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?

How about taking the opportunity to finally untether kids' chronological age from the school year they're in, and have teachers and parents decide each summer whether a child will go up a year or repeat, as in many other countries. Schools would need to drop the obsession many of them have with discouraging friendships across years, which would be healthy imo, and it might also have the effect of undermining toxic peer pressure structures in any given cohort.

I've thought from the beginning that the pandemic offers us an unprecedented opportunity to overhaul all sorts of policy areas and ideas about how society should be structured, and have been really disappointed by how little willingness there is to think even a little bit out of the box.

@drprouse this is far bigger than the needs of nursery and year 6. We carnt fail an entire generations schooling based on the needs of just 2 year groups.

I agree with this. When the kids go back no way will it be reasonable to expect them to just carry on with the normal curriculum. So many children will need to be socialised - this can't be done in one summer. Either repeat the year or drastically change the curriculum

[quote Marzipan12]@drprouse this is far bigger than the needs of nursery and year 6. We carnt fail an entire generations schooling based on the needs of just 2 year groups.[/quote]
But that's just what you are proposing to do - retake Y11 and Y13 while preventing every parent of a preschool child from working.
Why are the needs of the Y11 and Y13 children more important than the needs of the families with preschool children.

We would also have no new doctors, nurses, dentists and not nearly as many teachers for a year. That's fairly crucial; they wouldn't stop retiring or leaving due to overwork or due to NOT HAVING A NURSERY PLACE.

No. I have a DS in year 11. If he can't move on from school, he'll be devastated and completely unmotivated. Sounds like a good plan, but no.

@CallistoSol

And what about all the children who are not behind? It would be a complete waste of a year for them.

This.

I would accept my Dd being made to repeat a year. Not all children have fallen behind. Some have thrived.

I wouldn't accept her being held back a year.

If current 5 year olds have to do another year of nursery before starting school, that's a heck of a lot of extra 30-hours funding the government are going to have to cough up. Not a chance will your average parent be able to afford a whole year's full fees they hadn't budgeted for.

I can sort of see your logic OP, but making an entire country retake a whole year of school would absolutely never be an option.
Many of the reasons have already been stated. My first thought when I read your post was that there’s no way I would pay for an extra year of schooling for my children. They have suffered a bit this year, but their private school has kept them learning online to some extent and my Y1 was lucky enough to spend a lot of the summer term back in school. Last term they were in school every day - no covid cases in school. So they haven’t really missed that much.
I appreciate some children will have missed loads of school and be really struggling. It seems perfectly reasonable that some parents might ask if their children could go down a year and repeat. But that has social ramifications for the child. They would have to see their peers in the year ahead. Common practise in French schools - children often repeat a year if they don’t reach the required level, but it’s not so common in the UK. It would have to be done on a case by case basis.
I honestly don’t think most children would benefit long term from spending an additional year in the education system either. We’re far too obsessed by exams and academic achievement in this country. As long as they can read and write to an acceptable standard, the sooner children leave school and train to be something in the real world, the better.

You cannot increase nursery provision by roughly 50% overnight.

@FindHungrySamurai

You cannot increase nursery provision by roughly 50% overnight.

Exactly this. It's a logistical impossibility.

We can argue for the future of education and the start of compulsory schooling but there is nothing we can do between now and September to enable nurseries to be able to accommodate an extra year's worth of children.

My kids have not been affected much at all. They’ve hit every target set them and are thriving. Just try stopping my year 6 from moving on in September... not all kids are the same. The sooner people realise that the better. By all means put options out there and allow choice, but that’s unlikely to happen. Plenty of kids get moved on each year without achieving the expectations of school, they ideally should get the support they need as they move along, that’s what should happen now.
Whether the level of support needed is available is another issue.

I personally would love to have the option for my yr7 child to repeat yr7 again in sept. Not sure how she'd feel about it, but the option would be great!

This makes no sense. University entry globally us usually at 18. It doesn't matter what you call the year groups / grades. Curriculum will need to be adapted for sure, but changing uk university entry to 19 would make the country out if line with the rest of the world.

