The disadvantage of being the youngest in an academic year at primary school has been well documented and remains a serious cause for concern for parents, many of whom choose to delay their child’s school start date.
This new research tracks the academic progress of summer-born babies in detail based on standardised termly tests within schools and shows a gradual closing of the gap with older peers as they progress through primary, but it never disappears.
According to this latest research, in reception year, when the gap is at its widest, four- and five-year-olds born in the summer achieve an average of 7.5 percentage points less in maths tests, compared with children who were not born in the summer.
By year 3, at the ages of seven and eight, the gap has narrowed to 5.5 percentage points; the following year it is 4.6 and then by year 6, the final year of primary school, it stands at 3.6 percentage points.
There is evidence that at the very start of primary school girls outperform boys in maths, with a “slightly higher” average performance than their male peers. By years 2 or 3, the boys overtake them and remain ahead until the end of primary school.
Girls do relatively well in geometry and operations, which includes calculations such as addition, subtraction and multiplication.