be starting school in September 2011. I am happy for her to do so.

I started her at nursery 2 days a week this January just gone and she loves it there.

In my sons Y1 class, it is not easy to spot the summer children. Better for them to all start together than for you to home school for a year and them join the class in Y1 imo.

Reception is mainly about settling in and learning through play.

TP

Yes there's a definite but small disadvantage on average for the youngest 25% of children in each year group, every study bears that out, no matter how much preschool they have or if home-ed, etc. Because they will be stuck in with their peer group, it's not like you can truly adjust their entry date -- unlike for instance in the USA, where it's possible to delay school entry to Kindergarten (like Reception) a whole year, and parents do that reasonably often with boys especially, who have birthdays near the cut-off dates.

You can tilt the odds by providing a supportive home environment, that is much more important than birthdate.

This has been discussed on MN heaps before and there usually pops up somebody saying they have a child born on 31st August who is very top of the class, or they have a 31st August birthday and went on to get a 1st at OxBridge, etc. So plenty of children defy the statistics.

Your worries are normal, though, my DC3 has a summer birthday and I couldn't conceive that he'd be ready in time -- esp. not compared to my oldest 2 DC with autumn birthdays.

DC3 is doing well academically but is emotionally immature, I think that'd be the case even if he had an autumn birthday! However all my expectations are adjusted: I always compare DC3's academic progress by actual age (not year group) relative to his siblings. And on that basis he's doing fantastically well!

This has been discussed on MN heaps before and there usually pops up somebody saying they have a child born on 31st August who is very top of the class, or they have a 31st August birthday and went on to get a 1st at OxBridge, etc. So plenty of children defy the statistics.

lol my DS was born August 30th

3M

Absolutely agree with lljkk. It is of course a worry - DD was born 30th Aug (so snap with your DS 3M!). It is not just about a child's physical and mental development; it is also how well equipped they are emotionally.

We're in the lucky position where DD will start at the nursery in the prep school she will be attending in Septemeber, when she's just turned 3. Class sizes there are tiny and she will get lots of 1:1 care. We can then work with the school (rather than against the LEA) to make sure whatever we do what is right for her individual needs. I am sure she will be fine - she's a bright, confident child. But she will also have all the support in the world from us.

My pfb is a late August baby and has always been the youngest in her class. She started reception a few days after her 4th birthday and she coped just as well as the other children in her class. She has had the odd periods of struggling a little with the work (around year 3/4). Now she's doing very well and has passed the entrance exam for a very selective grammar school when she was just a week or two past her 10th birthday. The all even out in the end and actually I think it's been great for DD.

Ds is end June. The only thing I can say I noticed between him and the older ones in the year is the level of emotional maturity. No issues re ability to do the work. I think 2 yrs old is a bit early to be worried about what they will be like in reception.

Where we live ds would have missed out on reception altogether if we had stayed in the state system (dcs born after 1st May start in year 1 rather than having a term or two in reception first).

I was concerned about this because my two are summer born. However, the oldest (who is at at school) has thrived and been very happy.

Reception teachers are very considerate and there is a lot of play in reception.

So, don't worry too much at this stage, and you can always see how things go when your dd starts at school. There is usually flexibility about continuing in a part time way.

(I'm summer born and never had any problems!)

Don't worry about this yet, she's still little. My DS will be 4 in May and will be starting reception in September.

There will be other summer born kids in your DDs class also starting then and IMO girls do better being summer born than boys anyway.

DD in Y1 and October born and TBH we have had the opposite problem. Hardly any autumn born children in the class, lots of spring and summer born kids. So she was a bit bored though reception as they were busy catering for all the summer born kids!

Been there, done that - I have a 31st August DD who started school full time two weeks after her 4th birthday. She is now in Year 8, has sailed through school academically and it seems that her emotional difficulties (not facing up to problems mostly) are part of her personality rather than her age.

At 2, I couldn't tell how she would cope at school. Don't start worrying yet!

DS1 is a July birthday and started reception this year. He is academically well ahead of his class mates but has struggled with some things. Socially he was quite immature - crying when he didn't get his own way or didn't win a game. This has really improved this term.

Also he is a lot less independent in terms of dressing himself and using a knife and fork (as opposed to spoon and fork) than his older class mates. I think I could have done a lot to help him with this at home, and will with DS2

I also considered homeschooling, mainly because DS1 is way ahead academically but socially and emotionally typical for his age or immature. I wondered if I would find a school that could accommodate him. I decided against it because I think poor DS would have become my educational project (I have that type of mentality I'm afraid). As it happens, DS's teacher has been fantastic and he has settled brilliantly.

I wouldn't worry too much yet, but if you want to do anything, start encouraging your DD to develop some independence and get her registered for a really good pre-school/nursery class.

DS was born end of May. He entered reception in September. The whole class went mornings until Jan when they all went full time -- regrdless of their birthdays. This has been fine. To be honest, they could have had him full time in September if they had wanted. I'm not so worried about the length of the day because he spends a fair amount of it outside playing with the dinosaurs. (he is obsessed with dinosaurs)

I think your DD will probably be fine. No sense in worrying about a problem that probably won't exist.