Sorry for my typos

Hmmm. Maybe the curriculum should be adjusted to reflect that children have missed things for primary. And possibly (bit controversial) the school day extended by 45 minutes with extra funding to cover the extra time. This doesnt have to be more maths and english being rammed down their throats or teacher contracts needing changing but things like clubs could be a compulsory provision that are funded and looks more at social skills, music, sports and other areas of development. Using all the club specialists that already exist and extending willing TA contracts. Teachers could direct children towards the clubs thst would support their learing most (eg music is great for maths skills)
Secondary. No idea. Saturday school?

Sorry OP but it's another Fuck No from here too.

DD1 is in y6, cannot wait to get to secondary. She would be distraught if, on top of everything she's missed out on, the transition to high school is ripped away from her too.

I know where you're coming from, as DS (Y1) has found it hard to readjust to school having only ever done one complete term before September. But teachers are working really hard to catch them up. Let's not undo all their hard work by putting everyone another year 'behind'.

Instead, we could lobby the government to lower the expectations (and subsequent pressure) on kids and schools to 'catch up'. They could just reset the benchmark so that no one is 'behind'...

@MillieEpple

Hmmm. Maybe the curriculum should be adjusted to reflect that children have missed things for primary. And possibly (bit controversial) the school day extended by 45 minutes with extra funding to cover the extra time. This doesnt have to be more maths and english being rammed down their throats or teacher contracts needing changing but things like clubs could be a compulsory provision that are funded and looks more at social skills, music, sports and other areas of development. Using all the club specialists that already exist and extending willing TA contracts. Teachers could direct children towards the clubs thst would support their learing most (eg music is great for maths skills) Secondary. No idea. Saturday school?

I think the issue with Saturday school, as I've seen pointed out on other threads, is that it takes away from time for children to pursue individual interests in the community. Sports clubs are the most common, but also things like bands, theatre groups, scouts etc. These are all of value, and can actually be a lifeline for kids who don't like school.

I’ve been saying this to my DH for ages, halt the school years for all pupils. Spend rest of this year arching up last academic year then restart. Just cancelling exams is not enough. Kids are there to be educated not just pass exams
Another thought that would be good to get opinions on anyone?
Given covid is likely to be worse in colder months how about decision now to keep schools closed till April and give kids/teachers their 6 weeks break at Easter. Then settle down for intensive school year between Easter and October with just a few half term type breaks. Exams in October. Ready to close schools again next winter if needed.
We only run acedemic year form September becuase historically kids were needed in summer for agricultural work. Not relevant now. Take longer breaks in winter months for a couple of years till we’re though this. AIBU that it’s a daft idea?

Take longer breaks in winter months

How miserable that would be given the average British winter!!

@Imaginetoday what about the kids who don’t need to catch up, who are pretty bored now?

I definitely see your logic about the longer winter holiday, but the idea of a long holiday entertaining your kids when even a trip to the park is cold does not appeal. I’m not just being precious - I think it’s important for kids to get a good, total break - and I think the quality of that is better in summer. Maybe cut summer to 4 weeks, and make winter 4.

While I can see where you're coming from I think it makes more sense to adapt the curriculum.

Somewhere there will be a backlog, meaning babies can't start childcare at the end of maternity leave as there are no nursery or childminder spaces. How will these mums go back to work?

I agree OP. They have missed out on so much.

Loads of people loosing their jobs - can't the govt do a scheme so people can retrain and pick up extra nursery places for an extra year from Sept? 30 hrs funding to carry on.

OK for those who can afford extra classes to catch kids up. Its the kids who were already behind, living in poverty that will really suffer.

Lots of private schools do Saturday classes but worried if we do that, we won't go back.

People are retiring later so cant see the problem there really.

No one is going to pay 9k a year to do uni online next year!

Maybe we do a mix of holding a year and bulge years - the highest achievers go up, the rest stay and repeat - would probably work out class size wise. And would mean less extra hours classes. But hard to judge attainment with no exam results.

I was pondering this earlier. We'd need an extra year, and space, for 16 years wouldn't we.
The new reception pupils come in and everyone else goes over this year again, reception to 3rd year uni.
I'd be happy if they did it. We'd hopefully start running smoothly by autumn term 2022. But the government aren't going to stump up the collosal amount of money for it are they. Their kids will be fine.

Tbf French kids don’t learn to read until they’re six, but that is because learning to read in French is a right bugger, silent letters all over the place.