Skipping a year in primary

[deanstreet]

I see it is very very rare to skip a year in UK whilst it is not uncommon in America or Australia or France. The most commonly cited reason is social and emotional development rather than the academics.

After reading a few research papers found online, it seems very inconclusive, just like any social science and is eventually "it depends".

The US Accelerated Institute advocates skipping.
I am reading its [clearly self-serving] book now and it seems rather logical and aligns with my common sense.

Problem is almost all 7+ preps (Latymer etc) state entry year is strictly by age. 11+ admission policies also state it is essentially by age, except special circumstances and at the discretion of the school. Even the child is absolutely fine coping with a year ahead and can perform well in 11+ assessment, the age policy alone will handicap the child.

Opinions?

It is possible to start school a year earlier in my country (Finland) after assessment by an educational psychologist to see if they are ready academically and socially/emotionally (also possible to do two years of preschool if the educational psychologist deems them not ready academically or social/emotionally for 1st grade) but I don't think its very common. There's no way I would have agreed to it even though DS was definitely ahead of his peers before starting school. Being kept back is more common though so year groups still aren't always all the same age.

My DD had two kids in her primary class who had skipped a year (we are not in the UK). One of them (a boy) was fine but she used to talk about the other, a girl, a lot because she wasn’t actually keeping up with the work. and no one liked her. She needed special help in certain areas. And my daughter didn’t understand why she had been allowed to skip. She was a ‘pain’ and disrupted class a lot. The feeing was that she was good at one thing (eg math) and her parents had pushed for her to skip.

“Social club” is definitely a pejorative term.

I was the bright one in school and could probs have skipped a year.

I was also an only child with poor social skills and no friends. I am not unsuccessful in adulthood - but nowhere near as successful as my academic attainment might have suggested. Interested in what @harrietMhas said - I am currently seeking an autism diagnosis. I wouldn’t say my social skills are horrifically poor now I am nearly 45 - they have definitely improved with maturity. However, I am honestly not sure whether I’m masking or not.

Anyway, social skills matter hugely and I agree they’re a big predictor of later success. We’re a social species.

Because you were bright but never bored then bright children don't get bored? That's a remarkable leap of logic. Schools vary, teachers vary, children vary. There's plenty of room in there for some bright children to get bored.

I was bright and bored at primary school and one of my goals for my children at primary school was that they not be as bored as I was. I don't think I succeeded for my DD who was born 15 days late and ended up in the year below the one she would have been in if born on time. It is the equivalent of deciding that some late August children shouldn't be deferred for a child like mine to be in the year ahead.

I know someone who skipped a year by sitting the 11+ a year early. The school - Habs Boys - just agreed to let him start. It was ages ago though so might not be permitted today.

No obvious ill effect - just meant they entered the workforce a year early.

Not UK - I skipped year 1, then repeated year 5. It didn’t really seem worth it, and it’s very disrupting socially.

I skipped a year into boarding school at 12, June birthday, left school just after turning 17. Went to Cambridge but struggled socially all my life. This was made worse by my parents living abroad in various countries, so I never had friends to see in the holidays. I spent my school years being told I was immature, would never do it to my children.

The scathing “social club” comment said it all. Surely a child won’t have a particularly happy life however much of a genius they are if they can’t get on with and relate to their peers and form friendships and relationships.

Op seems to have a very narrow binary view of life. Relieved mine are normally clever but have lots of lovely friends. Far preferable to an isolated genius. They might end up like Elon musk!

The scathing “social club” comment said it all. Surely a child won’t have a particularly happy life however much of a genius they are if they can’t get on with and relate to their peers and form friendships and relationships.

Op seems to have a very narrow binary view of life. Relieved mine are normally clever but have lots of lovely friends. Far preferable to an isolated genius. They might end up like Elon musk!

The benefits would be the child is less bored.

Genuinely my kids (very good at maths) now hate maths lessons as the pace is glacial and they are expected to help other kids (and are sat next to disruptive kids for the purpose).

I went to a primary with mixed year classes; when my class was mixed with an older year I sat with the older kids which was great.

Ex teacher.

the range of abilities within each year group is really, really large, and it really starts to become obvious from year 3 onwards.

most classes in the U.K. have at least five or six children who are working easily at the level of the year above, and one or two who are beyond that.

the issue comes with that most kids aren’t spectacular at everything and benefit from eg year 3 teaching in maths even if they are at year 4 level in English.

for the few kids who are genuinely working at the year above for everything the usual U.K. advice is to broaden rather than accelerate - so learn an instrument, join a chess club, start a foreign language out of school etc. this helps build a strong base for secondary and also broaden the interests

kids who are years ahead but only in one subject (and this is usually maths) need to stay with the year group because on balance they need the whole year programme. Ideally they’d get additional challenge in their area of talent.

Extra curriculars, great as they are, don't stop boredom in school lessons.

No - I was giving my personal experience but I am surrounded by people (friends and colleagues) who were/are some of the most academically successful in the country and I don’t know a single one who was bored at school. By contrast, some of the people I know who skipped a year really disliked it, for a variety of reasons.

