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Original poster

Do bright children still get moved up a year to start secondary school early?

56 replies

Carolinethea · 03/02/2023 22:55

I was reflecting on my school years with friends the other day and we were thinking about the number of pupils at my school who were a 'year ahead' when they started - ie they were age 10 when they started secondary. I was wondering if this still happens?

At my school -very academic, independent day school- there were maybe 10 children out of our year of 120 who were aged 10 at the start, ie a year 'young'. They were generally autumn babies so only marginally younger than some in the year but all had passed the entrance exam/ interview etc so the school was happy with their presence.

I'm not aware of any such children in my son's school and I was wondering if it had fallen out of favour?

(Of my acquaintances one or two were a year young and they have mostly turned out ok; one was generally regarded as being very bright, top of the class in every subject, and still is 20 years later definitely and one was a later bloomer who was unhappy at school and probably could have done better at school if she had been in her correct year)

OP posts:
Nevermindthesquirrels · 04/02/2023 00:08

This must've only been common in privates, and probably yours as it was selective. It's becoming common to start a year late.

TizerorFizz · 03/02/2023 23:12

It’s very unusual. I know 2 Dc who went to Cambridge to do maths around 12 years ago and both were in correct cohort. One did work with older Dc for maths at primary. However it was only maths. Both went to grammar schools with top marks.

At primary there are sats and it’s not expected that they are done early. There’s also the social development of Dc to think about. If you want to change, when do you revert to the correct cohort? What about friends? What about sports teams?

Years ago I’ve seen Dc go to secondary early, from state, at parental insistence and against advice of head to repeat y6. Another head had agreed to change of year group without adequate snd accurate assessment. I’ve seen a few in a (average) private school who were a year above but they were not that special - judging by final destinations! The schools were just not extending the curriculum for them. It can be expedient to agree with pushy parents to move them up.

Also if you want 11 plus, it’s not a good idea to do it early. My DD2 went to a very high achieving prep school. DDs there were never ahead of cohort but some went to stellar schools and universities at 18. So, rightly, it’s dropped out of favour as it’s unnecessary and should not be done.

YerAWizardHarry · 03/02/2023 23:09

If anything favour is falling the opposite direction. In Scotland you can now legally defer your child a whole extra year if they’re not 5 when they start Primary 1

Stardu · 03/02/2023 23:09

No, UK schools prefer not to do this anymore cos of all the bullying.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 03/02/2023 23:08

I think the private sector is very different to state - heads would be very reluctant for that to happen in state education because of the potential emotional difficulties for a child younger and usually far smaller than the rest of the cohort.

It only happened with some of the boys when I was in primary, too - there were two main private schools that the boys went to who would consider out of year pupils, but the girls didn't have an independent in the area that would take them; and not all of those boys would actually be going to secondary in that, some were joining for the last year of primary.

Even the ones you know of, at least one struggled despite being academically able - it's about the kid's needs first and foremost, after all.

OntarioBagnet · 03/02/2023 23:02

I don’t think so. A young relative of mine is very bright, did maths gcse in year 7 bright. And started having lessons with sixth formers (just for maths) when he was in year 8. He finished A level syllabus the following year and is having to find his own stuff to do for maths now.

He’s streets ahead of his teachers in maths and streets ahead of his dad who has a 1st class maths degree. He’s very bright in other subjects as well but he’s in his own year group.

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