Kids born during summer '13 months behind classmates' in maths
London, Nov 24 (ANI)
Children born in summer between May and August lag behind their older classmates when it comes to maths, as around a third of them are more likely to need extra numeracy tuition, a study has found.
The report, produced by the Every Child a Chance Trust, studied 47,237 six and seven-year-olds who were among the weakest in their class in terms of numeracy.
It found that many summer born children were around 13 months behind the average for their year group in maths, the Daily Mail reported.
It comes after a separate study found that children with birthdays in the summer are more likely to be unhappy at school, have low self esteem and are less likely to be accepted into top universities.
Children who struggle with numbers are also more likely to be boys, much more likely to qualify for free school meals, to have Special Educational Needs, to speak English as a second language and to come from an ethnic minority background.
After just 3.7 months of support, the children made average gains of 15.7 months.
Children who were tutored in pairs and groups of three appeared to make just as much progress as those taught on a one-to-one basis.
Not only did three-quarters of pupils involved achieve national expectations, but by they time they reached the end of Year 2 they sustained that progress in follow-up tests six months later.