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Original poster

child (eldest in year) has chance to start a year 'behind' - good idea?

27 replies

DopeyDawg · 03/07/2015 16:57

hoping to move to the English education system.

child would be one of oldest in year as mid Sept b'day.

due to the system we have been in there is a chance child could start 1 year below (Y5) which would mean would be quite a bit older than some others in class.

This chance is because moving across from Scottish system where child is sitting 1 year behind anyway. Child has dyslexia and struggles academically and gets bullied and also is young' socially but looks older physically.

Y5 would mean child could start Middle (state) school with all the others.
And not have Sats at end of 1st year in new system.
If teased about age could just say 'it's because I came from Scotland?'

any opinions on advisability of this, please?

OP posts:
LibrariesGaveUsPower · 03/07/2015 17:04

Have you checked that local secondaries would continue this arrangement.

StaceyAndTracey · 03/07/2015 17:09

My child is the oldest in his class and it's great, he woudl have struggled being the youngest .

i don't think most kids care what age the others are and " I'm older because I moved from scotland and so I didn't start school until I was 5.5 " is fine . Or similar

Tanaqui · 03/07/2015 17:11

Tbh I think a full year older than the oldest other child might be hard, thinking ahead to driving, drinking. Also if he is sporty some sports won't let you compete in the wrong age group. Definitely check with the secondary that he won't have to skip back.

honeysucklejasmine · 03/07/2015 17:12

They will be very in demand when they can get a car a year ahead! Wink

I taught a lad who was a year older than he "should have" been. I didn't know until he said he was turning 16, not 15 on his birthday. Not one single class mate seemed to give a toss. I guess they realised it was a quirk when they started year 7, and promptly forgot!

Plus, he was excellent at rugby Wink

iamnotaponceyloudperson · 03/07/2015 17:16

I don't think classmates would care, as pp said, it would be a quirk but not that interesting to them.

Biggest issue would be secondary schools due to funding issues. You MUST research this in advance as some will insist on them starting in Y8 as funding runs strictly according to age (or at least it used to).

springlamb · 03/07/2015 17:18

I thought you couldn't do this cross-key stage? IE you couldn't have a child of KS3 (yrs 7-9) at a KS2 setting.
So you might be storing up problems for the future if the LA you're moving to decide he needs to go on to secondary at the same point as his age rather than class peers.

LibrariesGaveUsPower · 03/07/2015 17:23

Presumably he won't be going to secondary at y7 if he's in a middle school area. But actually, I'd say that worse than being told you suddenly have to move up without doing the final year of middle school is being told you have to skip the first year of secondary school to join up with your age peers.

I also agree that being up to 2 years older than peers could be tough in the teen years if they do allow it to track through.

lljkk · 03/07/2015 17:28

There's a lad like this in DD's group, say yes it's because I'm from Scotland and we start school later. Think I'd go a year behind if school will allow, but only if I thought my child was right socially to be with a bit younger group.

Tanaqui · 03/07/2015 17:32

He probably shouldn't have been playing rugby in the wrong age group! (Though I do wish they played rugby by height and weight rather than age).

Tweennightmare · 03/07/2015 17:37

We got offered the chance to do the same for my DD last year as we were coming from abroad and she was one of the youngest in the year moving to a private school. We didn't do it in the end as DD felt so strongly against it (she was just turning 12 ) and to be honest we didn't really think she was struggling that much (the school was very academic) . In a lot of ways I wish we had as the school we chose in the end hasn't really worked out . I think if your DS is on board go for it

Original poster
DopeyDawg · 03/07/2015 18:12

He is very much 'on board' as he is used to it (sitting 1 year behind already as repeated 1st year of school here in Scotland).

Also with being both dyslexic and dyspraxic and quite young socially he might well fit in with a younger age group.
I see that it might be odder later if he is driving and drinking earlier than his pals.

I WILL check the High School situation though - thanks - I had assumed he would carry on like this all through as he would in Scotland Shock

OP posts:
LibrariesGaveUsPower · 03/07/2015 18:26

One thing to bear in mind is that, in Scotland he may have only been about four months older than the oldest 'standard' child - if I have done my maths right. And there may have been a big age spread across the class. In England it will be at least 12 months and the rest will only span 12 months.

NorahDentressangle · 03/07/2015 18:36

MY DS was prob 5 months older than the eldest child. Moved from England to Scotland.

