Summer birthdays - dropping down a year...
Q. We have a 7 year old daughter whose birthday is 31st August and while she tries really hard at everything she is asked to do it is obvious to us as parents that she would benefit from dropping down a year. Her current prep school say they can bring her along but I feel that she will find it harder as she gets older and possibly not pass the entrance exams for senior school.
I just wanted to get your opinions on children dropping down a year, can they stay in that year for the duration of their education or would she have to rejoin her year group for senior school ? We have asked a local state school if they would allow her to join the year below but they refused. But another prep school said yes she could with them.
I am going round in circles with it and just want to find somewhere where she is happy and working at a pace she can keep up with.
A. ‘You are special’, I told an August birthday girl last week. Certainly, no summer or September birthday child in England or Wales can ever be ‘average’ on the age criterion in her year group.
I would be very much in favour of you doing what seems right for your daughter. If she seems ‘young’ or lacks confidence, send her to the school which will let her be in the year group where she will have all the advantages of being the oldest instead of the youngest. Indeed, were she in Northern Ireland or Scotland, she would be in that year group anyway, as their cut-off dates are earlier. There is no God-given date and each child should be considered as an individual. In the independent sector and some maintained schools there can be the necessary choice.
Old for the year…
Take the long view. Parents of bright September birthday children rightly see that they are ready for school before their younger cohort peers and often push for acceleration into the year group where, ironically, the parents of the marginally older summer birthday children feel their daughters should be allowed NOT to be in! For both, I would strongly advocate giving your child an advantage for her whole academic career by being the oldest and most mature, rather than the very youngest.
Check that the school can provide sufficient breadth, depth and challenge for the older child and, as long as they can, go for it. I went through my school career as the youngest. Even though in my case academically I was fine, I was socially less mature, watched the others doing sports activities I was only physically able to do the following year – and, later, hated not being able to drive or go to the pub when the others could! My parents worried that I would grow up too quickly; I worried that I wasn’t doing so. I can’t quote the source but heard recently of research which has shown that statistically more high achieving sportsmen and women are born in the first half of their school year.
This is a move which, once made, is hard to reverse so starting correctly or seizing the opportunity of a change of school is important. A child over about 6 usually finds it psychologically difficult to repeat a year in her own school. Once settled in the younger class, it is usually too difficult to make up the work missed if one skips a class.
Young for the year…
For the very young child, consider keeping her in a good nursery for an extra year – and find a school which will support you in having done this. After all, the August birthday girl is almost a quarter of a lifetime younger than the oldest in the Reception class.
Once in a year group, all independent and most maintained schools (especially given the current emphasis on personalised learning) will allow a child to stay where she is and progress through from junior to senior school with her current cohort. However, it would be wise to check the local situation. If local education authority rules prevent such progression, it is exactly the sort of case an independent school may be able to help with bursary assistance.
Other parents may now be worried. ‘Is my daughter in the wrong place?’ If, as the majority do, she remains in the ‘right’ school cohort, don’t worry. If well supported at home and in school, there can be advantages in being young for the year – but I think only as long as the child is ranked in the top half of the year academically. The age and maturity disadvantage lessens as the years pass and ability and motivation, not age, usually end up as the main academic success factors. Girls mature sooner than boys, so the young girl may be as ready to cope as boys of average age. Above all, I enjoyed the academic challenge I didn’t find when everyone else was younger. I had security – it reduces pressure when you know you have time to repeat exams if necessary. Nowadays I would have been an ideal candidate for a Gap Year (which I would advise as the barely 18 year old may not be mature enough to make the most of university)
So my message is that, despite what the DCSF may try to say, you have choice. Take it. Though the very bright girl may cope well with – or even need – the academic challenge of being the youngest, a good school should be able to provide this for its oldest as well, while you can give your daughter all the advantages which come with being developmentally mature in her year group.
