Can we have ages instead of school years?

[LadyoftheMercians]

I have no idea how old a year 11 child is? And therefore no clue on of they should be allowed a phone in their room overnight.

Inspired by a thread, not necessarily a TAAT

I know! Maybe I should make a thread about my year four son being in year 4 and ask how many other MNers children in that year walk to school alone, use the train alone, go to the park alone etc.

That's the point though, people might well possibly have a child the same age, but have no idea about the English school system. I've no idea what age Year 11 is because we have p1 to p7 then S1 to S6.

Reception doesn't exist in Scotland.

and some parts of England call it "Foundation" !

The year is very relevant over the age if you are talking about their education in any way. It's easy to work it out anyway!

I have.
Multiple times.
But all us Scots should just scurry back to Scotsnet.

Add 4 or 5 and you’ll work it out (the summer born ones would be 4 years added, the older ones 5).
I am a summer holiday baby so I was almost a year behind some of my classmates. In year 11 I had just turned 15, whereas some kids were turning 16 as soon as we went back to school.

Just add 5. So in year 1 the children turn 6, in year 10 they turn 15.

Yes, my friend started Uni at 16 (a month off 17) and there was another girl on my course (17 in the January I think). It's normally if you leave after S5 (lots of folk get good enough Highers in S5 to do that) and have a later in the year birthday. I left after S5 too, but have a summer birthday, so was just turned 17 when starting Uni. It meant I first graduated at 20, even after 4 year honours, as graduations were just before my birthday. Ah, so young, not so young now. 😵‍💫

Then Google. Jeez. It's not hard. So so many things I don't know. I mean squillions of things. I just fucking Google. It's interesting to do a bit of research. It helps your brain grow.

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Replied to wrong post.

Or folk could just not assume everyone is in the English system. Also 'not hard'.

I think it has been used long enough to be known by many and should be kept.

I think there has been a change on MN. I’m sure when I started using it children’s ages would standardly be shared eg ‘I went to the shops with DS (11) and DD (13)’

Now half the time people don’t mention their child age and we get 10 posts asking for the age until it’s shared.

Wierdly lots of posts telling us their and their partners age for no real reason eg ‘I (34f) and DP (33m) went to the shops. Think that’s a Reddit thing but is often irrelevant

Same. Year 11 means nothing to me but S5/S6 does...

Many in England (and Wales?:). It's never been used in Scotland.

Also diff areas call it different things. Eg there is no year 11 in Scotland. Is that 3rd year here?! Not sure.

Yes I was just catching up on the thread and I'm really surprised how some pp are quite unpleasant about the suggestion that giving the actual age of the child as well as the school year if relevant would be helpful.
It's almost as though they actively want to discourage people from commenting on threads!
And that they take delight in being unhelpful to other MN users.

I’ve noticed a cultural difference re age and school years between England and Ireland. In England there seems to be an expectation of conformity to the developmental expectations of the school stage, whereas in Ireland there’s an assumption of a maturity spectrum.

It’s probably partly related to the in/flexibility around starting ages. So while in England a child in year 11 might be 15 or 16, in Ireland the age range could be 18 months to 2 years. Although that has shortened now because less dc are starting junior infants at the youngest ages now.

But even age doesn’t denote development. People would often say “he’s young for his age/ she’s a young nine / that one was born old”.

Also because secondary doesn’t start until 13 and we don’t expect the same level of maturity from 11 year olds. The junior cert doesn’t carry the same life-shaping consequences as the GCSEs. Many dc who haven’t the maturity to knuckle under and study at 14/15 get a chance to widen their horizons through transition year, and are ready to get stuck in to their studying in 5th year (16/17) but in England they’d probably have been seen as non academic and already moving into an apprenticeship route, or working. That pressure doesn’t come to bear for most until 18/19 with the leaving cert but it’s also acknowledged on a cultural level.

It’s a completely different way of looking at it and there isn’t a direct transference where uk year 11 = RoI 3rd yr. So while I understand what you’re asking op, I don’t think it’s as simple as just changing to the age, because the pressures bearing on an English 16 year old are so completely different too. When someone references a year group, it’s because it’s the predominant factor and culturally specific.

I'm fine with anything P1 or S1 type stuff but I am completely lost with Y1 Y7 etc. Not a Scooby!

Level of independence expected.
Amount of homework.
Their peers.

All quite big factors when discussing problems and worries a child or their parent may have.

No, but if I was interested or wanted to contribute to the discussion I would look it up, just like real life.

I don't know what the school year ages are in Scotland. If I were reading a thread about an <insert year> child at school in Scotland, I'd either look it up or just gauge the rough age from context on the thread. What I wouldn't do is instruct Scottish people to stop referring to their dc by school age, as it's a perfectly normal and natural thing to do.

I think often academic year matters more than exact age.
So you may well permit a 16yo who is in y12 (college / A levels) more freedom than a 16yo who is in y11 (GCSEs).

If you are interested enough it isn't too hard to learn the Scottish numbering and age ranges are slightly different, or that Wales still has letter grades for GCSEs.

I don't know about NI as it doesn't seem to come up enough.

I find the posts asking for guidance on whether KEGS is better than QMGS much more annoying when they don't say what town/city they are talking about.

It's also perfectly normal to refer to an actual age.