Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Advice on repeating a year

32 replies

Whocouldthatbe · 07/03/2022 21:09

I wonder if someone with more knowledge of how the school system works could advise ?

My daughter is 15 she will be 16 in August.
She attends an independent girls school in London, it's one of the top academically.
She is due to sit her GCSES this year. She has become very stressed in recent weeks and I am very worried about her mental health. It's not just the exams , we have been through a very tough time as a family recently. She has coped admirably but I want to help as much as possible.

I have not spoken to her school yet and I don't know how they will react.. Will it affect her future , particularly university etc , I know this will be the first question she asks me .

Thank you all in advance.

P.S . I have also posted in Education but I thought perhaps there may be someone with advice here.

OP posts:
londonmummy1966 · 07/03/2022 23:37

DC1 did this for year 9 but with a change of school - also an August birthday. No impact whatsoever on university applications. I think it would be very difficult to do in the same school as there is bound to be someone who'd bitch.

Ulelia · 07/03/2022 23:31

No impact on uni apps at all in the UK. Slightly impact if she might apply elsewhere, e.g. the US.
You're going to have to talk to the school though. Its a huge thing in the UK, far less common than in France and Spain, for example. Many schools won't allow it unless absolutely necessary, such as having missed 6 months due to illness. This is for a good reason; it's extremely hard for the child to go into a lower year group and not take a massive hit to their self esteem. It can also be bad for attainment, as they 'coast' for a year and then find it hard to pick up the effort. Unless she's likely to fail (and I mean truly fail) her GCSEs, you might be better accepting a not amazing set of results concentrating on great A Levels and ensuring the GCSEs are explained in the UCAS reference when paying for uni.

Original poster
Whocouldthatbe · 07/03/2022 23:20

@BadHairDayExpert will it have any affect on university application ?

OP posts:
Original poster
Whocouldthatbe · 07/03/2022 23:16

@ImNotWhoYouThinkIam what year was your son in ?

OP posts:
BadHairDayExpert · 07/03/2022 23:15

If the school will back you and allow it then do it - it is normal in France and Germany. It either means omitting a gap year later on and starting uni aged 19 alongside those that did do a gap year, or starting degree aged 20.

ImNotWhoYouThinkIam · 07/03/2022 23:13

DS1 changed schools and then dropped back a year. It was an easy process at my end but I believe the school has quite a fight with the lea/department for education (I'm not sure who's decision it was).

For him it was the best thing we could do, although we went into lockdown just after he moved year groups so it was all a bit weird in the end.

lanthanum · 07/03/2022 23:09

I think things have got to be pretty bad to consider changing year group, having to forge a new set of friends, etc. It's not the end of the world if the results are not quite as good as they might have been.