Children born between June and August do less well at school, on average, than their older peers.
At age 7, August-born pupils are a whopping 26 percentage points less likely to make expected progress than otherwise identical September-born pupils. But the summer born catch up when they are older, right?
Well actually, no. The gap remains educationally and statistically significant. In England, the summer-born are 6.4 percentage points less likely to achieve five GCSEs at grades A*-C or equivalent and around 2 percentage points less likely to go to university at age 18 or 19.
Why does the gap persist
At age 4, summer-born children have lived almost a year less than their autumn-born classmates, and so are simply less developed. But they may suffer academically if they are labelled as lower achievers and are not adequately stretched.
What else should I be aware of?
Summer-born children are more likely to be labelled as having mild special educational needs. The negative effects of being summer-born can particularly affect disadvantaged children.
Do summer-born children face other problems?
Being bigger and better-coordinated, older children are more likely to be selected for sports teams. They get more coaching, and are more likely to become professional sportspeople. Check out the birthdays of our national team at the Olympics.
So what can be done?
Last year, schools minister Nick Gibb urged parents of summer-born children to delay their child’s education for a year if they wished. Others suggest that schools should account for a child’s age when calculating their exam grades during their schooling.
How can teachers address this issue in their classrooms?
It’s important to ensure younger children are not seen as less capable. Summer-born children must not underestimate their own capability, as this may undermine their confidence in the long run.
Lee Elliot Major is chief executive of the Sutton Trust and Steve Higgins is a professor of education at Durham University. Together they authored the Teaching and Learning Toolkit, now the EEF Toolkit
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