AIBU to think my son would benefit from staying back a school year?

[itswhereitsat]

We are moving back to the UK and my 12-year-old will go to a UK school for the first time. He is bilingual but Engish is weaker than his other language. He was a summer baby (end of July) and in the country, we are living, they start school a year later than the UK. So effectively he's had one year less of schooling that UK children. He's also about to have major surgery that means he will have a month off school.

By the time we return, he will be ready to go into Year 9 but I think it would be much better for him to enter Year 8 as it would give him a better chance of getting on an equal footing with his peers. When we apply for schools, do you think its worth trying to do this based on the reasons above? Do you think this is an adequate reason for putting in such a request?

Any advice, much appreciated.

Assuming you mean in the state system it would be very unusual to get agreement to repeat mid secondary. The ability range is wide in most non-selective schools. You may have more success in the private sector, if that is an option.

You can’t generally do this in the UK in state schools. But I do know of a couple of instances where it’s happened. Child with special needs(state primary), child moving from Australia where the academic year runs differently (independent secondary). You’re much more likely to be able to do it in a private school.

I wouldn't worry about the one year less of schooling he had at the start. There's no evidence that UK students are doing better at secondary school because they started school earlier in primary. I might worry more about the surgery - how long is he likely to be off for? If that's going to take him out for months, that's not great.

Bear in mind that the starting ages are a bit of a red herring in many cases- if you look at actual competencies, skills and attainment levels, country for country things are more or less the same.
I'm in a country where kids start school at 6/7 and parents are shocked that in Britain they start earlier. Then I show them that their 9 year olds (etc) are doing almost exactly the same as British 9 year olds, just in a different year.

He will have to be kept home for one month. I am hoping towards the middle of that period he can do some gentle bits with me if he is well enough. He uses online programmes like Conquer Maths and Literacy Planet for English. Also, I'll get him to do lots of K3 level reading books but obviously no pressure.

Agree with PP that “skipping/repeating a year” isn’t really a thing here in the UK. We usually have a wide range of ability sets for key subjects, and if it’s an issue he’ll be put in one of the lower sets which tend to be a bit smaller and get more focused support (generalising here!)

If he’s immersed in English learning he’ll probably pick things up really quickly, but could you start preparing him now - for example doing a bit of online learning from English sites - can you access BBC bitesize? They have some KS3 stuff on there, and will get him used to English scientific terms etc.

@Dyrne
I've been working through some Lett's books with him and some Guinea Pig Education English books for persuasive writing etc. Also printed off a list of KS3 type reading books and he is going through those. I just think his written English has suffered as at his school is taught as a second language. I've always tried to top it up at home but really difficult to get him to standard for his age. He is bright so I think once he is immersed in it he will be ok. Just such a difficult age for him to come back. My youngest will be 8 and think he will be ok.

@Dryne

Do you know if they have sets for English? I 'm thinking back to my time at school and I think English was just varied ability. Also, how many GCSE's do children mostly take these days?

Besides the academic problems you’d be setting him up for a mental health nightmare. He’d be bullied, some kids will use any reason and being a year ‘behind’ would surely make him a target.

Agree with others, it is very difficult to stay back a school year in state schools in the UK as it affects the school league table results negatively. (And we all know how wonderful they are )I do think that your child would be much better doing this however. If you could afford an independent school, and enter in year 8, I feel that this would be the way forward.

@Rachie1973. Really? Even more nervous about returning now.

Rachie, dc school often had children out of year ( private) previously educated overseas. It really was not a bullying or mh issue. School league tables are based on gcse taken at 16 and sports teams defined by age which is why attitudes to holding back are pretty fixed. Although now summer born children have the right to apply to defer their start that has not yet filtered through as a norm to secondary. English may well be set, esol support may be available, but that depends on timetabling with other gcse options.

I'd expect there to be plenty of English born kids in a standard comp who struggle to read and write. I don't think this would make him stand out too much. Him being a year behind would probably cause more problems.

If you're going independent, ask and they would probably consider it. We had a few people out of sync with their birth cohort, I don't think anyone got bullied over it and no one really cared.

No idea on state. Only you know how your child would cope/respond with being in that situation. Open the dialogue with schools and with your son and see what they propose.

