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16 January 2008 05:00
Children with summer birthdays are at an educational disadvantage and often get lower grades than their peers.
Summer-born children - those with birthdays in June, July and August - are up to a year younger than some of their class colleagues when they start school for the first time in September, aged four.
And, research shows if they’ve not developed the social skills required to settle into the school environment before they start school, they can struggle even more.
However, experts claim starting school a term or more later could help rather than hinder their academic achievement. They argue it can push a child to ‘catch-up’ more quickly with the rest of their year group
Therefore, Schools Secretary Ed Balls wants schools to offer parents more flexibility in the admissions system to allow them to choose which year their child will start school.
Some schools have already adopted a more flexible approach. In the London Borough of Richmond, summer-born children usually start reception class part-time in either the autumn or spring term. And in other schools a parent may defer taking up a place at some schools until the term in which their child turns five.
Do you think you should be able to choose when your child starts school? Leave your comments below
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Summer babies struggle at school
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ggsmummy says
RE: Summer babies struggle at school
I have two summer children (june and july) and im due my third baby in May 2010. My son who was born in july is really struggling at school and i do believe that is because his friends all got an extra year at school. However, my daughter who was born in June is a very bright child and is working above average for her age! I think it depends on the individual child, some children need more help than others. I do feel that children start school too early in england anyway and we should take a leaf out of some european schools whos children dont start until they are 7 and do better than an average 7 year old in england who started school at 5.
25 November 2009 13:44
redstar says
I have 2 summer children and think that its not fear when they start school at 4 and the other children are 5.Yes one year can make lots of difference.So it would be a good idea to let them start a year later.
08 November 2009 21:13
Anonymous says
I think it depends on the child and I think that children should go to school when they are ready rather than having a set time to go. My birthday is the beginning of September and I was the oldest, being a year older than some of the kids at school. Did my age affect me? who knows, but I know that my eldest son was very bright and he was ready to go to school at 4. However my friends little girl definately was not ready at 4. My youngest son was born in May and and if he isn't ready to go to school the September after his 4th birthday then he won't be going. I won't push my child into school if he isn't ready. We seem to have it all wrong in this country, mind you we have a lot of things wrong in this country! Ali x x x x x x
I think it depends on the child and I think that children should go to school when they are ready rather than having a set time to go. My birthday is the beginning of September and I was the oldest, being a year older than some of the kids at school. Did my age affect me? who knows, but I know that my eldest son was very bright and he was ready to go to school at 4. However my friends little girl definately was not ready at 4. My youngest son was born in May and and if he isn't ready to go to school the September after his 4th birthday then he won't be going. I won't push my child into school if he isn't ready. We seem to have it all wrong in this country, mind you we have a lot of things wrong in this country!
Ali x x x x x x
22 August 2009 17:42
cambridgemum says
My birthday is the last day of August (the cut off point for deciding which year group you end up in) and I always loved being the youngest at school and felt really sorry for those that had their birthdays in the autumn term as they left school a year older than I did! I took a gap year to go travelling after college and loved being able to fit right back in at uni wit hthe next year down whilst those with September birthdays didn't end up starting till they were 20. We decided when to start trying to conceive on the basis that we would like to have a summer baby to give them that advantage as well. It certainly never affected me, I was a straight A student throughtout school and graduated from Cambridge with a 1st and four of my friends at Cambridge also had August birthdays. I do agree though that every child is different and a more flexible approach to the starting date for school is an excellent idea as nobody knows a child as well as its own parents but I certainly don't think parents with children born in the summer should suddenly become concerned about it, academic achievement depends on the individual child and the teaching staff involved in their education as they should be tailoring it to their individual abilities anyway and if this new idea detracts from that focus then it will tun out to actually be detrimental. I think tobin (post above) is completely right and as a reception teacher she is definitely the most qualified to talk about it!
23 March 2009 18:59
eibba1988 says
In Scotland our intakes are March birthdays to February birthdays. Thus we can have a 5 1/2 yr old in same class as a 4 1/2 yr old (like me!) In fact, when I was in P1 there was a girl who was 6 before I was 5. It's not a problem to me since my daughter's a November birthday, but I was the youngest in my year at school and I went on to get all my Standard grades at 1's, 5 Highers and do 3 years of a medical degree. It's funnier that my daughter's cousin in Oz won't go to school until he's almost 6 in Feb 2014 and my daughter will go at 4 and 9 months in Aug 2013 since he's 8 months older. Bet that will go down well! His cousin will be younger and further ahead at school! Hee hee!!!
In Scotland our intakes are March birthdays to February birthdays. Thus we can have a 5 1/2 yr old in same class as a 4 1/2 yr old (like me!) In fact, when I was in P1 there was a girl who was 6 before I was 5.
It's not a problem to me since my daughter's a November birthday, but I was the youngest in my year at school and I went on to get all my Standard grades at 1's, 5 Highers and do 3 years of a medical degree.
It's funnier that my daughter's cousin in Oz won't go to school until he's almost 6 in Feb 2014 and my daughter will go at 4 and 9 months in Aug 2013 since he's 8 months older. Bet that will go down well! His cousin will be younger and further ahead at school! Hee hee!!!
14 March 2009 01:44
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