Would you put a 4 year old to a Year 1 class?

[rrbrigi]

Hi,

I have a son who will be 4 in July and will start the school in Sept 2012. I have lots of concerns which scholl to send him. He is a very bright child, I am not sure if he is gifted but academiccly very bright. He is very good in reading, math, computer, languages etc.
I would prefer to send him in year1, because he already knows everything that a reception year old child needs to know.
I heard even if a teacher does some extra work with gifted children it still would be the same work with more practice. E.g.: if children learn the phonics (s a t p i n) in school, the gifted children will learn the same phonics (even if he already knows them), he only will do extra works, so he does more practice but won't learn anything new. It means for me that he will loose the possibility to learn more quickly than others, and he will loose the interest about learning (doing the things that he already knows)and I think it can lead to behavioural issues.
Because of this reason I probably would like to send him in a private school where I will pay so I might have voice in his education. The other reason why I probably need to send him to a private school is because there is no option to start in Year1 instead of reception year in stat schools.

I would like to hear some comment from you, how your child school helped your child to develop his gift or brightness from reception year. Or if you have a child who started in Year1 at the age of 4 instead of a reception year euther in a state school or in a private school.
Please write to me if you know any good school for a bright child in West Sussex (Horsham area).

Thanks for your response.

He would have only just turned 4! Just because he is bright doesn't mean he's ready for the more formal teaching of year 1.

FWIW, children who are g&t are just put on a list at the school. My dd1 is very bright and was put on the g&t register. My ds, who I think is academically brighter, isn't on the list but still gets enough attention at school so that he doesn't lose interest.

What's also important is how much time and encouragement you give them as a parent.

Your son is just over 3 and you already can tell he is very good at "reading, math, computer, languages etc." ?! What does that mean exactly ?

As someone else said - there is a lot to learn socially as well as the academic side (feels wrong to be calling what they do at 4-5 as academic !). I jumping straight in to year 1 at age just over 4 would be tough on most. How is he for dressing himself, etc ?

Sorry, but no. He needs to learn to socialise and get used to being in a school environment. If he's genuinely gifted, that can be dealt with later. I'm not sure sending him to private school would make much difference, either - certainly none of the private schools my DCs have attended would ever have taken a child straight into Year 1. Added to which, any decent school will already have filled Year 1 already anyway.

Agree with the previous posters. In particular, when a child is very advanced before school, they are usually used to working at that level in a 1:1 situation. They may well find it harder in a class situation. Plus, the physical, social and emotional development will be vastly differnt between children who are five and have had a year in reception to a four year old newly arrived in school.

"...because he already knows everything that a reception year old child needs to know. "

But he doesn't really. Reception is about so much more than reading/writing/maths etc.

On a practical level, you need to actually speak to your local schools to find out how they handle this kind of situation. Even private schools may not be prepared to put your son in a higher year group.

there are a lot of skills to learn in reception that aren't so academic, some of which he needs to be able to do to learn effectively as he progresses through school, others to make school a happy experience. he needs to learn to sit and listen to the teacher, to take turns with others and concentrate. he needs to learn to follow instructions and the general day to day following of school routines. for a four year old the full days are long and tiriing. he needs to get used to these as well. socially children benefit being with their peers.

lots of bright children know a lot of the reception curriculum, but still benefit from a reception year. an enormous amount of learning occurs through play. lots of science/geography/history is covered in knowledge and understanding of the world. a good teacher will differentiate and extend bright children.

go and look around schools and ask lots of questions. you will get a feel for what is available.

No - being in a class with older children is much more likely to cause behaviour problems etc than doing a reception year. His needs will be better served by being with his own age-group, and having appropriate work.

If you could put him in the year above, he will struggle socially. Academically, if he is genuinely gifted, he will soon outstrip his new classmates in some subjects. This will not help him make friends either - he'll be viewed as an oddity, and resented. In his proper age group class, he may well be seen as unusual if he's ahead academically, but the rest of the class will not resent "one of their own" happening to be ahead, if it's handled well. To deal with a child a year younger being at the top of the class is more than most young children will be able to accept cheerfully.

If he finds the academic work in reception easy, then stretch him sideways to give him new challenges - start a musical instrument, a sport, drama classes. Or let him have every book on volcanoes or dinosaurs or spaceships from the library to have as his special interest.

I think your ds would do better in a year 1 class is my honest opinion, But Im pretty sure it will not happen.

Do you know the set up of the classes? In my dds school there is a R class and an R/1 class. he may do better in a set up like that.

I clicked on the thread to say "yes" because my DS was 4 when he went into Y1 but having read the OP - an only-just-4yo straight into Y1 - no way. My DS is a winter baby and went into YR at 3.10 (and is also tall and mature for his age so fits perfectly into the year group he is still in 5 years later). OP your DS would miss out on a year's worth of learning how school works.

