Hi everyone

Just wanted some opinions off you all really - my friend today told me that she was expecting in july but is worried because her child will therefore be one of the youngest in their class and she is worried they would struggle at school because there will be children in their class nearly a year older than her child. This has got me thinking now as I am going to be TTC soon and if I get caught straight away I might have an august baby which would be very young in their class - do you think there is a disadvantage for any child born in august - have any of you got august children or are any of you a teacher???

Thank you xx

I am an august baby and my daughter is july.
I never had any problems at school,was always in top half of the class.
My dd id also very very bright-its crap that the older ones are clever-sorry but it is.
One of my best friends is a primary school teacher and says age is nothing to do with it-its all how the child is bought up,if you interact and teach little one from a young age then they do well if you dont bother they dont.
My sister is a november baby and didnt do anywhere near as well as i did at school-she isnt stupid but i just did really well.xxx

Hi! My brother was born in Aug so was the youngest and he did better then most people in his classes! It didnt hinder him at all. In fact i think it helped because he was learning earlier it gave him an extra year to make mistakes and drop out of 6th form when he picked the wrong options so he was never behind! I honestly dont think being the youngest is a bad thing. I was the eldest and always struggled! Xx

And how could you have an aug baby if you get caught straight away when we are in nov? Yours would be one of the eldest now. X

Hi chick - one of my best friends has Aug 25th birthday - she was 10 when we started middle school (think we started a couple of weeks earlier back then) - she's really bright and never struggled because of her age. She's the baby of our group of friends (I am 9 months older than her) but she likes it that way.

I imagine her Mum may have worried her starting primary school aged 4 and moving up aged 10 but she really was fine xxx

The cut off date for school is august 31st so if I get pregnant in November they would be due beginning of august.

Thanks for all your responses guys, I guess it is true, if you do things with your child they will always learn won't they?! x

Yeah thats what I was thinking, some children may start school just turning five when my child may have just turned four - a whole year difference! And i think that can be a lot at their age.

But then again, I guess the oldest child in the class would have a lot more expectations put on them because they are the oldest child which may be beyond what they can do!

Oh sorry i was having a blonde moment! Cant believe we will have some due in aug mummies soon! X

Hi there. My birthday is August 30th so I had just turned 3 when I started nursery and 4 when I started proper infant school. Throughout my whole school career I was either 1st or 2nd in my class so I'm not sure there's a huge amount in this. Just my personal opinion though! xx

Hi dont worry chick.

my dd was 5 on 23rd august and is the youngest in her class . I dont normally tell anyone this because I feel like its bragging But she is top of her class and has a reading age of an 11 yo ! she is also one of the top for maths and science

Wow she's a really clever little girl SIL, you must be so proud of her.

This thread is so interesting! My hubby has some random fear of having an August baby cos he thinks being so much younger would be a disadvantage at school, whereas I think that is all complete hog wash and it depends mainly on how much time parents invest in their kiddies.

I'm a teacher and taught in Reception last year, and I had one girl who turned 4 during the holidays and a boy who turned 5 on 1st Sept. The lad who turned 5 on 1st September struggled to settle into the school routine, his physical development wasn't as good as some of the summer born children and although he was a bright boy he found phonics (learning how to read and write) quite a struggle. The girl started school in the summer term, settled really quickly, was very confident at PE and picked up phonics really quickly. I have to say that the way they adapted to school was mainly down to how their parents approached the whole thing.

Thing is, for every August born child you find who seems to confirm the theory, you can find another who seems to disprove it - as far as I am concerned its all about a combination of nature and nurture.

I feel sorry for the kiddies born in the spring - if they turn out to be a bit dim they don't have the convenient excuse of being a whole year behind everyone else!!

I was born 24th august but in scotland, the cut off is different with the youngest in the class being born in Feb??? So I was just in the middle, I was 4 when I went to school but 5 the week later. The only thing that bothered me was that I always had to go back to school the week of my birthday haha.

My SIL's birthday is 28th Feb and she is by far the youngest in her class. Shes at uni now and has got straight As for everything (shes a very very very bright young lady) and the only thing she hated about the age gap was that when all her friends turned 18, she couldnt go out with them and freshers week at uni she couldnt drink either.

What im getting at I suppose is that it doesnt really matter at all seeing as if you cross the border their cut off points are completley different

HTH xx

I had all this when i had my ds, i was due on the 8th September and my mum went on and on about how i needed to have him in the September or he'd be the youngest and would be a whole year younger than the rest and really struggle ect well low and behold i had him on the 31st August so he is the youngest in his year. He started pre school this time 12 days after turning 3 and his best friend in the same class turned 4 the week after.
Although he is alot smaller than some of the children, his teacher is very happy with his progress and says in a lot of ways he is furthur than the other children. I never had any worries about my son being the youngest, a child will learn what ever you teach them, i spend alot of time learning my son how to count, read ect and he is very clever. My dd is also a July baby and is advanced for her age x

I've often thought about this. The only time I noticed 'younger' friends in the school year was when we were turning 18. Definite disadvantage then - they had to worry for a lot longer about getting ID'd! lol

I have a Sept and June and was a little worried that the June baby would be too young but she's fine. I work with children and sometimes the younger ones (especially but not exclusively) find it really tiring to begin with.
If you think about it, there has to be a cut off somewhere doesn't there? In a class of kids there has to be a year between the eldest and youngest!
They used to take them in 3 sections so all the children who were 5 that term started. I don't know why they phased that out but someone must have decided it didn't make any difference.

