Would a child go straight into Y2?

[GorgeousLadyofWrestling]

That’s what my NDN has said is going to happen with her 3 year old. So at school starting age, skip Reception and Y1 and go straight into Y2.

He’s undeniably bright - reading and can remember times tables. She mentioned today that the nursery SENCO person has recommended this. But surely there’s all sorts of other problems with this - being much younger and not emotionally at the same level as Y2 children. The difference in Reception aged kids and Y2 is vast. Is this something a school would really do? And then also the reading and maths - what if he just has a phenomenal memory but needs to learn the comprehension element?

My children are much older but I don’t know if I would my child doing that, no matter how bright they were.

He might be a brilliant reader and great at times tables - but what about the rest of the English and maths curriculum? The point of everyone starting in reception is to fill in any gaps in knowledge which will no doubt be there. Also socially and emotionally it would be a crazy idea.

Just because your child has holes doesn't mean others do

If you have really managed to teach your child three years of schooling, with no gaps whatsoever, in all subjects (maths, English, science, art, music, foreign languages, PHSE, sports) as well as being socially at the level of a seven year old, by the time your child is 3, as this child is, there really seems little point in sending them to school at all. Why not home educate?

Many kids with special educational needs are forced out of schools into home ed. It's a massive problem

I agree that children with SEN are often badly catered for, in both the state and private sector.

Mainstream education not placing a child in a year group with kids twice their age isn’t “forcing them into home ed” though.

You are the one suggesting they don't belong in school

Why does this child have a senco? This is for children who have additional needs and require extra help

My son is autistic but very bright. But he needs to do reception first. When he was reception the teacher think he is too bright and he works with y2. But they separate his class. Now he in 7 years old (supposed to be y2) but school can’t accommodate his need anymore. So next year he will go to state specialist school and might do GCSE when he is 8 years old. I’m so confused but my son said he wants to do it because normal school work its not challenging for him anymore.

Most nursery staff (unless the nursery is part of a school) are not teachers. The nursery senco is very unlikely to have teaching/senco qualifications. I would take this with an extremely large pinch of salt as it’s not based in fact or educational practice.

Children don’t have “holes” whatever their level of learning, what a horrible thing to say.

And social and emotional development can’t be taught. No 3 year old is socially and emotionally developed enough to be in year 2, it’s tantamount to abuse.

SENCOs can also deal with gifted children. It's an educational need.

Also, children don't 'have' a SENCO.

That would be very unusual. My ds is in year 2 and they have all just started to talk about who they're going to marry and kiss etc which I can't imagine would be very appropriate for a reception aged child.

Don't be so ridiculous. Like they have the budget for that!!! It is for children with disabilities/special needs! And yes you do have a senco, who will work with individuals classed as SEND.

Did you even read what I was replying to? 😂

Yes, and it wasn’t someone describing children as having holes.

Also, being able to remember and recite times tables isn't the same as having mastery or a relational understanding. Its just having a good memory for rote learning and being able to recite things in order.

Can the child do the inverse operations? Do they understand arrays? Understand multiplication as repeated addition? Etc or can they just recite 1 times 2 is 2; 2 times 2 is 4? Do they understand 121 correspondence in counting? Are they able to problem solve?

Lots of children show a functional aptitude for maths at a young age but it doesn't mean anything.

The same goes for reading. Being able to decode words is only a small part of what reading is. What about his inference skills? His ability to understand what he has read?

SENDCos ensure the needs of children who fall outside of the 'norm' are met (statistically speaking not as in kids who are 'not normal' before I get picked up on that).

A truly gifted child would fall under the remit of the SENDCo. However, their needs would he met within the reception class. Not by putting them into year 2 where their holistic needs would not be met. This might include putting them into numeracy/literacy classes with children of other year groups or ensuring their needs are met in their current class but they would not he able to skip years like the OP is suggesting.

Our SENDCO absolutely does support the gifted children within our school. It is part of her job description.

Being exceptionally gifted IS a special educational need.

Legally, exceptional ability is not considered a SEN. If you are interested the case is S v SENDIST [2005] EWHC 196 (Admin).

The SENCO may also be responsible overseeing provision for the most able pupils, but on its own being gifted is not a SEN.

I'd say there was a throwaway remark made about him being so good and at the level of a much older child and your neighbour invented the rest. I've a ten year old who is apparently exceptional at English (fairly crap at maths) and one of the teachers half joked that she'd be able to sit the state exams she is so good but I'm not going around telling people in real life my ten year old is about to sit her junior cert (our equivalent of GCSEs I think) and it's quite possible that she will plateau out in a few years and by 15 or 16 be at everyone else's level .

In my 25 years of teaching I've only had one child in a state school (England) who skipped a year (that I'm aware of), and they were September born so barely a jump really. It happened later on in primary school though, not in the early years.

I would take it with a pinch of salt and not ask about it.

All these mumsnetter,s with their own exceptionally bright.kids ......

When I was at primary school in the 90s, the school wanted to jump me 2 years due to a mixture of academic ability & behaviour, but that was from Y2 to Y4. My parents were horrified and refused, and ended up scrimping by to send me to private school instead. So I’d guess such jumps have happened in the past. But I can’t see how anyone can make that assessment before they’ve even started school.

You can't gaslight me when you're own reply thread holds the receipts