Childrens commissioner talking about kids being able to repeat reception

[Tiredreal]

Not sure if this will happen but seems sensible except that obviously there would be issues with the repeated reception year group being oversubscribed then as it would be after applications etc.

Im not sure if it would help except the mildest of sen /young in year issues

I don’t really feel strongly either way about it at the 4 year old end, but speaking as a secondary teacher I see that weirdly it seems to matter quite a lot to them in Year 11 if they’re not finishing school in the same year group as their peers.

Yes I can’t see how that would work in practice. You likely don’t want to make that decision to repeat when they’re less than a third of the way through the year but if you leave it any later than that then it would be after primary school applications close so would cause a right mess... Or am I missing something?

Surely it would just be better to defer? It seems mean to give them a year making friends and the put them with a new cohort.

I think a better approach would be changing year 1 so it is more along the same lines as reception with a much more play based curriculum. Ideally year 2 as well.

We have had Children who have repeated reception in the school I work but they are generally those who are either awaiting specialist placement or who we know will most likely need specialist for high school.

Wouldn’t it be better to assess children to see if they’re ready to start reception age 4 or should wait a year? Didn’t they used to do that?!

I believe that if you defer they skip reception and go straight to year one, which I think removes the benefits of deferring.
This may have changed?

Depends on the council - it’s definitely possible to just defer.

This. The school should be teaching the children in a way appropriate to their needs and with appropriate provision- sand, water etc..

This is an option available to summer born children. Parents can asses this and decide to send their child when they turn five instead of when they turn four. However the number of head teachers and LAs who make this process super difficult for parents is astonishing. You’d think they’d be happier to teach a child who is five instead of four in reception and is trailing a year behind the other five year olds.

You don’t skip reception, but there is a process to follow to achieve this and some LAs and headteachers love to make it extra difficult for parents.

I had a child in Reception who I assessed (using Development Matters) as having a developmental age of about 2½ years old so I treated her as a child of that age. I set targets using the next steps appropriate for her rather than what might normally be expected at the end of Reception. She was a Looked After child in Foster Care there was no question of deferring Reception.

They do that where I live. You start school the Monday after your 4th birthday. Parents then have a chat with the teacher at the end of the school year to decide if you move up or stay in reception. It seems to work and the constant new faces means no one loses all their friends

The jump to year 1 seems massive when the children are still so little. My daughter was year 1 last year and did very well but lots of her little friends hated it especially the boys. I really think there needs to be a lot more play and a serious look at year 1 before they mess around with keeping kids back in reception.

The jump to from Reception to Y1 is huge in my opinion.
I too agree that Y1 should be centred round a play based curriculum.
We should look to the Nordic models of education especially Finland.

This is my view too. Year 1 and 2 need to change.

Schools already keep children in a reception class or give them a staggered entry to year 1 if that’s what they need. I was in school supporting children doing this over ten years ago. As usual, the government catch on with reality a decade or two too late.

Why has deferring summer born children suddenly become such a big deal?

Particularly given most children will attend some form of preschool setting and so be used to the format.

Are the expectations placed on the children greater than eg 20 years ago?

It seems like everyone born after about April is now angling to defer!

Schools are too target driven, it's all about getting the best results for the school in Year 6 SATs. I'm glad I'm retired I hated having to set targets for 4 year olds. I was told that a visiting adult should be able to go up to any child in my class and ask them what their target 'to be better' was. 4 years olds! I left shortly after that (many other things happening) just before my 60th birthday. While in the job I did my utmost to ignore this and focus on the children's needs but it became impossible with the new Head Teacher.

We have an extremely highly functioning autistic child who just unfortunately makes the birthday cutoff. We are likely going to be pushed to put him in, but having this backup of knowing that if he can't socially fit in the classroom at the first go, he would have another go to learn the skill would be huge for us. He is significantly above average intelligence and knows more than most 6 year olds at age 3. I'm not sure if he can sit still in a classroom or easily make friends. He would be helped by this. For neurotypical children who aren't near the birthday cutoff i'm not sure that this has any benefit.

I've never worked anywhere that does this and I must have taught in at least a dozen LAs.

It might be reality where you work but not widespread. And I'm also not sure what's gained by a staggered transfer to Y1? If you're not ready for Y1 in September, will you be any more ready the following February, given that the demands continue to increase throughout the year?

This is exactly why I got out of working in schools.

I would've thought it quite likely. The capabilities of such young children are at least as much about individual development as the teaching/learning process. A student could easily be unable to perform task set 1 in September, but have developed the abilities to do task set 2 by February.

I like the sound of the rolling class changes described by the PP. It seems to have built-in responsiveness to the children's developing needs.

I agree with this. KS1 should have continuous provision

expectations at reception and KS1 should be revisited.

Repeating reception could be damaging socially I think.

I can't see how this could work practically though in places like London or other big cities where schools are massively over subscribed - The LA can't magic up places for the kids who miss out on a school place because there are children repeating Reception, it would be complete chaos!

In France it is not unusual to have children repeat a year or even - less often - skip a year.
When you reach the end of secondary school the cohort will have a majority of children in the ‘right’ age group but also a mix of older by a year or two, enough so that there is no stigma.

DH met at Uni, he was held back a year, I skipped a year and we ended up in the same class :)

I don’t understand why this doesn’t happen here to be honest.