ds and 4 others being "promoted" from Reception to Year 1 after 4 weeks. Discuss.

[northender]

ds has settled in really well to school but then today, completely out of the blue he came home with a letter saying that because the intake was 35 this time but the max class size is 30, 5 of them including ds are being promoted to year 1 on the basis of a "Durham Univ PIPS test" they all did when they started. (Phew, didn't even pause for breath!)

We had no warning of this and the letter invites us to a meeting about it in a weeks time. I feel really stressed about and have loads of questions already but a week seems like ages to wait to ask them.

dh and I feel very uneasy about the whole thing.

very unsettling. I wouldn't like it. I would ask for an interview with the teacher and if I still felt uneasy after that, I would contest it.

You can turn it down if you do not think it will be right for your ds. Big change so early on, but in another way it is quite nice to know he's already flying his exams [ironic emoticon]
I suppose big question is he going straight into yr1 curriculum or are the 5 going up being taught a mixture
If its the latter it could be quite a positive step, but it's all about social happiness and playground politics at starting age
I turned it down for ds from going up a yr from yr1 to yr2 as it was too big a leap for him socially, but at reception to yr 1 I might have done it.

So what do they do at the end of the year, stay in yr 1 or go up to yr 2 and end up finishing primary school a year early? Or rpeat a year? This doesn't happen at our school. Surely the school realised they were oversubscribed?

is he one of the eldest in the class, Northender?

don't see how a reception-age child can be expected to move up at this stage.

I would find five sets of parents who would join me (not necessarily the five movers), pull the agreed five out of school, share teaching them at home and ring my MP.

Probably an overreaction . Have they given you any other option? What, legally, can they and you do? What does the LEA say?

Don't do it. Sounds like it's for their convenience more than your child's benefit.

Why did they take too many in in the first place???

Having seen how different Year 1 is to Reception, I wouldn't agree to it.

No way would I agree to this either. This is an error the school made and your son is not their solution

I think its a big difference moving from Rec to Yr1, I personally wouldn't want it for my child. My DS was moved up early to Reception last week because a place became available, he was due to move up in Jan anyway so its not really that early.
Write down any questions you can think of, a week is long enough for you to think of anything and everything that you are uneasy about.

My DS is still annoyed that there is much less "play" in Yr 1 than in Reception. Think I too would say "thanks but no thanks - your prob you sort it" - or words to that effect!

Because you also do not want a situation in a few years time where they say you child is mature enough for a particular year and they want to keep them back!

my ds1 has just started yr one and i can quite clearly see the difference in the curriculum taught.

I would decline their offer, its their cock up- i dont agree that this is an ideal solution.

Blimey acnebride remind me never to cross you . He is the oldest in rec (born Sep 2nd) but I know one of the others has a Dec birthday. There is very little explanation in the letter as to whether it's a temp solution. It does say and I quote ""This will mean that the literacy and numeracy is at a higher level and they will access all the continuous provision activities for the foundation stage along with all the other Rec children in the afternoons."

I would really query it even if your son is very advanced academically, though possibly if he is reading and writing well, and is quite old in the year he would be ready. Year 1 is a big change from Reception and there is lots of what the Americans call 'seat work', rather than 10 minutes of work and lots of play.

My son, who turned 5 on 31st August, so is nearly young enough to be in your son's year below, has done a full year of Reception and is very capable, but he is finding the transition quite tough. It's not the academics, it's the amount of writing etc that is expected.

Having said all that, your son might thrive, but Reception is a lovely year for getting them used to the demands of school.

Sorry, just seen your post that gives your son's birthday - he is virtually the same age as DS2, but DS2 has had a whole year of getting ready for this.

no way would I have let them do this to ds .. no way

Sounds a bit of a cock up tbh but perhaps they were forced to take more on appeals. Will it therefore be a mixed Reception/year 1 class which isn't that unusual but which you should have known was being done in advance. If you , and the other parents are agreeable to doing this then I think you have to be very clear that you need you children to be taught at an age appropriate level and pace (is there a full tiem TA to facilitate this). Also is this likely to be repeated as they go up the school, as presumably you won't "lose" 5 kids in the meantime ? Will all this year's intake be reassessed before being placed into a mixed class again next year, perhaps with 5 being mixed with next year's Reception intake and a full Year 1 class resulting in a feeling of demotion and repeating the year.

It is probably because 5 parents have won appeals to get their child into the school.

I would ask what they intend to do next year though?And how to make sure those 5 children recieve the best eductaion - ie outdoor play provision etc. Is it for the whole time or just part of lessons? TBH it depends on how they structure the year 1 timetable - there is a big move to keep some aspects of the foundation stage in key stage 1 expecially for those weaker year 1 children.