The great transition: US 1st grade to UK Year 3

[nomadmummy]

We just returned rather suddenly from the US to the UK. Our experience with the US school system was awful all around (not interested in a debate, no offence intended). I have no experience with the UK system. So far my DS has told me he LOVES London, he loves is school, everyone is nice, etc. However he says that his elementary school in the US was too easy and he was bored but now he's finding that the curriculum here is 'too hard'. He was born mid-August so he's about the youngest. He's just turned 7 and started Year 3. I met his teacher briefly today and she said she's concerned but didn't want to discuss in front of other children (love her!) but we should have a meeting with the SEN coordinator.

I'm paranoid because in the US once 'special needs' comes into the conversation it's all about EXCLUSION and mums tell me here it's the opposite and about INCLUSION.

So I'm wondering if anyone has advice. He had a severe speech delay (I was adopted but this turns out to be common on birth father's side). Giftedness runs on both sides of the family. He is high sensitive from an emotional standpoint - in terms of how he repsonds and others. For example on the weekend he was screaming in the playground and in tears because he was trying to stop an older child from bullying a younger boy and she called him 'stupid'. He was outraged!

He often says he has trouble paying attention in class. However, he can concentrate on his iPad education games, drawing, reading, building... he has no problems concentrating on activities. He does have problems focusing when being spoken to a lot. I'm wondering if it's an auditory input thing? I have considered this many times - his speech therapist at times wouldn't stop talking and he'd have meltdowns.

Anyway, if anyone has advice for SEN discussion. And/or ideas for tutoring or workbooks and things I could get to help him. I'm worried my little perfectionist is just not engaging enough because he hate being wrong.

Thanks. Apologies for long windedness...I'm trying to hard to explain and stay awake!

The curriculum is a lot harder. A lot harder. There is a big chunk of the class who can’t even access it each year. More demands will be placed on the pupils to write at length, show workings out, etc. The worksheet/activity sheet/multiple culture of some US systems are a big no-no here for teachers. A young 7 year old who is not used to the curric and working so independently
will struggle.

I’d imagine that a proper baseline assessment hasn’t been done. Go for the meeting with the SENCO as he will have huge chunks in his learning that need to be addressed.

Take a look at the Year 2 SATs (these are standardised tests). This is the knowledge that they are assuming he has had exposure to upon entry to year 3.

I don’t know if Sen means inclusion in the uk, but an assessment does mean access to specific interventions, which may or may not be delivered in a timely fashion (or at all in a meaningful way). There is very little stigma around Sen in the UK (an astonishing proportion of children seem to be Sen) so I wouldn’t see any downside to getting an assessment. The real challenge may be getting access to that assessment - publicly funded interventions are massively oversubscribed and waitlists lengthy. If you can afford a private pathway I would do so - in the past private assessments have not always been accepted, but with the dire state of funding at the moment, private educational assessments are increasingly common and accepted.

separate from any Sen, the primary school curriculum is quite different from us to uk. Kids enter formal education 1-2 years earlier than the US, and the progression in the UK feels pretty aggressive compared to the US (from what I remember as a child in the system anyways) and sometimes seem to be moving forward despite a lack of real consolidation of earlier material. For example, multiplication is introduced in y1/2 in the uk and then taught over several years. In the US it would be taught in later years, in a more condensed format. A tutor who has early years experience might be helpful filling in gaps.

might have been nice to slip him; into private school and into year 2 vs year 3.
sounds highly likely that on most levels he will catch up.

This bit:

He is high sensitive from an emotional standpoint - in terms of how he repsonds and others. For example on the weekend he was screaming in the playground and in tears because he was trying to stop an older child from bullying a younger boy and she called him 'stupid'. He was outraged!

He often says he has trouble paying attention in class. However, he can concentrate on his iPad education games, drawing, reading, building... he has no problems concentrating on activities. He does have problems focusing when being spoken to a lot. I'm wondering if it's an auditory input thing? I have considered this many times - his speech therapist at times wouldn't stop talking and he'd have meltdowns.

makes me wonder about potential ADHD as it reminds me a lot of my ds. If he does have additional needs, then school will support him as much as is possible. Meet with the teacher and the sendco to discuss and ask questions. They will not judge you or him; they are there to help and support him.

The curriculum in the UK is more difficult I think but also remember that some of the terminology might be different from the US, which might make it even more confusing.

As an August born he could go into the year below.
I'd start there - get his year group moved somehow.

Mid-August birthday and moving from US to UK... I would definitely be asking if he could start in Y2 instead of Y3 especially if you think there may be SEN or SpLd as well.

It would be far kinder to everyone - him, you, teachers - and you may find that some of the possible SEN issues resolve by taking away a lot of the stress and being with a younger cohort.

I'd put him in the year below too, I know quite a few people who have done this and it works really well.

Around that age, my kids were in a school that ran both English and one of the US curricula.
The gap at the lower ages was noticeable. By top end of primary the differences were only noticeable by eg US presidents vs English Kings&Queens so area of knowledge rather than level.

