Parents of August born boys...

[Birobiro]

Do you think your son been disadvantaged at secondary school due to having an August birthday? What's it like-has the developmental gap closed by secondary? Is it good to be the youngest in the year, learning from peers and leaving school aged 17?

No
Yes
Depends

He's end of Aug and now year 12

My DD1 is July born. The biggest disadvantage has been that she couldn't start learning to drive until the end of first year at college. So she has only 1 year to learn before, in her case, starting work. Had she been September born she would have had nearly 2 full years.

DS walked @ 8 months old, talked pretty quickly, started his education in a mixed age Reception class (13 children born in July & August) which I think worked very well for DS...he turned out to be a very agile, quick thinker, ambitious and extremely competitive, now a teenager.
The month or year of DS's birth didn't have any negative effect on his overall development. DS doesn't think he will leave education at 17 though, already dreaming of Uni.
My friend's DD Summer born too but total opposite ~our DS.

My summer born nephew had no problem at school. He has just graduated from a RG Uni. Be careful of discussing the issue in front of the child. I've seen a negative impact in a friend's DD who once came out with 'I can't learn as easily as others as I was born in August'. I was .

I have summer born ds. I think it was harder for him at primary, the first year was hellish - he was too young and he wasn't ready to learn and hence got lots of grief from the teachers about his inability to concentrate. But once over the hell of infants he worked hard and every year he has improved and exceeded expectations, he continues to follow this path at Secondary. I have been careful to praise and encourage his effort not his intelligence, so his motivation is high and he is doing pretty well academically. I know a few summer born adults who took a year out after finishing school to gain more maturity before starting Uni. Maybe the battle to succeed academically has strengthened ds but infant school nearly destroyed both of us!

DS is now in yr7 and born 31st Aug (2 weeks early).

The main thing I noticed is that he is so much smaller than most of his peers. He really struggled with tiredness when first starting secondary, but maybe would have still suffered even if he had a September birthday...

Academically he is absolutely fine (top sets etc), socially is equally fine.

DS is 17 not and in Y13. He is August born but it hasn't been an obvious problem but that may be because it is masked by him having ASD and being focused and academic.

One of the positives is though that there can be a bit less pressure at A Level as if he doesn't get the grades he needs he can take another year to retake or do a foundation course and not be much younger than the other first years.

not

My ds also 31 August. I do think he would have a completely different experience of school had he been a few hours younger. He is very mature for his age, and holds his own academically, but I suspect that things would have been so much easier for him if he had a September birthday. My other ds was born in Sept, and they're very different, but I do think being older has been a huge advantage to him.

DS is 31 July. Currently in year 6. Academically he's doing really well. He is very much a 'good boy' and rule follower at the moment, and gets frustrated when his class misbehaves. He worries about crying or showing upset in front of the others too.

It helps that he's fairly tall for his age too. I think in his case the summer birthday hasn't been so noticeable so far (Reception year was very hard work for me tho, as he was just so tired all the time!)

Think I'm most concerned about in move to secondary school is the social side, he is fairly naive in some ways.

Do you have an August-born boy birobiro and which home nation is he educated in?

And what school year at the moment?

thank you everyone so far. I do but he's not at school yet, UK. It's becoming possible to start school a year later, at compulsory school age of five for summerborns.

I'd rather like to send him in his normal year, I think, but don't want to be foolish if it really makes things hard for him. Especially if it's still harder generally at secondary level.

Didn't make any difference until sixth form when they were all driving and going to nightclubs ahead of their younger peers. Fake ID solved most issues.

I'd have waited a year given the chance but that is based on my observations of my dcs...and unfortunately I wasn't given the choice, no one was - unless you dc has extreme needs.

Ds1 18 very end august and last year at school. Have noticed some differences re work.driving.puberty etc and perhaps attitude.as in his best friend is 19 6 days after ds 18 etc. I think he could have done with being a year lower but it has only been noticeable re the above this year and perhaps growth .....he has had a growth spurt in last year.....whereas friends a year or two prior.

My dd is early August. She is in reception and currently working with the yr 2s for reading, grammar, writing and maths. Her birthday hasn't affected her so far, despite being 3 weeks off being a whole yr younger than the oldest in her yr who's birthday is Sept 1st

Schools in Scotland are march to February birthdays for each year so not affected here!