HI

My son was due in Sept 93 but came in August instead. He was born on the 26th.

I have always nurtured them and read them stories from a very early age. I am not a teacher but I am a good mother! I think to tar all parents of a late developing Aug baby with the same 'bad parent' brush is a little harsh.

My son is slightly different in that he was so ill with asthma that he missed a lot of nursery and most of reception. He only got a nursery place in the January so even if he had been well he would have only attended for 2 terms rather than 3. When he moved into reception the gap between him and the autumn babies was amazing. He was the exception as he was tiny and skinny. He could not keep up with the levels of concentration required and also missed a large segment of reception due to illness. He went into Yr 1 very ill equipped to cope. It was at this point that his dyslexia became obvious.

At 6 we sent him for an entrance test for a private grammar school. He passed this with flying colours even though he could barely write his own name. His IQ at almost 7 was 128. This was apparantly very high!! He is now 16 and doing really well. He is sitting 11 GCSE's this summer and I am immensly proud of him. We did insist on him staying back a year when he was in yr4. This was the best thing we could have done for him as he is now one the eldest in his year.

Its interesting as my 3rd born was born on the 24th April 2004. I was contacted and asked if he could be recorded throughout his school life to see if summer boys achieve less than summer girls and kids born through the rest of the year. He is really a spring baby but on the cusp of summer. I have agreed to this as I think steps do need to be taken to somehow ensure everyone regardless of when they were born, gets the same opportunities.

d xx

my junior school used to use Dec/Jan as the cut-off date for class years - but for some strange reason i was put in the year above (despite being born 29th jan) so i was always the youngest in my class - in some cases by more than a year

personally i always found it to be an advantage because i was doing things a year earlier than most people without anyone saying i was too young to do it

moved to a state senior school at 12 and actually found it strange to be with people the same age as i was a school year ahead and essentially had to repeat yr 8

but i really dont think it's an issue having an august baby

Hi ladies, I don't really have my own opinion of this as I don't have any summer babies myself (even though I would have loved one with a summer birthday).

However, I'm sorry to say that I have read many reports that it can be a disadvantage:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/oct/25/schools.education

The positive storiesthat are posted on here have shown that it absolutely does not have to be bad news, and Mrs Raf raises a really good point that it could actually be a good thing for some! Just thought you should see what the studies say though....

Nice to see the gov say they are taking the issue seriously though.

One of my sons is a September birthday and had he been born only 2wks earlier would have started school a whole year earlier than he did. Personally, I feel he was at an advantage having that bit longer at nursery, but not all children are the same!

Mx

ps. I agree with Deedee, I don't think it is down to parenting - I know from my own experience that there is a massive difference between a child just turned 4 and a child just turned 5, yet potentially they are could be in the same class in our school system.

Sorry, I'm gatecrashing, but as mum of a August baby (27th) and a July baby (1st) this is very interesting to me.
My eldest started nursery last month and is flying, I was concerned about her being one of the youngest, but now I have seen her alongside her peers I have absolutely no worries about her starting school at 4.

My mum taught reception and Yr1 for years, and she has told be that the main problem with summer babies is normally not accademic, but more an issue of them getting tired and struggling to manage a full day. She says that most reception teachers are well aware of this, and will normally have a corner of the classroom where they can fall asleep if necessery!!
The article that Mims posted makes interesting reading but the research quoted does assume that children start school at different points throughout the year but that doesn't happen in all areas. Millie started nursery at 3, and will go full time next year when she is only just 4, so she will get the same number of terms as the rest of the class. I think a lot of local authoritites do it like that now.
I think parenting plays a part, obviously the more time you spend interacting with a child the more they will learn, but children are all different and some do develop slower than others. I have my fingers crossed that my two will be ok!
xx

Research conducted by educationalists seems to suggest that month of birth does play a part. The theory is that a child born in september would have an extra year at home... would be a little more mature, and ready to learn etc. They will have had more time to read with mum, write their name etc etc.

In some places in the UK they have 2 intakes to foundation stage, 1 in september and 1 in january. This means that younger children have a term less before they move from Foundation Stage to year 1 in september.

This does not always mean your child will be disadvantaged, obviously there are cases where this is not true as have been given here, but certainly in my experience - (teaching in year 1 at different schools in the south east and midlands) the younger children CAN find things, reading and writing particularly, more difficult as they have had less time and experiences to get to grips with them.