Keeping child back a year in independent school - anyone done it?

[3sEnough]

Hi - we're seriously considering sending our son to independent school and we believe you can keep them back a yr. He is a mid Aug birthday (2 weeks early too poor lad!) and is struggling in his yr (2) Has anybody done this/decided against it and if so - how was it? Thanksx

My daughter was a year ahead when she started (September birthday) and then stayed 2 years in year 2 which worked out fine for her but that was moving into the correct year group. Depends on the school and also consider if he would be changing e.g. at 11 or 13 so then be a year behind as the schools he goes on to are most likely to have rigid age bands.

Most independent schools are very flexible, particularly when it is keping Aug boys own a year. Have a chat with the Head teacher at the schools you like and that will give you a real feeling about their attitudes to it.

The Head at friends of ours kids' school had two aug boys both of who were in the 'wrong' year so he is quite happy to do it - sometimes when it is not necessary!

Dd is an August child. In year 1 we had problems with a teacher saying dd's writing was 'babyish' - at age 5???!!!
Dd then repeated year 1 (with new teacher) and has been very happy as the oldest in her new year group.
When she went to senior school they spotted on the application form that she was in the 'wrong' year group so without going into details I just said that she'd repeated a year years ago and that she is now clearly in the 'right' year group. They were happy with that.
Only downside I can think of is that if the child is a potential scholarship candidate they may be ineligible because of strict date limits.

I know some independent schools who are happy to do it, or move to Scotland as they seem much more sensible about this. Only snag is if he gets into team sports because then he's unlikely to get any matches for school - won't be allowed to play for eg U7's, but never in the correct lesson to get noticed for the U8's. The few folk I know who've done it have generally found it very successful.

Independent schools can be more flexible but you may still run into problems later on at secondary transfer age. It probably depends on what problems he experiences and if they are part of a Specific Learning Difficulty such as Dyslexia. I'm not sure how flexible they would be without having explored whether it is just immaturity or a more long term problem. Socially it may yet be beneficial to keep him with his peer group but ds' school for example does ability grouping for Spelling and Maths from Year 3 with additional 1to1 support where required. Some independent schools are better at handling this sort of issue than others so make sure you also ask about their Learning Support resources specifically. Good luck

Thanks for these answers guys - I had wondered about secondary transfer but he's likely to stay in independent school up to 18 (hubby is a housemaster in independent secondary now) My ds already has tutoring from a special needs tutor who coincidentally works at the school we are considering and it's only with extra help that he's keeping in touch with Y2 - my dread now is that even if he moves down a yr by repeating y3 at a new school he'll still struggle!! Oh well - that's life.
Thanks againx

Message withdrawn

Hi snorkle - we had thought about the sport aspect of it but cound't work out how it was any different to beginning of Sept b-days as they would catch up with my ds within 2 weeks (unless they are summer holiday fixtures I suppose?)
Who knows...I give up but am just jolly glad we have even a chance of putting him back.

Message withdrawn

There were a couple of universities I couldn't apply to easily as I was 17 when I went (and out of my year group) but that was because I was too young. Wouldn't have applied the other way. I think the transition to senior school would be the biggest hurdle.

Thanks Snorkle - I did wonder! Again - thanks everyone for all your advice - I think we're going to go for it but are meeting this week with the school in question so here goes!
x