Most private schools (if they do it at all) wait to around years 4 or 5 (according to teacher friend of mine). BUT July is young in a year already so what about years later (at secondary) will they be to small for sports, what about puberty, what about socialising..... There is so much that is different at school in a class compared to the 1:1 that children advanced when younger often benefit from.
A good school will realise early on your child is bright (this will be helped by the smaller class sizes if private). Ds is very bright a year up would make no difference (he would still be years ahead in certain areas) so what would be the point of risking alienating him from class peers due to age. Schools can do a lot to make sure children are learning . DS gets approaching 3 hours a week 1-2-1 and loves it, so they eally do thir best.

if you do send him to an independent school, they may recommend that he skips a year at some point - but not YR. They will find other ways to stretch him.

Rubbish keyboard excuse typos please! "really do their best", "too small for sports"....

Thanks for your answers.

He has been in the nursery for 2 years. This is the second year for him. So he has two year to get used to being in a group. And anyway if I am right some children who leave the nursery at the age of 5 can start the school in Year 1. My child attands to a Montessori nursery where every children in the same room from the age of 2 to 5. He is eating or going to the toielt by himself, however he is not dressing up himself (although I still have one year to teach him). I know it would be a bit hard for him, but I am here to help him either socialy or academicly. As a mum I do lots of activities with him at home. E.g.: we are sitting dow every day to do a bit of reading, a bit of math, going out to speak about nature etc. He does not need a lot of encouragment, he learns because he likes it. If one day I forgot to read with him, he asks me to do it. Of course what he knows, he knows from me. I won't say that he learnt reading or computer by himself, but how I proved he is ready for learning. I do agree with the statment that "genius are made and not born" (most of the time). I do not need to give you a better exemple than the Hungarian Polgar sisters in chess.

"socialise and get used to being in a school environment". So what about a child who was home educated but the parents cannot afford any more so the child need to go back to school? He or she never learned how to be in a school environment.

"...because he already knows everything that a reception year old child needs to know. "
I found a table on the inernet what tells me what the children needs to know at the end of the early years foundation. It states 6 topics with 9 level. An avarage child are around level 6 at the end of reception. Academicly my son is more than level 6 in any area, and I think socialy he is around level 6 (but I still have a couple of month to improve it).

Please could you give me some example how the schools helped your gifted child?

Thanks.

if you do send him to an independent school, they may recommend that he skips a year at some point - but not YR. They will find other ways to stretch him.

3 hours a week 1-2-1. maths/reading/problem solving. He learns the piano at school.

if I am right some children who leave the nursery at the age of 5 can start the school in Year 1.

Do you mean in a state school in England?

DD is really very bright indeed. She has just started reception and is the youngest in her year. I made a point of sending her out of catchment to ensure that she attended a school with a reception class instead of a combined class because I wanted to avoid the formal learning at 4 and put her in a setting that encouraged learning through play.

DD might be able to read, write, do maths etc but reception, to me, is about much more than that. The challenges she faces in terms of socialising, sharing her academic environment, navigating friendships and good old fashioned play are just as important, if not more important than academic capabilities atm. Because she is just classically intelligent, we need only encourage her and provide her with the tools to progress with that. A bright child usually motivates themselves to learn given the opportunity but there are things they HAVE to learn that they can only do through being put in an age appropriate setting.

The school is fab. DD's reading is better, her writing better, her maths better, even in 3 weeks and that's important. But she doesn't know she's learning. The real things they're working on is teaching her that just because she knows the answer, it's not always hers to give, that friendships with children are different to the ones she has with adults, that the school lunch hall is its own arena with its own rules and conventions etc. She is growing as a person. Reception is letting her do that. Given the choice she would gravitate towards older children and she is academically equal to older children BUT I am really keen that she learns to be around her peers and learns the million things that reading a book won't cover. And it's lovely to see her being a child. She deserves it. The academic bit won't pass her by. She can seize that alongside the friendships and learning her place in the world. There's time.

Agree with blackeyedsusan re what children learn in reception.
IME re 'academic' work in reception the teacher will differentiate. My dd brought home more advanced reading books and extra flashcards, for example.

I would like to tell you, that he never liked his peers. I do not know how it works in the nursery (if he plays with children or if he plays only with teachers). When I ask him he says to me he only played with the teachers. When I ask the teacher she says to me he mostly plays alone or with teachers, but she saw him to play with other children a little bit. Outside from the nursery I have never ever seen him to play happily with any other child in the same age. Sometimes I force him to play with other children and he does it. But he is not happy. If I force him to play with children, it is bad for him and bad for me. It is bad for me, because I feel so sad to see him being frustrated and not happy. It is bad for him, because if I force him he won't like children better will he? And he just feels that I do not stand out for him. So I decided I won't force him any more (we had a couple of very bad experience because of this). Until he is happy I do not mind if he play with children or adult or even alone.

"if I am right some children who leave the nursery at the age of 5 can start the school in Year 1.

Do you mean in a state school in England?"

Yes I mean in England in a stat school. My neighbour's daughter was five in early September and as far as I know she started in Year 1, however she was in the nursery nearly the age of five.

Alarm bells should be ringing now, this is even more reason for him to be in the right age group (he needs to learn to interact with children of a similar age). There maybe something else going on or he is just a little slower on developing social skills.

Your neighbours child was very nearly 5 (if September) your child is a July birthday.

If the school is good they will not slow your child's learning but just make the social side easier.