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?

Some racial groups are over/underrepresented at grammar schools.

It's for complex reasons, but I don't think it is racist to acknowledge it.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2016-09-08/45763/

I did it, when I went to school a year early, at 3.5. It was the 1980s, so different times.... I was a precocious little madam; reading at 2, and talking the hind leg off a donkey. I was near the cut off (couple of months), and my Mum was a teacher, so they took her view also.
I never really struggled with academic work, and it wasn't so much of an issue then, but I did struggle when I went to Uni, just before I turned 17 (Scotland.) I don't think I really had the emotional maturity, despite seeming like I did.

@deanstreet
Technically , you could just tutor your DC GCSE and A level very early and then get accepted by uni immediately. Nobody in the UK is going to stop you. If you and your DC do not have that kind of ambition/ability/confidence, it is probably better not to skip any grades.

What month were you born in?

@deanstreet Grammar schools and other selective schools are filled with non-white (high proportion of Asian in our area) kids because these parents tend to have an “immigrant” mindset, whereby they push their kids to achieve academically, normally aiming for a profession, rather than viewing education as an exercise in curiosity.

I speak as a working class Northern Irish Catholic, where my mother’s mindset was exactly that immigrant mindset, and Lisa McGee also suggests it in the script of Derry Girls. I attended an extremely academic grammar school, which paved the path to Oxbridge.

Waiting for the deluge of criticism, but the stand up sets of countless BAME stand-up comedians touch upon this phenomenon.

This statement typifies the attitude about which I’m talking. EVERYTHING is a cut-throat competition.

It’s so wearing. And I speak as one who “won” that competition (at least at secondary level).

Universities are less keen on taking people early than they used to be.

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/before/entry-requirements

they also generally want the a levels all sat in one sitting.

I'm with you, @Piglet89, and know exactly what you mean (West Indian and Irish parents).

@Piglet89 Good for you, England needs more people like you and your fam.

@Alouestthanks! Also: academic pressure squared in your case! 🤣

@deanstreetI grew up in 1980s west Belfast - don’t give me the “England needs” bit.

@Octavia64 true about the one sitting thing. A very bright boy at my children's school failed to get a place for Maths at Cambridge for that reason. Very poorly advised by a poor school. Parents had flattered themselves that he was bright enough to take an A level early and get it in the bag (he was - and is super bright, and lovely), and school let him do it. He was so deflated when he realised it was a wrong move.
Although happily he went to Warwick and is now earning three times what my children are! So no overall harm done!

January - so quite a lot younger. I was tall, so it wasn't obvious. The first year I was ahead, there was actually another girl who was two years ahead (September birthday, so 13 months under-age). I moved school after that, and I was the only one there.