Educated out of year group

[Verycold]

Does anybody have experience with this? If they repeat a year, what happens later on?

My DS was a year ahead of his year group all through school. Was a very slight problem when he went to uni as he wasn't 18 until half way through freshers week so couldn't drink, didn't seem to bother him though and his floor in halls had a massive celebration on the day he was 18 complete with chocolate cake.

They just go to university when they are younger, or older.

If they are older they get fed up with school by the time they are 19 and feel they should be doing something else! You just have to make a judgement on what DCs needs are and go with it as you cannot switch and change. The fact that the child has taken longer to do what the majority have done earlier is not held against them, luckily!

Both myself and my husband were a year ahead. With me I spent a year extra in primary so I went at the right age to go to the unrelated senior school. To be honest I was adrift socially. My husband left school at 17 (did A levels effectively just as he turned 17) and took a year out before going to university. He would not recommend being a year ahead

It depends why they repeat a year and when their birthday falls

There was a girl in my high school who should have been in the year above but had been very ill so repeated the first year of high school

Her birthday was may so not much older than the older children in class anyway and it caused no problems

I think if a child was repeating because they were struggling academically then it would cause issues with self esteem

I would never want my child to go ahead a year, even being August born in a year group can cause social issues which are equally as important as academic results

My school had a boom year when I started reception and put 5 or so up a year. This suited me as I was an autumn birthday and achieving well. We moved schools and I was put back to my 'proper' year. It had a profound effect (was probably 7 or so) and while I did well (Russell group uni, v good job now) I still remember the feeling of being unchallenged. I could achieved much more I'd I had been pushed more.

My son is out of year, he went back to reception after half a year in year 1, he was the youngest in the year (24 Aug) so since then he has been the oldest.

He has been educated in state and private and there are lots of out of year in private but not so many in state.

He moved up to a state secondary school and they let him stay in the year he was in. So far being out of year has not had any bad effects. (Although I did worry about the secondary transfer and got lots of paperwork from primary backing us up just in case).

It may have some effect if he chooses an art path (which is likely) as he may do A levels and then want to do a foundation course pre degree, but he may be too old as he would be 19, but we are not at that stage yet so I'm not going to worry about it.

For him it was the best thing to do, as he still seems quite young for his year, and finds education a challenge and I don't think he would have coped if he had stayed in his year, but he moved when he was very young so I don't think it bothered him that much.

I was moved up a year
would not wish it on my worst enemy

DH was moved up a year and ended up going to uni when he was 17. This was in the 1960s though.
When DS1 was in primary it was considered as he was exceptionally able. He was also emotionally immature. I refused to consider it because of the social impact.
He is now 18 and yes, he was bored from time to time, but on balance I don't think he would have done as well either academically or socially.

Itscold - my ds3 is just a baby at the moment, but has the same birthday as your DS. Having seen the news the last few days and reading the ifs report ( makes pretty depressing reading), I would love to hold DS back a year to start at 5 rather than 4. I wish we got the flexibility and the option that is offered in Scotland. I hope all of the media attention gives parents the flexibility for those youngest and oldest in the year.

I skipped a year at about 7 and stayed skipped all the way through - so did university entrance at 16, started university at 17 etc. April birthday too so I was a full 12-18 months younger than almost everyone and once at university two and a half years younger than some who had had a gap year. Mostly it was not a problem for me, because I was relatively mature and also luckily was quite tall for my age at the beginning of secondary school and started periods etc early (11), so the difference was never obvious. The only point it was really a problem was leaving school - academically I was more than ready but emotionally I really wasn't, I really pined for my (boarding) school for ages. Was v. embarrassing actually as I couldn't admit it at all. Just about possible to admit to being homesick in your first year at university but not really to pining for boarding school! So even though it worked out relatively well for me and was probably a good thing academically I do think the emotional issues of being 'out of sync' are real.

One of my sisters was also technically a year ahead, but had an early October birthday so it was much less of an issue for her. Also she cleverly went to university in Scotland, where some start at 17 anyway.

If it's a matter of being held back, I think it depends a lot on the context. Some systems (e.g. in France) you have to 'pass' each year and if you don't you do it again so while there might be a bit of stigma to being held back it's also a relatively common thing. In this country it might seem stranger though.

Overall I'd say if it's an August/September/October birthday it's probably not that big a deal but I'd think quite carefully about a "full" skip/repeat and try to weigh up the social/emotional issues as well as the academic ones.

I was moved up a year aged around 6/7, along with 5 others. We all did ok academically, but not exceptionally so, and all feel it did have an impact on the A levels we achieved (and hence which uni courses we got onto). There was a girl in my class who had been held back a year, she was 20 months older than me!, a huge difference in your early teens.
I know of a couple of kids in who have been held back a year, not an issue until one of them found herself in a team which qualified for the national championships at school in her favoured sport. She wasn't allowed to play as she was too old and was gutted.

I know two children who have repeated a year and then stayed with the lower aged class. It has been positive for both - they have gone from extremely struggling in their original year group to managing just about ok in the new lower group. Confidence wise it's been positive.

I've also known a child moved up a year and that was more problematic as the children in the year above were more emotionally mature and hit pubity earlier.

My OH was moved into the year ahead when he was in, I think, Year 3. It didn't stop him drinking when he was only 17 at uni!

The only problem he remembers is being not able to learn to drive when his school friends were.

In DD's year, there was one boy who repeated Reception. He was OK with this at the time, but began to resent it as he moved up the school and rejoined his original class in, I think Year 4. I understand from his mum that he is doing very well at senior school.