I'd guess the gap for your son - SEN or not - would be large.

Go talk to the school. I think the idea of dropping to year 2 would be good, if your son would be ok with it. It's certainly worth discussing with school. Otherwise, they may just have picked out that he has gaps in his knowledge, and looking at putting a plan into place to cover everything. Look at the meeting as finding the best way forward for your child. It's not an exclusion meeting - that would be for awful behavior. Please don't worry about that.

I agree that it would be in his best interests to go into y2 rather than y3, but the issue will be that schools legally cannot have more than 30 pupils in a class in yR,Y1&y2 but they will sometimes go up to 31 or 32 in y3+. It might be that the school simply can't accommodate him in y2.

If you can afford a year of either private school or tutored home ed he will catch up and can rejoin ordinary school next year

sharing more info - not arguing.

Private is not an option for this solo mum who was just made redundant 2 weeks ago, 5 weeks into starting a job - 3 weeks after arriving back in UK! I considered Y2 before moving but he was constantly complaining of being board and it being too easy. I don’t think he’s ever been pushed to work through learning things that are tough other than speech. In preschool they refused to let him stay longer because he was so ahead.

ADHD - I have researched this over and over and I observe that he has extraordinary attention in things he like such as drawing very detailed explanations of where he has been, or things on his ipad whether ABC Mouse or mario bros or drawing. In class paying attention and focusing in new things that are hard for him and easy for others causes him to give up easily.

The other issue about the year change is he’s very tall and a psychologist told me holding him back would be harder for him down the road - he’s for some very tall genes in the family-6’4 - 6’7!!! He has a bit of a baby face but everyone assumes he is 8!!

Here’s some insight into him. And I learned in the last year that my birthparents were both gifted and birthfather and so was I - but I didn’t have trouble in school like this I got moved ahead in Canada because i sled ahead in the curriculum and learned on my own.

Maybe there are sites/apps for independent learning. I’m thinking out loud…

He probably needs a tutor to catch up

He will almost certainly be way behind, just because he won't have been taught the content.

To give you an idea, the us grade 1 knowledge is covered in reception (age 4-5). So he's effectively just skipped two school years.

At the end of year 2 english children do maths and English tests.

If you have a look at them and see what he can do you will get a sense of where he is.

www.sats-papers.co.uk/ks1-sats-papers/

His school probably want to talk to you about trying to catch him up - unless they are clued in on international school systems they will assume he has been in U.K. schooling system and hasn't learnt what he needs to, hence them wondering about SEN.

I would also ask if he could drop to year 2. The English curriculum is hard. My nephew has just moved from wales to England and is now in a formal learning year 2 class when he would have still been in foundation phase in wales. He is massively struggling with the change of pace and the difference in the level of work. I’m sure he’ll catch up eventually but it’s hard going.

Before enrolling him they assured me they have a lot of kids from abroad- parents have confirmed. I asked about the curriculum and they said they’d fet to know him and decide what support he might need if any. So I guess this is all to be expected but I guess I’m just stressing.

Workbooks that you could look at doing with him:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=scholfield+and+sims+year+1&crid=1EGPH2WE27SQL&sprefix=scholfield+and+sims+year+1+%2Caps%2C144&ref=nbsbbnoss2

This links to the Schofield and sims series for year 1 which is probably a good place to start.

They also do them for year 2 and have a different set for year 3 upwards.

There are also quite a few websites that he could use - in year 3 he will basically be expected to be able to read and they stop teaching phonics and move onto reading comprehension etc.

If he can't read fluently then the teach your monster to read website is quite good.

Can't recommend a maths one really. Mathletics is good but only really for year 4 upward.

Reading is a strong spot. He reads everything everywhere.

Math is the biggest problem.

i will look into those workbooks. Thank you.

https://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/primary-books/maths?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpc-oBhCGARIsAH6ote_m-CUtG5IU_2XXMUbnFwR1oRokNwKICHBhFPcAGtucOv7_zRgYcS0aAkmoEALw_wcB&sort=best_selling&quantity=36&page=1&view=grid&currentFilter=Subject_32&filter_school%20year=SchoolYearsCovered_204%2CSchoolYearsCovered_1107%2CSchoolYearsCovered_1108%2CSchoolYearsCovered_1109&filter_subject=Subject_32

For maths, I'd get the top 2 on this link.
Or Y1 if you think that is more appropriate.

Good luck!

Another math resource is cubie maths - a subscription box with workbooks aligned to national curriculum. You could go down a level if you think he needs to fill gaps in teaching. We’ve tried multiple learn at home options, and this one has worked best for us - 10 mins a day is so manageable, intuitive exercises that my dc (both y2) can navigate on their own, lots of consolidation/revision. My issue with other workbooks was that the treat learning like a linear progression and there just wasn’t enough practice. Cubie takes a step or two forward with content, and then a few steps back in the same box so you are continually practicing’old’ skills. It has been a game changer for my dc confidence with math.