Your comments
As someone born in France and who attended French school until I was 11, I cannot understand why the UK sticks so rigidly to the age system. Children grow up both physically and mentally at different rates with leaps of growth at different times. So a child who starts out in front, can, 3 years later, have been ‘caught up’ and ‘overtaken’ by others who have taken a sudden leap. Then later again, that child can leap forward again etc… All sorts of things affect this besides just intelligence: social group, what position they have in the family (oldest, youngest), what is going on at home, illness, special needs, physical development etc…
In France and many other countries of Europe, it is commonly possible to be one or two years behind or ahead of your year group depending on your need. These years can equally be caught up or dropped. The situation is ‘normal’ and managed. In French school, despite being a June birthday, I was a year ahead. I was immature socially but when dropped back to my own age group in an English school at 11 was bored, underchallenged and soon became lazy and unmotivated and was underachieving academically. I caught up much later by doing an extra year at a local college. My older brother was 2 years ahead but a september birthday. He remained in French school, finished his studies with high grades but was undoubtedly young for his classmates and finished school at 16, certainly NOT ready for university. This was no big problem, he got the amazing opportunity to attend the mixed 6th Form only Atlantic College where he additionally did the IB at the same time as maturing and benefitting from the amazing opportunities offered by that school such as being an official sea rescuer. In the end, we both went to university, got good jobs and did well.
If this country was less obsessed with exact age and status and focussed more on the individual child’s needs, it would be so much healthier for the child. It doesnt always follow in Europe that those a year or two behind ended up doing less well overall (or those ahead better) They just weren’t working with their peers for all kinds of possible reasons at that young age (though obviously some were academically challenged but that’s the same everywhere). Date cut-offs are put there for administrative reasons but are arbitrary. As the original answer says above, in Scotland all would have been different.
It all comes out in the wash. Obsessing about it just adds pressure to the child (and the family).Put the child where she belongs academically and socially, a year here and there is irrelevant. You are her parent, your instincts are right.
Unless she is obviously unhappy, I would suggest you leave your daughter in her official year-group. She will learn different skills from being not-top-of-the-class. Most particularly, she is more likely to learn how to approach studying something that she finds difficult.
Imagine how she will feel when her official year-group goes off to university or starts earning money, and she is condemned to another year of school, unnecessarily, and through your fault. She might be quite cross. On the other hand, if she does need an extra year to retake A-levels, that is a choice she will be able to make for herself if she sticks with her official year group for now.
Unless your daughter is unable to cope socially (because she is too immature to make friends with older children), then she should be fine in her own year. Just check that you like her class teacher.
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We have recently made the decision to keep our daughter in Year 1 rather than moving on to Year 2. Her birthday is in mid-August and so she has just turned 6. It is an issue we have considered over the last couple of years and I really felt this was our last opportunity to make the change without moving schools.
We made this decision for many of the reasons stated. She seems young for her age although emotionally robust, resourceful and with a great sense of humour. She simply prefers to play with younger children. She is in an independent school with small classes and was receiving booster maths sessions in class. She applied herself well to these and to improving her reading to within the average range for her school year. Her recent school report was peppered with statements such as ‘with support…..’ She is physically slower and less dexterous than most of her former classmates but on a par with her new classmates. She had begun to make statements about herself which showed her growing awareness of these differences.
I have sought advice from her teachers and from parents of Summer children who have and have not made the desicision to keep their children ‘down’ a year. All have supported the decision my husband and I have made for our daughter.
My present concerns are for:
1. The emotional transition she will need to make in moving from one class to another, whilst seeing her former classmates ‘move on’ a year.
2. Protecting the determination she has shown in attempting to’keep up’ with her former classmates.
I would really appreciate any advice you are able to offer, particularly on these latter 2 points!
Our daughter was predictably upset when I told her of our decision. She was able to articulate her thoughts and emotions and also laugh about it (thank goodness!). I am reassured bu our daughter’s resourcefulness, knowing that she has a great teacher and teaching assistant in her next class and by the relationships she began to build last year in the playground with her new classmates.