DS also has two good friends who are twin boys and born at the end of August (I expect they were probably due in September). They also are fine as far as I know.

I also find that the teachers take birthdays into account. So, they don't expect summer born reception kids to be as advanced as the autumn born.

In our school, there isn't really a drive to perform (spelling tests, math tests, streaming, etc.) until year two when the differences are much less noticable.

My DD is a summer baby and I would say wait - she'll may well be the youngest in the class, and socially this will not be to her advantage.

We pulled our very bright girl out and put her back in again a year later. Accademically she was well up for reception, but socially she found it too sophisticated in the yard.

Now I'm much happier that DD will be one of the more sensible (I hope) girls later on and not so much susceptible to peer pressure at a later age.

We kept her interested in things by doing a lot of accademic work at home, but socially she's in a much better place this year as she's one of the older ones. School is NOT all about the accademical side of things you know!

Zazen - were you allowed to do this? Did your DD start in reception? My understanding was that they would have to start in year 1, unless you had a really exceptional case for keeping them back a year (eg twins born either side of midnight 31st August and 1st September)

3m - have you two summer born children? got confused! sorry

my pfb ds1 is august born and has done fab. Academically and maturity was behind but is now excelling

Please realise that if you delay your school year your child wont go into reception at all and will go straight to y1 which could be quite hard in terms of friendships and not having the reception year to settle in to school life. Y1 is much more academic and stricter in terms of school rules. She may struggle with that.

I also didn't consider home schooling as i felt the social side was so important and i wouldn't know how to teach or if i was doing it effectivly

In my DD's class, there are a set of twins who were born 29th August. Even now in Y7, you can tell how much younger they are than the rest of their year group emotionally, They are in the (very) small group that hangs around with my SN DD, and they are halfway through Y7, and are still into Hannah Montana and skipping rather than make-up and boys like the rest of the Y7's not that I think that's a bad thing, DD is the same due to her SN). But it is noticeable.

And they are both in the lower sets for everything. TBH the lower sets are mostly made up of the summer born children, and the SN children. Even an April born DC will often be noticeably behind socially/emotionally when compared to an Autumn born dc (my DS1 is on the G&T register yet is still not 'with it' with the playground politics, most of his Y3 class are Autumn born, there's only 7 children younger than him, 5 of which are girls, only 2 boys younger than him.

And even though my 6yo Y1 DS2 has asd and sn, TBH in some ways he is more 'grown up' than some of the younger children in his class. With things like lining up and taking turns. He is November born.

I have a July born DD and she is doing really well - I had worried about her being young and that she seemed to lack a decent concentration span, but at parents' evening last week, the teacher said that she frequently forgets that she is a summer baby because she's confident, outgoing and has and excellent vocabulary. I did worry about her being a summer baby before she started because there is so much negativity about it, but we didnt' seriously consider keeping her back a year as all of her nursery friends were going on to school and I didn't think it would have been 'fair' to keep her down. (I was a late summer baby but was at the top of my class, so don't feel that it hindered me at all.)

A friend of mine's daughter who is a 1st September baby found it REALLY hard being in nursery an extra year - all of her friends went to school the year before her and as she's very bright, she's been playing up in Reception because she says it's ''boring'' and she's done it all already - so it can work both ways.

Your DD is only 2 - there's quite a lot of time yet before she starts - they change so rapidly at this age too, so who knows what she'll be like a bit further down the line.

acebaby - we moved school with our DD - she did reception for a year in a montessori prep and then did it again in another, comparatively much larger, mainstream junior school.

When she did her first year of reception she came with all her friends who had been with her in the montessori nursery, and when she 'repeated' reception, she was the only one from the prep school to get a place in the bigger school - the others are on wait lists to get in. We were advised by the prep school to put DD up into the reception class with her nursery friends, and we were advised by the junior school to start her off in her new school in reception as well.

Emotionally she's doing much better in the reception class being one of the oldest. Neither school is state, and we're not in the UK but hth anyway.

I understand your worries as I have an august born DS1 who is due to start in reception in september and cannot even put his shoes on by himself!!!!!

It's amazing how much they grow though and it sounds like she is doing very well. My DS has very recently started showing a real interest in letter sounds and phonics (thanks to his sister lol) and has learnt a lot of phonics and CVC words. His nursery teacher says she was surprised at how advanced he is for a summer born baby. So still lots of time there and i am sure she'll be fine )))))

Jim Rose talked about this on his webchat last month,here

I think from what I was following, from September Summer Born babies will have the choice of a full-time funded pre-school place or starting in a reception class from The September after they turn four.

However, if you start them at school later, they will still start in the Year of their Chronolical age - so basically skip Reception & start in Yr1.

DS was born on Sept 1st & I wish I had some flexabilty with when he can start school too. He started pre-school in September at 2yrs and may be fed up of it in another 3 years and more than ready to start school! All his friends from my antenatal group are starting nursery in September - he has to wait another year!

I too wish we had a more flexable system!

I should add DS2 is June born and although 21 months between them they will only be a school year apart! Scary!