Anyone requested their child to be held back a year ?

[Concerned2021]

Hi has anyone child been held back a year.
Daughter will be going on year 4 but think she would be better repeating the year.
Did it socially effect them ?

Are you in England or elsewhere? I think in England the issue is that a school can put a child in whichever class they like, but when they are the right age to move to secondary school they have to move regardless of which year group they are in. So your child might be in Y5 but they would still have to move on to secondary school. I don't know if it is the same for Wales or Scotland or Northern Ireland though.

It is unlikely a state school will agree, teachers are supposed to differentiate work across a range of abilities.

Presumably the children in your DD's class now, or next year, would recognise that she's swapped years. Unless you're swapping schools, it would be a difficult change I think.

Agree about the Year 5 - Year 11 thing. We wanted to keep an August born DC back a year (school said no, as they could at the time) and one of the arguments against that was that the secondary head could require them to move up with their usual cohort, so going from Year 5 to Year 7, which would be a huge challenge for a DC already struggling with school.

It's certainly not impossible for a child to be held back a year and to go to secondary school a year late - a friend of mine's child is doing that this year. There are really good, documented reasons why, though - I can see they are unlikely to do it on a whim, but they certainly can do it.

I know of quite a number of children being held back for various reasons this last year, however they are all in prep and or moving up to private senior where this kind of thing happens more often.

What makes you think your child needs to repeat the year, OP?

I’ve a friend who’s a HOY in a large state and they’ve had a lot of requests due to covid that they just can’t accommodate. In the private sector you’re seen as a client so they will try to accommodate you more but in the state sector it’s often just not possible. And the year 5- year 7 jump would be a huge ask for a child who’s already behind imo.
Could you afford tutoring?

I know a child who was kept in the reception/ year 1 class when he should have moved up to year 2. It was a small village school who didn’t have the skills (and probably resources) to deal with his severe learning difficulties. From year 3 he went to a special school and it’s so much better.

If you feel your child would be better being held back that suggests the school are failing your child by not meeting their needs.