It was great. He fitted in really well, organized the rugby training at lunchtimes, got into all the sports teams (as he was bigger). Very happy and confident.

iamnotaponceyloudperson · 03/07/2015 18:40

Nothing to say he has to start driving and drinking on the dot of 17/18 tho!

If I had a child who struggled I would definitely let them feel secure in a slightly younger age group if the opportunity arose, as long as it doesn't impact down the line.

Not all schools refuse to accept children who are a year behind age. They have some discretion but I believe it is without funding for the last year so well done those schools. I have experience of this in the extended family and it has worked out exceptionally well.

Bunbaker · 03/07/2015 18:41

As far as I can recall many LAs have moved from the primary, middle and high school system to just primary up to age 11 and then secondary. Are you sure you are moving to an LA with the three tier system?

Also, most schools just don't allow children to be "out of year" so your child may be put into a class within the same age group. Hopefully there will be the right support in place.

soapboxqueen · 03/07/2015 19:34

We still have plenty of 3 tier schools round here.

I agree with pp to ask the middle and high schools what their position is before you make a decision.

Original poster
DopeyDawg · 03/07/2015 23:16

Definitely a 3 tier system and Head of Middle seems to be willing to offer this.
Need to check High school though!

OP posts:
Mutteroo · 04/07/2015 00:39

My cousin stayed an extra year in infants school and continued to stay a year behind his chronological year group throughout his education. My cousin has never had problems socially & it was purely an academic solution which was very successful for him.

RedandYellow24 · 04/07/2015 00:43

He will be 23.5m older than some of his classmates if he is already year older than August babies then to go back an extra year that is a lot.

If teachers agree would help him catch up with his learning then positive probable outweigh the negatives

BackforGood · 04/07/2015 01:05

I think the fact that he will be practically 2 yrs older than some of his classmates will seem a lot.
I would also get something in writing from the Local Authority to confirm he would be allowed to stay out of year group throughout the time in school.

I think there may be issues with sports teams etc. - that might or might not bother you/him.
Academically, it might be helpful.

Original poster
DopeyDawg · 04/07/2015 10:51

Well he is an end Sept baby, so would be one of the oldest in year.
Then would be a year 'behind' as is now.
So, technically between 22m and 11m older than his peers.

Sports teams - he is dyspraxic so that's not going to be an issue...

Catching up with learning in year group would be good but he has gone backwards academically for the last 3 years, just got dyslexia (and other) dx's and is in a system where he is 'behind' the English system anyway...
ie, they are still doing 3x tables, they have not done any French, Science, History etc yet so LOADS of catching up to do.

If we have the chance for him to Start Middle School at Y5 level with all the other kids that would be a good thing for him I think.

Yy to getting it in writing about 'all the way through' though...

OP posts:
mummytime · 06/07/2015 21:57

I personally would push him into his proper year.

Because he may well get a lot more help to enable him to access the curriculum if he is in the correct year. If he goes down a year he may be seen as that should give him all the help he needs (I have known of one boy who went down a year and his senior school had issues with his behaviour and just put him in bottom sets - he transferred to private and rose to top sets).

Also being 2 years older is a huge thing from 11-15 ish. He will mature faster than others in his classes and this will cause him problems.
Nevermind that if something goes wrong at sixth form he may run out of money before he has a chance to change direction.

StaceyAndTracey · 08/07/2015 11:24

" is in a system where he is 'behind' the English system anyway...
ie, they are still doing 3x tables, they have not done any French, Science, History etc yet so LOADS of catching up to do"

I'm a bit confused . Is your son in a Sn school in Scotland ? Because I have a child just finished P4 ( so year 3 in England ) in a mainstream state school and he's been doing French , Sceience and history since P1. They did the 3 times table in P3 and this year they've been doing fractions .

Original poster
DopeyDawg · 08/07/2015 17:35

No, not a SN school, just a bloody awful one.
At last inspection it was decided that the inspection body would need to work with the LA to 'support the school'. HT has just gone and no new head can be found...
No French till now when teacher tells ds: 'we'll have to catch up 5 years of French next year so you'll be ready for High School'. NO science, a wee bit of history as part of topic work.
These are not discrete subjects in Primary, - at least in my part of Scotland. Are they in yours?

OP posts:
mummytime · 08/07/2015 20:53

The French they do in Primary around here (very leafy England) is minimal, and can be caught up very quickly. Its usually ignored at Senior school.

If you are moving to London/SE or similar areas, remember the schools are pretty used to getting incoming students who don't have much/any English, and who usually adapt okay. The lack of history might be a good thing, as English history is quite different from what I've heard.

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