Thursday 15 August 2013

Summer-born children......

Summer-born children are at a serious disadvantage in the majority of England's primary schools, a major study has found.

My youngest Ellie is a summer baby....She was born on the 29th of August....The youngest in her school year....If she was born a couple of days later and she would just of been going into Year 1 in September instead of Year 2! 

When she first started nursery she had only just turned three....There were children who were already four in the same year group as her and were a lot more advanced then Ellie...We thought we would have problems (she did at first) but as her schooling has gone on she has slowly caught up with the others in her year....Now there is no difference.... I'm not just saying this but she is brighter then some of the children who are nearly a year older then her...

My eldest Becky is the oldest in her year.....She was born on the 10th of September......She is nearly a year older then some of the children in her class but this does not mean she's the cleverest....She is clever but there are kids who ae better at certain subjects....

I think it is the child not the birthday that makes the difference. It depends on things like the child's personality and upbringing....It may make a difference in the early years but soon levels out when children get older....

12 comments :

  1. Well you can only blame yourself for having nooky at at the wrong time, few less drinks over the new year would have done it ;))

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    1. Not really!....My youngest wasn't due until the 14th of September!!! She was born early!! My planning was fine she would of been one of the oldest in her year if she was born around her due date!! You shouldn't really assume things!!

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  2. I'm a summer baby and it never held me back lol ;) I've heard this theory before about kids in the ice hockey leagues in the US - think I read it in Freakonomics - about how the more physically developed kids are the eldest in the class, and they are therefore more likely to be picked for additional coaching in the earlier years, then they have advantage when it comes to being selected for the better teams, and then they are the ones who go on to get scholarships and be professionals etc etc, and the long and the short of it is that the majority of the professional players all have birthdays within the same couple of months of the year! Makes for interesting reading ;) xx

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  3. Both my girls are summer babies Sophie is the youngest in her class and she got some of the highest marks in her end of school report so i agree with you its about the childs willingness and what exposure they have had

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  4. I can totally understand (I'm lucky I have winter boys) but my nephews birthday is in the summer and he is a year ahead...and I can recall my sister telling me how much pressure he was under at school trying to keep up x she had to have a word with the teachers about it as he was stressed out...so unfair.

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    1. Hope the teachers did something to make him less stressed....School is stressful enough sometimes without the added pressure x

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  5. Do you know this whole summer child thing seems to be a modern idea. My brother is an August child, I'm an April child. I can honestly say that going to school and being one of the very youngest in his class had zero effect on him, other than all his friends were always on holiday when it was his birthday, and I lways moaned that it was always sunny for his birthday. He's now 43, and has suffered no ill effects to being an August child at school at all.

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    1. You're right...It does seem to be a modern idea...

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  6. Happy birthday to your daughter for Thursday. I think it depends on how they are treated too. My 10 year old is a summer baby and my 5 year old autumn. They are both really bright and the 10 yr old moved up in year 1 to the next class, but the other summer borns stayed down. When the year group was mixed back together he was then grouped with the summer borns who he hadn't been with for a year so ended up in not really forming friendships with anyone. I can see how much more ready for school my Autumn baby was too. But it all pans out in the end anyway.

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