In the new 8-part radio series of interviews, The Educators, Sarah Montague interviews the people whose ideas are challenging the future of education (e.g. Sir Ken Robinson and John Hattie). Links to all episodes are here.
Most if not all these interviews may now be completed, but just in case Sarah Montague is not aware of one of the greatest educational challenges facing summer born children who start school at compulsory school age – – – simply being able to access a full 7-year primary school curriculum – – – the tweets below might be of interest in any future series.
@Sarah_Montague Did you know that summer born children who wait to start school at 5 are forced to miss a whole year of primary school? RETWEET
@Sarah_Montague The DfE is allowing teaching in chronological age batches to trump compulsory school age legislation. Age 4 start is forced. RETWEET
summerbornchildren 
When I was a student at Cambridge University my friends and I noticed that there seemed to be MORE summer birthdays among our fellow-students than you might expect. In those days, summer-born children tended to start primary school at Easter rather than September. Why should this give the most able children an advantage? We decided that it had developed a habit of working harder to catch up, that lasted a lifetime. I also think, it must put off the time when the child comes under pressure to “dumb down” i.e. hide their ability to avoid bullying. As someone who was bored and frustrated and under-stimulated throughout my school life, I am very grateful to have missed out on an extra 2 terms of it! Please consider the needs of the whole ability range when deciding what is best for summer-born children.
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