Pupils re-sit a school year - start year later as per mainland Europe?

[Fizzydrinks123]

I understand arguments against not re-sitting a whole academic year and was on board with this during March 2020 etc

However, my concern is the emotional impact this is having on the young - they know they've missed out on lots of social as well as academic development.

Is it right to just move them on to the next level of their education knowing they've missed out on so much and expect them to step up to more demanding work?

In mainland Europe it is usual for children to start school a year later than here in UK.

I understand university may be adversely affected due to funding - but the kids currently at university aren't happy paying out £9,000 and asking for refunds.

Am I being unreasonable to suggest re-sitting an academic year is seriously considered?

The new variant is so much more contagious that there will be more uncertainly ahead until the summer.

Are the current Year 6's really ready to go off to senior school? It would seem better they go back to junior school they know and re-sit that year and prepare to move on to secondary school the following year?

I can't see how it would work logistically and I'd hate it for my DD.

@marshmallowfluffy - dc wouldn't be down a year's education - they would still have the same amount of time at junior school so by Year 6 they would be at the stage they reach now at Year 6, it's just they would be a calendar year older - it wouldn't need to be crammed in.

I can see I'm losing the argument though

@shouldistop - yes it would be an area to grow in for sure - early years education - money is being thrown at everything at the moment - in fact the youngest of our dc (age 3,4,5 have had much more intensive time with their parents because of the pandemic (possibly) so may be ahead in reading/writing? I realise not the case for all children that their parents take an interest in teaching them, but most do.

No no no!! I really do not want my children to have to repeat a year, but then I am fortunate that I am able to give 100 percent of my time and attention to their online learning because I am a stay at home mum. They arent getting the usual school experience but they are learning something and are actually getting one to one time at home. Its difficult and I understand that some children will be spending this lockdown not getting adequate education but I will be really disappointed if children have to repeat at year.

I have a Y11 DC who loathes school. Telling him he was going to re-do Year 11 and re-sit his exams would result in him refusing to go in.

This is the reality for a lot of students who find school boring, difficult, miserable or are being bullied. A lot would be suicidal at the thought of having to repeat a whole year all over again. Many of them find it difficult to go in the first place.

shouldistop - yes it would be an area to grow in for sure - early years education - money is being thrown at everything at the moment - in fact the youngest of our dc (age 3,4,5 have had much more intensive time with their parents because of the pandemic (possibly) so may be ahead in reading/writing? I realise not the case for all children that their parents take an interest in teaching them, but most do.

Remember it's not just a case of whether their parents take an interest in teaching them. Many parents have had to work from home throughout with no childcare. Impossible situation. Dh and I worked from home throughout the first lockdown, ds was then 3. We had no childcare and it was very very hard and involved too much screen time unfortunately. This time round (nurseries closed here) I'm on maternity leave at least and have a 4 week old so that has its own challenges but at least I'm not tied to a laptop.

It would have destroyed my Y6’s mental health to me made to stay in primary for an additional year.

Most kids in her class were more than ready to go up a level socially / emotionally - her head told me that summer term is always a bit crazy because most of the Y6s are just too old for the primary environment.

In terms of academics - in lockdown she did passed a GCSE past paper in maths 🤷🏻‍♀️ She’s already doing work that’s too easy for her in Y7. If she’d been forced to repeat Y6 this year, I’d have been remortgaging my house to switch to private.

She’s not even the typical MN Genius Child! All her friends are coping perfectly well with Y7. Those that need support, are those that always would have needed support - emotional or academic.

Y6 teachers can’t teach Y7, but secondaries can add intervention classes - they already do - for those who are behind.

Keep the current years and movement, and adapt the provision therein.

In France pre-school has been made compulsory from 3. Almost no children started at 6 anyway. My son in Reception and his 5 year old cousin in Grande Section Maternelle do very similar work. So all this 'mainland Europe' when referring to France is wrong anyway.

@aquagirl19 - but what about the usual things dc do - dancing lessons/shows/ football clubs/ leagues/ drama clubs/ youth clubs/cinema trips with new mates - crush on a real life person....
everything that we've taken for granted growing up has been snatched away from our dc.

We are personally very lucky with the home provision from school, however it is absolutely the emotional development that is missing.

TBH when have children been isolated like this previously? It has got to be lonely for them really hasn't it - everything they knew previously is now just seen via a screen -(social media does not equal real life contact for a developing brain).

I'm all for rethinking the current state of education, but it'll take more than resitting a year and putting more in nurseries that may not physically have the space or staff for that plan 'just' to have students resit a year.

Emotional development can be enhanced (or damaged) by schools, but I don't get how resitting a year would help them in this area. They can continue to develop as they would, with pastoral support, just like this year's Y7s. Many secondary schools have to deal with Y7s coming from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities. Some do that better than others and they may need additional support in.

My Y7 child, having never gone to school before this last September, is on the same emotional development as most of her peers (and has experienced the outside world far more in those years, thanks). My Y11 child, having started at college September before last having always been educated at home prior, is on the same emotional development as most of his peers. He was already annoyed about being less than a fortnight too young for several things the college and local area said were for 16+, but are really Y12+, I cannot see any benefits to him of remaining at Y11 for another year. While he has resitting this year's classes as final 'everything has gone to hell' backup plan (though he can't do that with his 2 year BTEC), I don't think he needs to be kept in limbo, denied further opportunities, just because a lot of things have gone to hell. He has his English and maths GCSEs, he worked his ass for them last year. He and his siblings and their peers, can be supported as they are.