Only can you can say why you were bored at primary. Perhaps you didn’t have much initiative or imagination, or perhaps it was all the fault of your teachers. But if a child is really only 1 year ahead of their peers it is absolutely possible to facilitate that in any normal classroom. And if they are more than 1 year ahead, accelerating them by a year isn’t going to stop them being bored.

I wish there was a year swap mechanism in the UK. I would choose to have my child (August birthday) repeat a year now as in mid primary the age maturation gap is affecting her confidence and learning. She was fine in early years, but if I’d known then what I know I’d have held her back at the start. In the US apparently it’s common to repeat a year. She would have been best off repeating this year. Oh well… the system is what it is.

What does “too much risk on the family” mean to you?

I think you would be limiting their prospects by rushing them through school. Remember there are lots of bright people. Passing exams flawlessly for many many people is the easy bit and will not make them stand out in the top jobs. For many careers they will need outstanding social skills and a strong ability to lead and network.

I know of a girl who skipped a year in high and suffered a breakdown in year 11 due to the stress and pressure. She ended up going back to the correct year to repeat the year. It was all so unnecessary

I don’t think anyone sees school as a ‘social club’. But people (quite rightly) consider social skills to be just as important as academic skills. Skipping a year can have a negative impact on social (and emotional) skills which is detrimental for the future.

i really can’t understand the point of skipping a year. Unless parents just want to do it for the boast. Kids get nothing out of it. They all finish school eventually so nothing is gained there. Teachers differentiate. It doesn’t give them some great edge in life

We weren't given the scope for imagination or initiative once we had finished our work at school. We did things like copying out and illustrating psalms, once our work was done. My primary school felt distinctly unambitous, focusing on all of the children working through the curriculum at the same pace.

Schools have changed since then, but the provision for the brighter pupils is really variable. Maths seems to be the biggest problem for me and my DDs. The implementation of a "mastery approach" limits opportunities unless you have an excellent teacher who will actually go the extra mile for the most able. The spiral curriculum makes sense, but the spiral is often wound too tight for more able pupils. The best we've had was a teacher who provided a folder of extension work, things like Nrich. But that was a one-off.

I know a lot of bright people too. I've never asked them if they were bored in school, I don't know why I would.

Not in the UK but a friends DD has skipped a year, intellectually more than capable, started being more challenging as latter teens (parties, underage drinking) but the big one is she has discovered her chances of getting into med school are limited as many have age limits. Rationally her parents and she gets why, but it has thrown an unexpected challenge on her Uni plans.

Cannot understand why you would want to do this.

Childhood should be as long as possible!

Ah so you’ve gone with the blame the teachers option.

As others have pointed out, and I’ll say it again, (a) it’s unlikely a child who is good at maths is equally advanced across the board and (b) if they are actually gifted at maths then a 1 year acceleration won’t cut it. If my children wanted to do extra maths problems in their free time I could facilitate this, but they don’t - they’d rather play with their friends. They will learn harder maths as they progress through school and I’m sure they will excel. No doubt you can find ways to entertain and challenge your children that don’t involve socially handicapping them and eg ensuring they are exposed to alcohol and sex while underage.

One of the friends I mentioned graduated top of the year in a science discipline at Cambridge with multiple academic prizes and is a truly gifted mathematician (and now academic at Cambridge). She was in my class at school and not accelerated. We had a whale of time at school. Without wishing to be rude, I doubt you or your children are in that category of giftedness (because almost no one is).

Someone in DD's class is very good at maths, the teacher has her do work from the year above, and soon she'll move onto the work of the year above that. She's not ahead in everything so this way clearly makes much more sense than advancing her.

In primary school I was ahead in everything but socially I would not have managed skipping ahead. Instead my teachers gave extension work and allowed me to go help in the reception class which I loved doing, and in year 6 I went to the secondary school for extension maths. My brother was way ahead in maths and the school arranged a tutor for him to do work on his level but I doubt schools would have money for that now!

Absolutely not that level, just bog standard Oxbridge. I do have a friend like that, I've never asked her about primary school as we met at secondary.

Interestingly, my DD has also struggled with the social immaturity of her peers. Being the oldest in the year and mature for her age wasn't great at primary, though it is getting less noticeable in her teens.

I do think blame the teachers makes sense. Those hours at school are inescapable, no matter what extra opportunities are available at home. If you are explicitly directed to do repetitive, dull work, you can hardly blame either the child for finding it boring or the parent for being unable to interceed.

I started school a year ahead of myself due to an old-fashioned admissions rule at the independent primary I attended. This meant that I was a year ahead of myself the whole time through my education and it was not detrimental in any way. I won a lot of school prizes nevertheless and I passed the 11+ and went to a top university with no problem - I did take a gap year but would have done this anyway, and it allowed me to then study with my 'correct' academic group.. I dont think it is always a bad thing. Equally I have a son who is the eldest in his year group and there is no way he would be ready to jump a year. It is child dependent - it is sad to hear it isn't really allowed any longer

what month were you born?