I have also tried cgp, and didn’t love it, though it gets rave reviews so we might be the outlier. If you are looking to more proactively homeschool in maths, I would recommend the ‘maths no problem’ series. Also aligned with national curriculum, but all in one set (textbook and workbooks available)so you could pick and choose gap areas to address. This would probably offer more support if there are specific concepts you are teaching from home.

It’s a problem because he is technically two years behind the others, as a pp has pointed out. His knowledge is reception level. A fidgety and bright boy is going to zone out and struggle to concentrate in this situation!

You are spiralling a bit, OP. You clearly love and are worrying for your little boy- but these immediate difficulties are because our curriculum and methods of teaching are very different! This is not to say that he isn’t neurodiverse, but any difficulties will be exacerbated by the fact he will have huge gaps in his learning. I have taught lots of little
boys from different education systems and they have presented the same where there are learning gaps.

He needs a full assessment to see exactly where his gaps are across the key stages (early years and key stage one). Not an SEN assessment- a general one.

Yes, exactly this. If he is struggling with the work, this would make most sense. We know someone who moved from the US and had an August bday so they put the dc in the year below and they thrived there.

I’m spiraling??

I don’t understand why you're saying there are two years difference in curriculum? Californa first grade is equivalent to year 2. If he was still in CA he would be going into second grade. He’s been in preschool like montessori from his 2nd birthday till the day before kindergarten. He was not doing remote learning for very long unlike many kids. He had high grades in first grade and the had 12 weeks holiday before starting in the UK. Which is a long break and schools in CA do review work to get them up to speed post-holiday. I’m surprised people are suggesting putting him backwards. I thought that was pretty much not done in the UK? Ans I saw myself in the US the kids that got held back because of the pandemic were NOT thriving the second year. And there’s psychic research that shows that holding back children almost always fails to achieve long term results.

First grade would be equivalent to Year 2 with regards to age but equivalent to Year 1 with regards to the level of the curriculum. Add in a three month summer holiday and curriculum differences in the order and way things are taught as well and going into Year 2 might be a better choice. It wouldn't be going backwards, it would just be undoing a year skip. If he moved into Year 2, he might not even be the oldest if children have deferred, and if he is, it will only be by a couple of weeks.

California grade 1 maths standards:

www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/documents/mathfwgrade1.pdf

Addition and subtraction within 20
Count to 120
Understand place value with tens and units
Find ten more or ten less than a 2 digit number
Add and subtract within 100
Tell and write time to hour and half hour

All of these except the last two are maths standards for reception (pre year 1) in the U.K. the last two are standards for year 1.
So the U.K. schooling year that most closely matches US grade 1 is reception.

That's why people are saying there is two years difference. It's literally built into the curriculum. The U.K. starts early and moves fast. Other schooling systems start later and move slower (but often get similar results in terms of achievement later on).

By contrast,

U.K. year 2 maths standards

www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/national-curriculum-for-year-2-maths#:~:text=In%20year%202%2C%20pupils%20will,multiplication%2C%20division%20and%20equals%20signs.

Add and subtract within 100
Count in 2,5 or 10s from any number
Know multiplication and division facts for 2 5 and 10 times tables
Recognise simple fractions and equivalence
Tell and write the time to 5 mins
Use standard measurement units - cm and metres
Use pounds and pence to solve money problems

So your son has skipped the introduction of multiplication and division, measuring with units, money problems, telling the time to the nearest 5 mins and working with fractions.

Some of this he might just pick up, but it's hard if there are a lot of gaps.

I don't think he necessarily needs to be held back, particularly if he has been on the more able side of things in US.

I have just retired from tutoring and I have worked with a lot of children with specific learning difficulties. I think there is one basic thing you can do that may change things considerably for him. Always make sure you are praising his efforts, not his actual level of achievement. So "wow, I really liked the way you stuck at learning those spellings till you really knew them" rather than " well done you got 9/10" and "I can see how hard you are working and I'm proud of you for sticking at something you find tricky" rather than "keep going and you will succeed ".

Please just try it consistently for a few weeks. You may be very surprised!

It's very unusual for a child to be held back.

It's very common for a child moving internationally to go into a year group that is not their age group.

For example, many countries don't teach reading until age 7. If a child goes through their schooling system until age 7 and then transfers to the U.K. they are going to have massive problems because the U.K. teaches reading from age 4-7, and they cannot read at all but if put in the correct age class will be expected to read.
So they might go in a class down, to make life less impossible for them.

Equally, kids coming in from Hong Kong are often way ahead of U.K. kids as they get started even earlier so they often slot in above their age.

The US education system runs much more slowly than the U.K. system. I don't know your son, so I can't say for sure, but most kids coming in from the US are behind compared to U.K. kids and also have trouble adjusting to the very different culture in schools.