If you’re moving to Scotland, being summer born means nothing as that’s not how our system works. You just said “UK”, didn’t specify the country, although using the year system probably excludes Scotland.

I don't know all the details of how it was done but I do know someone who returned to the UK after some years away and went back a year - About Y10 (state school). No issues that I'm aware of..

His reading is where it should be for his age, its just his writing that he struggles with by that I mean writing creatively etc.

I feel like I've made him sound a bit thick, he isn't. He does speak two languages, the second being Arabic. Arabic is quite a complex language and he is a fluent writer of Arabic. It takes up so much time that English just hasn't been given the same amount of attention. I'm sure there must be kids from European countries where their English suffers a bit as it is no longer the dominant language.

I can’t speak for all schools but English does tend to have sets - as a PP said, the lower set will have children who struggle to read and write.

It sounds like he’ll be fine, OP - he’ll teach them some Arabic swearwords and make the best of friends! Depending on where abouts in the UK you are, it’s possible he won’t be the only Arabic speaker - the demographic at some schools is very diverse.

Educational outcomes are poor for children who miss a year. They can leave school without finishing GCSE.

(yes I know everyone is going to pile in and say how it helped their son with SEND or their child resat a year at Eton- but overall research shows that they are poor)

Which country? Other countries do start school way later, but they get much more faster through things, and then compared with their UK peers, quite more advanced.

My son was prem and due in October but born in August. We lived in the US for part of his nursery/pre school years. At 4 he was intellectually ahead of the average 4 year old but really tiny (smaller than the smallest school clothes) and nowhere near some physical milestones. We chose to go the private education route and started him at age 5 in Reception. He was still in Age 2 clothes and one of the smallest in the class and - at that point - the oldest in Reception.

During Keystage 2 we switched to a lovely local state school. The Head supported our application to remain in an out of year placement. All the documents relating to his early birth and any negative stuff regarding his motor skills and physical milestones were supplied. Any piece of paper/info however small and a letter from the school he was leaving saying that he would be best remaining in his adjusted school year.

So, the above is mostly different from your situation. The similarities are educated abroad for part of the time and the next thing I'm coming to which is that my son had surgery at the school changeover point necessitating adjustment and recovery, though not much time off.

In his current school my son is not the oldest in year. There is an older child (also August born) who got their out of year placement based on dyslexia diagnosis. She began school in correct year placement in Reception, left to go to a private school and applied to state secondary school as an out of year placement. It went to appeal before success, but I think your grounds might be stronger on paper and more what they go for.

Best of luck and try to speak to the possible school in advance of filling in the paperwork.

I think you could ask OP, but I don't think it would be a disaster if it didn't happen. I think there's been a lot of unnecessary scaremongering on this thread. I live in a country where you can ask to hold your DCs back (I've never done it, but a good friend of DDs did that and it has been a great benefit to her). I also have bilingual DCs so I understand about trying to maintain competence in both languages (mine are being schooled in a language that is not our native tongue). I obviously don't know you or your son, but from what you have said he sounds like a bright boy who is getting a lot of support at home from you which imo counts for a lot more than anything the school will do for him. Sure he'll take a bit of time to get his written English up to scratch, but you are already working on it and it's something he can continue to work on when he's off recovering from his operation (and good luck with that by the way ). It will be much easier once he is living in Britain and totally immersed. I always tell people bilingualism is an amazing gift for our children, but no-one should ever think comes without any extra effort (however effortless it looks from the outside). This is a great opportunity for your son to perfect his English one way or another. It's win win for him in the end.

@LillianGish

I can't tell you how grateful I am to read your response. You totally understand where I am coming from, it really hard to keep your children competent in both language. I taught my son to read English when he was 5 as the process on learning to read English at school was so slow as it ws just treated as a foreign language. I've then tried really hard over the years to keep his writing at a level where it should be but gap widens with each year. His reading is great for his age and he speaks well with unaccented English, he wouldn't be considered foreign from his accent. But it takes so much effort, doesn't it? Then when I say his English isn't up to scratch I make me feel like I've failed him, yet I've spent time doing English with every day since he started school. I try trying to say to myself that he may end up working for a multination and his Arabic could him.