Staying back a year please reply

[LesleyA]

Please can someone respond to this as it’s s great concern to me. My daughter is 11yrs turning 12 in September. She repeated a year so most of her classmates are 10 turning 11. She is in grade 5 whereas kids her age are in grade 6. She still struggles although she has repeated the year. She has dyslexia and ADHD. Finds it hard to retain information. But otherwise keeps up with her classmates. If we are able we are coming to the UK in August (probably next year due to covid but for this question suppose it is this August). Ideally she would go tograde 6 in September (or whatever the English equivalent grade is) but the grade of children who are 10 turning 11. But as far as I understand the UK doesn’t take the fact she’s been held back a year into consideration in which case she will go with her age group ie kids born in September will be going to grade 7. This would be an absolute nightmare for her as she’s just keeping up as it is never mind missing out on an entire year (grade 6). Is it true that schools would not let her go to the gradeshe would naturally be going ie grade 6? Please please reply. Also she doesn’t have other special needs she converses well etc etc

If you go into a state (ie government run, free) school she will go with her age group.
If you go private (fee paying) you may be able to negotiate her staying down a year.

Because she turns 12 in September, she will be one of the oldest in an English school year. This will make it harder to get her down a year. The dates work from 1 September -31 August for school year purposes.

Scotland is different.

At her age, she'd be joining Year 8 this September. (Formal education starts a year earlier here than in the US.) You actually have a bit of wiggle room there as Secondary schooling (in most counties of England) starts in Year 7. You'd have to talk to the LEA (Local Education Authority) if it's a maintained school, or the school itself if it's an Academy to see if they'd accept her in the year below. (At the school I work at this would be highly unusual, even for kids who are EAL, but it is possible.)

On the other hand, we have sets with kids in all different abilities, and she would just be in a low set if in her regular age group.

If you are moving somewhere other than England or Wales, the year groups and age groups are different.

When we moved to Australia, my DD was made to miss the all Y6 and jump straight into Y7 from y5 based on her birthday despite me insisting for her to be put in y6. However it did turn well, because we were in the French system were the level of content was way superior and so except English language in the first six months, she was ahead of her peers.

So depending on which country you are coming from, your DD might just be fine. Many European countries have a far more dense and advanced content in primary school and kids struggling in one language might be fine in another.

I have lived in several countries with my 3 DC so have seen my share of educational systems in several languages, not only the French system , and even Italy and Spain are way ahead compare to Australia which I understand has a similar system to UK.

She would be year 7 in September with her peer group, first year of secondary in England. A good entry point as everyone will be new and reassessed. Uk schools differentiate learning within year groups for a range of abilities. The issue might be finding a place at one of a preference of schools as places have been allocated already. If she could get an ehcp , which formally specifies her additional needs and support required, you may get to choose a school but that would take time to process with no guarantee of success.

I agree, Y7 in Sept 2020.

There are different cut offs for school years in different parts of the UK.

Do you realise it is made up of different countries? Which one are you moving to? I think you'll struggle to have her out of year in a state school but may be lucky with private.

Yes if she turns 12 in September she will be going into Year 7 which is the first year of Secondary School. It is very rare for children to repeat years in schools in England and Wales (Northern Irish schools are slightly different and Scotland has a completly separate system). Children with SEN (special educational needs - ie like your daughters dyslexia and adhd) can get various different types of support and assistance and what they get can vary so much from school to school.
Do you know where you are moving to? You would need to find out what's there Secondary Schools are for that town/city. In England parents have a preference for which school their child attends and all places (for September) have been allocated already. This means you may not get a choice in where she goes because some schools are 'full'.
The best thing to do is contact the school Local Authority (LA) for the area you are moving to. Find out what the school choices are. Some schools are better for SEN than others. Unfortunately you will count as a late application for next September so you may end up having no choice where she goes - the LA can only place her in a school that has a free place.

You would need to contact the local authority where you are living, when you make your 'in year application' for her school place, also apply for her to be 'backclassed' it's then up to the local authority or the individual school (of they handle their own admissions) to decide whether to allow this. If she has additional needs it's likely your application would be considered under the local authority fair access protocol, which would mean her case would be discussed in a more individual way, Contact the admissions department at the county council where you will be living for advice

Oh and one more thing.
They stream class according to abilities, you have weak classes and advanced classes, so there will be a class that fits her

Sorry, I misread. Yes, she'd start Year 7 in September.

Yrs 1 to 6 are primary school in UK
Yrs 7 to 11 are secondary school in UK.
Also optional yrs 12 and 13.
Secondary school also called high school but American high school starts at UK yr 10 and ends at UK yr 13 so it's a very different thing.
UK high school is more like middle school in USA. Same age pupils.

All UK secondary schools will have 'setting'. They will have 10 or more different ability level classes that they teach to. In most schools they are set for maths english and science. Sometimes every subiject. There are a vast array of ability levels eg some 15yos can barely add past single digits. Some are solving quadratic equations age 11, Everyone stays in their age grouping but are 'set'. Movement within sets should be fluid, from teacher recommendation or (very) regular testing.

Bookoffacts - that's not the case "in the UK" That's the case in England

Not all schools set "in the UK" either.

In Scotland years 1 to 7 (P1 to P7) are at Primary and then there are 6 years at secondary . Technically the last 2 years are optional but depending on when the child's birthday is. It might be necessary to stay at school for at least half of S5 until they actually turn 16.

