Question for British list members (school years)

[marion11111]

> Catlady wrote: 
> > 
> > This is clearly not the case nowadays, when news reports are always
> full of 18 and 19 year old high school students who are old enough to
> vote, enlist in the military, and sign contracts without parental
> consent. Do you know when it changed, or is my memory just wrong?
> 
> Carol responds:
> 
> The ages didn't change, AFAIK, only the month when the children had 
to
> turn five to be enrolled in kindergarten. When I was little, the
> school districts used the calendar year, so a child had to turn five
> by December 31. The oldest kids were those born in January; the
> youngest, those born in December.


marion now:

Potioncat was right.  Many parents delay the start of kindergarten.  
School districts usually require a child to be 5 before the first day 
of school, but if the child turned 5 anytime during the summer many 
parents will hold them another year to "catch up."  It's kind of 
become a no-win cycle.  Since so many newly-turned-fives wait a year, 
many kindergarteners are 6 for most of the year.  This causes the 
younger kindergarteners to struggle to keep up developmentally, which 
in turn makes a good case for holding a child back a year.  It's 
crazy, but as a teacher I've recommended to friends that they hold 
children with summer birthdays back a year, especially if they are on 
the immature side.

I have one friend who sent her late-August-born son to kindergarten 
just after his 5th birthday.  He was very bright and has done well 
academically, but now in high school he'ss struggling in sports.  He's 
a full year younger than many other boys and, at that age, it shows in 
terms of athletic ability.

The other odd result of all this is that a number of students are 
taking Driver's Ed right out of 8th grade!  Aaack.