We may need to reconsider the curriculum - that's pretty likely in its overbloated state and most places don't follow it anymore in England anyways - but schools should be supported in getting appropriate pastoral support in rather than trying to redo everything.

My child with ASD is pretty stuffed ... 4 painful years at school, slowly , slowly, learning social skills the others arrived with at 4... we weren't there but we were getting there . Then 6 months at home... no interaction with similar aged peers and it was almost all gone again. So now rather than being socially about 2 years behind, he is now 4-5 years behind again. No EHCP - he is academically able and no behavioural issues. He is just a sad, lonely and confused little boy...this isn't stuff that can be taught. It has to be lived, supported and explained. I dont know if he will ever fit in and make friends now. The gap is just too big.

@glowingorb - yes I agree, that's the point though - they're not with anyone - they're with their parents all of the time....

So yes call the year whatever you like, but it's a chance to have a year amongst their peer group - lots of these year 11's will be starting at a local college etc again this September, having spent two disrupted years. It is disorientating for them and would be good for them to get the chance to dust themselves down and take a run at one year to catch up on the two disrupted years of education.

Social media is giving all our dc news before we can speak with them and help them process all the irresponsible reporting out there. I don't think we can understand how this impacts on emotional development of young people's brains until 10 years down the line.

In Europe they might start later, but they don't finish later, plus most children do several years of Kindergarten first.

I do hear all of you describing why you don't want to re-sit a year and have a great deal of sympathy for your situations too.

I didn't agree with my AIBU last year and felt same way as you all describe.

However, knowing how contagious this new variant is at first hand, I think much more school disruption is ahead and there isn't any way to sweep under the carpet how overwhelming all of this will be for all children (not just exam years).

I think it'll be interesting if I bump this thread maybe in a 6-8 weeks and see if people feel differently at all, but accept I'm in a minority currently. Thanks to all who replied why you think one way or another.

Social media has been around more than ten years.

My local college has an Under 16 programme that my DS is in - he's not allowed to move beyond his U16 group or do anything marked as 16+ until he's considered Y12 (less than a fortnight too young). So yeah, the year he's in has mattered a lot to my DS this year, he was a bit annoyed that '16+' didn't actually mean that.

Also, teenagers get tuition paid for courses until the academic year that starts when they're 19. I'm all for better funding of adult education, and unless we adjust that little issue, this would give them a year less of courses they choose and could have a harmful knock-on effect for colleges.

@Cocomarine to be fair your current year 7 didn't really miss much schooling in year 6 By the time lockdown came the majority of the years work was done and they got to go back into the classroom for at least a month before summer. Now compare that to my year 8 child. He missed an entire term of year 7 and it looks like missing at least half a term if year 8. That's alot of missed compared to very little missed by your child. That is one of the reasons why kids need to repeat a year. Last year's year 6 whete actually very fortunate compared to most year groups, this isn't just about them

My children would be bored out of their minds if they had to repeat a year. They have kept up pretty well and repeating a year would be more damaging to them than home learning has been. No way would I support this.

We have a very privileged idea(l) of what life should be like in "The West". The reality for much of the rest of the world is that shit happens and they have to make the most of it. Shit has happened to us now and we can't go back and repeat time lost. But in order to be able to move forward, systems will temporarily need to adapt to the students' situation. And it will all work out. Pretty much everybody is in the same boat so something will be done. It's not like only one child isn't in school, quarantining are gone and the rest of the world is carrying on.

One option would be that first year at university alters to be a bit like the OU. A lot of attention is spent on helping students learn how to study. (I'm doing my 2nd degree there now, first was with a RG uni - for comparison). You don't need any qualifications to start. You can study part time and you can also take longer to complete the degree (but each module has to be completed within a time frame or you defer it to another year). More flexibility will be required. If you don't pass the first year modules, you retake the year (can be other modules at first year level if you want).

*You don't need qualifications to start, but you do need to pass the first year to move to the second and the standard of the second year is definitely on a par with my first uni.

Backing up a PP about French schools starting (compulsory) from three. They have a syllabus which includes structured learning as well as socialization.

Also it has recently become compulsory until 18.

I’m in a minority too OP because I think it’s an idea that should be considered.

My DD and DS are due to move to senior school in September (into Y9). They won’t be ready in any way for it if the year continues like this.

Obviously there would be logistical hurdles but I don’t think it’s good enough to just shrug our shoulders. Educating children has always been viewed as paramount (look at any pre-CV thread asking if it’s okay to take the kids out of school for a day!) and we need to be creative.

Parents with money and time will just start activities again when rules permit. Emotional /extra curricular development for the others could be done through a summer school sort of programme when the virus is naturally less dangerous and the weather allows for more outdoor activities to happen. However I don't see the party who got rid of Surestart Centres and youth services investing in a service for kids.

[quote Fizzydrinks123]@drspouse - but all children have had two years disrupted and not had chance to develop, learn, play sports etc all kids have been affected, not just exam year groups.[/quote]
So what are you going to do with the Y6s? Keep them in primary then?
And then what about the preschool year? Parents pay an extra year of nursery?
And if so, what about the children who are due to go to nursery? Are their parents condemned to an extra year of no income because no nursery places?
And then the government will lose taxes, and we will have even LESS money to pay for the extra year of schooling.