Length of Infant School and Academic Performance

An examination was made of the effects of length of infant schooling on academic performance when season of birth was held constant. The results indicate that the number of terms spent in the infant school affects the performance of summer‐born children, those having spent only six terms there doing worse than those having spent a longer period. Analysis by social class and school type, whether streamed or not, revealed the same tendency. It is suggested that the poorer performance of summer‐born children with the least school experience is unlikely to be purely due to their short infant schooling. It is more probably due to other associated factors, such as the age position effect, streaming, and the effects of teacher expectation and lower motivation, which operate throughout the junior school.