To think it's weird not to know which school year your DC is in?

[AnnaQuayInTheUk]

I bumped into someone I hadn't seen for couple of years yesterday. Normal catch up chit chat. I asked how her DS was (she only has one DC) and asked whether he was now in Y8 or Y9 at school. She has to think about it then asked"he turns 14 in January, does that make him Y8 or Y9?". I had to tell her Y9.

My DC left school years ago but I always knew which year they were in at any given point. I was really surprised she didn't seem to know. Is she unusual or aren't people really aware? She's a lovely, bright woman so no issues with memory etc.

Yes its really poor, that's basic information.

Being bright doesn't mean your memory can't play you up sometimes. I always have to think which year my child is in. Sometimes i forget how old I am. The weird and unusual thing is that you think that this is an issue.

@B1anche I just thought it was unusual but am prepared to accept it might not be.

It is very unusual not to know which year your child is in. Particularly in this instance when the person only has one child. To me it gives the impression of someone who has a complete lack of interest in their child's education.

I would really struggle to tell you this as I have 3 kids and these schools are always doing things like putting two years together and then naming that class after a random bird or something..
I've got it written down but I wouldn't know off the top of my head.
It does seem strange if you've only got one child though.. and it's secondary school with the normal year names

Exactly @Thoseslippers . At secondary school it's all very straightforward.

I went to a private school where we had the most complex and ridiculous year naming system. I joined at secondary stage, which was Upper Third. Second year was Lower Fourth etc. I used to have to do a mental translation as friends in the local state school would be in The Second Year when I was in Lower Fourth. When my DC. We're at secondary, it was Y8. Id do a very quick mental run through "Lower Fourth, Second Year, Year 8" but I still always knew.

I know people who say this sort of thing because they think it makes them look - not sure of the word- interesting? Too interesting to be bothered with details? “Oh god- how old IS he? 13-14ish?” “Yes, he’s quite good fun now- not COMPLTELY a lost cause, I’m glad to say….”

@CurlewKate I know people like that! But she's not one of them. She's very genuine. Which is why I was so taken aback

I know an alcoholic (and suspected junkie) who does this pretty regularly, she’s also half an hour late getting the kids to school every day and among other things shouldn’t have custody of her kids really. We almost had an argument once because she didn’t know what year one of her kids was in and I did. It’s very weird

Did she attend school in this country herself? My DH attended school in a country with grades rather than years and he always has to double check which year our kids are in.
Could she be neurodivergent? My brain just goes blank sometimes, especially in social situations

I’m a bit like that with both of mine. Have to think for a few seconds to make sure I get it right. I know their ages obviously but school year just has less relevance to me I guess

Could she have told you if the child was in the 3rd form or 5th form?

Plenty of people have to think twice when converting from the old year names to the new.

I’m an immigrant and still think in Standard 1, Standard 2 etc. And DD’s school names the classes in French animals/fruit/cities. It can take me a minute.

I think there are lots of bits of information that are automatic to some people but not to others. I know what year DC are in right away but not how long I've been married. I have to do a quick calculation of current year minus wedding year to work it out.

I only know my brother's age at any time as mine minus 3.

Not everyone's brains stores the same information in the same way.

Perhaps he was put down a year and she didn't want to say.

I struggled when my dc were at school, I still have to work it out now. We had first form, second etc up to lower and upper 6th. As in the st Clare’s/Malory Towers/Hogwarts way of doing things.

Dad struggled to know what year I was in. When he was at school it was all 1st year = year 7 and 5th form = year 11 or something. So translating to years 7-11 was tricky. Kept saying o-levels not GCSE. But these days that’s not a thing and hasn’t been for a while. So on the fence. If she went to a school with a different numbering system or something. Did she grow up in the US maybe? as again different school year labelling

I was in a transition between those systems and still have DC in primary now so it isn't so long ago. I was reception, first and second year infants, first-fourth year juniors, first and second year secondary then into year 9.

My son goes to a SEND school. The classes have names instead of numbers and they often do more than one year in the same form. I have no experience of mainstream school so I do have to stop and work it out tbh. I do know what his class is called though!

Also I went to an independent school that used First Form to Upper Sixth so I’ve not had experience of the Y7, 8, 9 thing myself either.

Same. I knew when DS was in the third year of Juniors but I still had to think ‘is that Year 5 or Year 4?’ because to me it was Upper Second.

And don’t even start on “the remove”…

We had a conversation last night and 2 people were struggling to remember if our 8 or 9. Competent people and 1 owns a massive good earning business.

The problem with these 2 years is that they age neither first but of secondary or gcse years.

Ot wasn’t that they didn’t know they take their options this year or they started last year it was more the recall of naming the year.

Same! It still seems like the "real" way of talking about secondary school year groups in my head. People talk about "year 10" and I'll be saying "Is that fourth form?". It must be like being an old person when decimalisation came in - maybe you learn to stop saying it out loud, but you'll never stop mentally converting to shillings.

I was going to say the same thing , I find it easier to work in ‘old money’

I think of it as basic info, along with kids dob, age etc.
DH would struggle to tell you and also doesnt know our kids form tutors even though they have the same one throughout secondary school (years 7-11) He said "loads of people" wouldn't know that, and I didnt believe him...but maybe he was right ...

"Reception" as a concept didnt exist when I was at school, neither years 1-7, although my high school was years 8-11...also gcse grades were A* - G (iirc) not numbers....but i haven't found it especially difficult to remember years or grades.