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.

So what do they do with the 'spare' year??

I wouldn't agree to it. DS has only just started Reception and really enjoying it. It seems a very gentle introduction to school but they all seem to be finding it tiring - stresses about getting changed, being told what to do, how to get on with people, etc. etc.

It helps that as half of his class are summer born (as is he - never happened before apparently!) the Reception teacher said she will take things especially gently as there are so many young 4s. However, it seems like all of them are benefitting from this approach.

Even if your DS and the other children are able to cope academically with Y1 at the moment, would their social skills? Presumably more will be expected from them, not so much from the teacher but from the other children, rest of the school community, other teachers, etc. After a few weeks, they would be Y1 children and not excused things the Reception children would get away with.

I would be intrigued as to when the children would be expected to stay a Year. 2 years in year 2, 4, 6? What happens if after this initial 'bright' start they become more average and therefore start to struggle in their year ahead group?

I wouldn't like it at all.

I know he's bright certainly with numbers, not so keen on reading but no wonder child apart from to me and dh of course! I've spent the last couple of years relieved that he was lazy and arrived 15 days late so would be the oldest in the year rather than the youngest as I think it will be much better for him emotionally.

That is a very odd "solution". My ds has just started Reception so I don't know how much of a gap there is between Reception and Yr1 but it must be good to know that your ds is in the top 5.

I think the thing you have to ask the school is what benefit this move would have for your ds. At this young age it could go either way - he could settle in really well with Yr1 and perhaps, if his understanding is more advanced than his peers, be at a level more suitable for him. OTOH the kids he will be with will have had a whole year of getting to know school routines etc so he might be at a disadvantage there.

I think teachers' views will be the most helpful.

This happened to me in the bad very olden days. There was I looking forward to having an afternoon nap on the little camp beds provided for the reception class and I got promoted up to the Y1 class where it was all hard work and spelling tests.
The school has probably promoted your DS because the class is too big and they needed to send some children to another class. He will find it hard being thrown in the deep end rather than the gradual development of Reception.

I know 3 children who went up a year (one missed out Y1, one Y3, one Y6 - she passed the 11+ in Y5 ) and they can stay a year ahead, as long as their birthday is Sept-Feb.

But I agree with everybody else who has said that being moved ahead from the start of Reception is just wrong.

What happens in the worst case scenario - he's moved up to year 1 and doesn't cope? Then what do you do?

Bad bad bad idea. My son is 5 and a half and has just started year one and it is a HUGE change. If your son is made to move and he struggles it could put him off for ever.

can I just say that I was "promoted" from kindergarten (aged 5) to Grade 1 (aged 6) because of my precocious reading ability and I STILL remember the terror I felt at the MOMENT of being put in a class with such bigger kids. I never really fitted in there because I was a year to a year and a half younger than all of them (May birthday) and small and smart to boot. Seriously bullied, very quickly. I also was sent back to play in kindergarten in the afternoons, but nobody really wanted to play with me because they all had their friends and didn't understand who I was or why I turned up to play for an hour and a half a day.

I stayed a year ahead of myself for my whole school career and with hindsight it wasn't a good thing. School is not just about academics - it is about growing up in your own peer group at your own rate and maturing physically and emotionally, not just academically.
I strongly believe that if you have bright children, then you adjust your teaching to suit and stretch them, you DON'T take them out of their peer group and you DON'T give them extra work (ie the same as everyone else and then more on top). If anything, you give them less work (as it takes them less time to learn, fewer repetitions etc) but more stretching work.

Basically teaching bright children is something that a good teacher should be able to manage perfectly well in the classroom. Sending them up a class is, IMO, the quick and lazy option and is rarely in the child's best interests.

Another quote from the letter "As is common with many other local schools we have 35 children on roll this year".

Sorry don't know if my posts are making sense but I'm so stressed and angry sitting here typing away! Thanks for all the advice so far. MT I share your cynicism!

Are you unhappy about handing in a letter tomorrow saying that your child is not to be promoted to year 1 but to remain in reception? (However you may want to couch it). Frankly I would be very firm but it has to feel right for you. They can't do this against your will, surely?

Actually I'd love it if they'd put my son up a year. He's bored rigid. Although, there's something special about reception because they ease them in with plenty of play which is great so I wouldn't want him to miss out on that.

This isn't about progressing exceptionally bright children, it's being done for purely political reasons which is appalling - if the school's budget can't provide enough staff for pupil numbers then school finances are slipping back to the bad old days of the early 90s.

Apparently it is a high birthrate year, not that that excuses the plain mismanagement of information here. Does this school only have one intake per year? If they knew this was likely to happen surely they could have staggered the starters by age so that any adjustments/extra resources could be made next term at the earliest and all children would have some time purely in Reception.

I went up a year twice becaus emy year had 32 and the year above had only 16, it wasn't good. Not terrible but then we had an exceptional teacher who i got to have 2 years with (ie I went up to yr 6 and did two years there not one year in 5 and one year in 6)
They promoted the brightestkids and I didn't find the work struggle, but I did resent missing out with my friends.

I'd say at reception/yr 1 it could be very bad idea. yr 5 and 6 are both top end junior and the work was just a step up on what we already did (which I was on anyway)
reception is a year of getting used to school, it naps in the afternoon and playing with sand and water, Yr 1 is real school. It would be like promoting a 10yr old into secondary.

DON'T DO IT

NO WAY!

They'll just have to appoint a TA and keep the 5 children in reception. We've got a class of 35 in the school I work in. Better that they spend a bi of their salary budget than mess up 5 kids experience of school.
Well said QPP!!!!