The age cut off date in Scotland is different: March, but it's also possible to defer entry if the child is not 5 in the August of P1 entry and start the following year instead (common for January/February, less common for November/December, and very rare in October/September).

Some schools would let her remain a year below, but you'd need to approach schools in the place you're moving to to see who would allow that. I know children that have arrived from abroad and gone down a year to allow them time to make the transition.
However, in state school in England, Y6 is very focused on the KS2 exams that are sat in May each year (except this year, due to pandemic). Moving to England and into Y6 might not be ideal. If you do it next year instead, when she would be going intonY8, but requested Y7 instead, that might work out better. You'd also have longer to ensure she'd covered material that KS2 would have covered, but more at her own pace. (There's a lot of grammar etc).
Is she fluent in English?

Thank you so much for your reply and sharing your thoughts. What is KS2?

Thank you to everyone who replied I didn’t realise I had so many replies and much appreciate the advice.

KS2 is roughly upper end of Elementry school in the US. Age 7-11, covering years 3,4,5 and 6.

@LesleyA
Well, Australia was quite a surprise for us having had school around different continental Europe (not UK, not Ireland) countries and I will try to explain the main differences:

In UK, The National Curriculum is constructed in five Key Stages:

Key Stage 1 - Foundation year and Years 1 to 2 - for pupils aged between 5 and 7 years old
Key Stage 2 - Years 3 to 6 - for pupils aged between 8 and 11 years old
Key Stage 3 - Years 7 to 9 - for pupils aged between 12 and 14 years old,
Key Stage 4 - Years 10 to 11 - for pupils aged between 15 and 16 years old, and
Key Stage 5 - Years 12 to 13 - for pupils aged between 17 and 18 years old.

In addition to staging written here, and streaming which I mentioned further up, there are other peculiarities which are different from Continental Europe, from Scandinavia to Greece.

Private schools and religious schools are very common, and many of these are single-sex . There are fee-paying schools, some are very very costly,

Even State schools, which are free for all pupils, are sometimes run by the Church of England. In Australia, there are many State run high schools which are single sex which depending on your culture you might find very strange (I am French)

Schools have assemblies, during which pupils are gathered in the hall and a mix of information, rewards, or even prayer is done.
Schools have a compulsory uniform, even the state ones, and rules apply also to haircut (how long for boys) or hair style (long hair must be tied up). Pupils can be send home or given detention for uniform violations, even wrong socks.

School enrolment rules are very strict and you should check the schools in your area.

Sorry but LeGrandBlue has most of the Key Stages wrong and alsoe the key stages only apply to England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland are different.
Key Stage 1 is Years 1 and 2 - ages 5 -7. Also called Infants.
Key Stage 2 is Years 3- 6 - ages 7 -11. Also called Juniors. If your daughter was kept back a year this would be the Key Stage she would be in.
Key Stage 3 is Years 7 - 9 -ages 11-14. This would be the Key Stage for your daughter if going by her age. She would be Yr 7. This is the first year of Secondary School in most areas (but there are a few variations). Do you know what area you are moving to?

Happy to be corrected

There is so much jargon in English/Welsh schools. So much easier when we were just Infants, Juniors and Seniors.

Just to remind lurkers and posters: the National Curriculum covers England and not the UK. I don't know about Wales and Northern Ireland, but in Scotland we have "Curriculum for Excellence" and we have different cut-off dates (with more flexibility) and go to secondary school after 7 years at primary and then 6 years at secondary (so kids are between 11 and 5.5 months and 12 and 10+ months when they start secondary)

We also only have non-denominational schools and denominational schools in the state system in Scotland (in practice, denominational = Roman Catholic although often full of Sikhs and Muslims , although iirc, there are three other "denominational" primary schools in the country, one Jewish and two Episcopal schools) which both have set catchments (so effectively you're in the catchment of 2 schools especially in urban areas ). No Church of England schools in Scotland.

Not all schools have strict uniforms and technically none can refuse to educate if a child is not wearing uniform (ds' old head teacher described it as an elaborate game of bluff )

Assemblies are not every day in most schools in Scotland - they tend to be (at secondary at least) once a week by year group, although some do it differently.

LesleyA I imagine this is confusing you a lot. It would be best if you said whether you are moving to England or Wales or Scotland or Northern Ireland rather than "UK" because then the advice given could be more accurate.

Sorry yes England ... although in saying that it’s not set in stone (I really can’t move if it means my little girl will skip a year (or what sounds like two years as schools in England start a year earlier) her fragile self confidence will just crumble. It sound like such a risk as you need to find a house first which if my child was going to end up in a not great school I would want to move. Sorry as I was saying it’s not set in stone that it’s england I read that Edinburgh is votes best place to live but reckon it’s colder there than England (south). Comments on that would be great too (on Edinburgh and school system) thank you everyone

Thanks prettybird re Scotland and Le grand blue, bookmum08 kittyvsbox and everyone else the information is so so helpful. And yes my daughter speaks fluent English. Prettybird do you know anything about kids that struggle in Scotland in school. Not sure if she falls under special needs with dyslexia adhd and processing issues but generally average.

It seems some of you say she’d go to year 7 and some to year 8? I appreciate that we are just using this year now as an ‘example’ because of covid. So will just add an extra year depending on when we come but thank you again to everyone