Hi there
I was just wondering if there is anyone else on here with an August born child who had a border line score in the 2018 exams? Really looking for someone to share my frustration with that age standardisation has come so late to the CSSE test. Having a Summer child myself, I have always been aware of the disadvantage they are at, and I have raised this directly but informally with the schools on previous occasions

I think it's so sad that now that there has been a formal acknowledgement of the prejudicial nature of the admissions process, summer children who are on 2018 waiting lists, will not have their position reviewed. It's like writing the summer-borns in this year's cohort off - they are not entitled to the allowances made for next year's entrants.

It's such an emotional issue for me, as you can probably tell. What do you guys think? I'm looking for some voices of reason (and also a bit of shared experience, hopefully)

Thanks in advance

Even with age standardisation there's no guarantee she would have qualified. Students are compared to others born in the same month so she might not have got through anyway.

There is far more injustice for premature babies whose score take no account of the fact they were born maybe three months early.

When you say borderline, do you mean your child got a 303 or above? Or are you out of catchment?

In the last couple of years it has gone through my mind about the possible disadvantage to the summer born children in these exams. I think the numbers passing, born in the summer months, may be lower than those who were born in the winter months. My DD is one of these. Birthday at the end of July and allocated a place, on allocations day, at ColCHSG.

SD

I have a child born right at the end of August and to be honest I have never seen the supposed disadvantage. Having a bright child that started school at 4 and a couple of days there has been times when being held back by peers was more the concern. Really a bright child will shine whatever.

This is the same for us. My DD is end of July and attends Westcliff. I had enquired as to why they didn’t do age standardisation. CSSE said they didn’t have evidence that summer born were disadvantaged.

Our son is September born and the difference was huge between confidence, maturity and score!

I think it makes a massive difference and am glad they are now taking age into consideration.

I wonder about birth order. I feel a second child who is close in age is advantaged by learning from the older one. That is certainly the case in our family.

It will be interesting to see if the summer born intake increases when they start using the standardisation.

If someone has the intake by birth month for CCHS since they started the CEM which is standardised it would be interesting to see.

I have to say I disagree, because I think by that point children are at the same mental level regardless of the month they were born. It can make a difference when they first start school, as they may not be as developed then, but for the 11+, they are all going to start their preparation at the same time and be exposed to the same learning opportunities in school. Throughout high school, especially in a grammar, they will be in intense competition with everyone in their year and birth date will have no influence then or for GCSEs etc.
It really just depends on the individual child, I have 3 summer borns who were all way more ready for school than my December born, and all got into grammar schools, whereas the winter born didn’t.

You are all obviously entitled to your opinion, which might be based on personal experience, reading and research or just your "gut feel". However, if you look at data,facts and the available analysis in connection with this topic, it is clearly evidenced that the birthday of your child in connection to its start of the school year is significantly impacting on your child's progress at school and its chances to pass exams like the 11+.

Here is one of many articles dealing with this topic:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21579484

The impact is evidenced on 18/19 year olds (216-228 months old), where a 1 year difference is about 5.5%.

This difference is growing the younger the age group is: at the time of the 11+ exam (in September), a September born is roughly 132 months old, while the youngest children for the same year are 120/121 month old, which results in a 10% difference.This is significant, especially when you take into consideration that in a year a child in this age bracket (8-12 year olds) adds between 2500 and 4000 words to his/hers vocabulary -to look at this part of learning only.

Take the theoretical example of identical twins born 10 minutes apart: the older twin born on 31st August at 23:55, the younger twin on September 1st at 00:05.
The older goes to school a year earlier than his sibling and is the youngest in his class, is per average less developed physically- and mentally younger than his class mates. He has a much shorter attention span, is less coordinated, has a smaller vocabulary. This might be alsoquite intimidating,in addition the factors just described.
His younger twin on the other side goes to school a year later, physically more developed and mentally a year older (compared to his twin brother at the time of school entry). The twin has a bigger vocabulary than his sibling had when the older entered school. The younger understands and follows instructions better, is more coordinated and, as a result of all of this, potentially more confident.

A while back, I attended a few readings organised by the Univeristy of Essex in Colchester, who was conducting reserch into this topic, with a particular focus on the chances of a July/August born baby being successful in team sports. The result is very clear: If you are born in these 2 months you have to be an exceptional sports person to succeed and make the team, in particular in team sports (e.g. the current squad for the FIFA World Cup has 3 players only born in July/August (Young/Kane/Rose), 2 only in the Ladies team.)
Here is a related article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/18891749


One area where I did not do any reading in the potential disadvantage that prematurely born children might have (as mentioned by Guest55) - which is interesting as the day of birth is not telling the full story.

Based on what I have read, I believe that some adjustment for later-born children should be made (by what birthday and how much is an entirely different topic ), however our main focus should be on the overall developement and learning of our children and not on complaining about being disadvantaged. For what its worth, I have 2 boys in Grammar Schools, born in April and May and have a younger one born in July.

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It is knowledge to know a tomato is botanically a fruit, it is wisdom not to put it in a fruit salad...

Presumably they are now standardising because they have evidence that they should, rather than anecdotes about summer born children? If there is no difference it will be irrelevant anyway, if there is a difference it will be fairer.

CSSE Website states
"The results of all candidates will be analysed, by date of birth, to determine if a
statistical age-adjustment is required. In recent years, no such adjustment has
been applied. In light of the recent ruling of the Office of the Schools
Adjudicator a modified approach to calculating age-adjustment will be adopted
from October 2018."

I assume this means after those who sit the test this September - so applicable for the current year 4?