Being moved up a year in nursery

[bedubabe]

Yeah I know, I know it has the word 'nursery' in the title and it's in the G&T thread and I'm therefore going to be told that everything DS does is compeltely within the limits of 'normal' and I'm being PFB :)

Actually this thread isn't about that really. DS is probably quite a bright little boy but he's not doing advanced calculus at 2.3 or anything along those lines. I'm just wondering whether anyone has any thoughts/opinions on nursery and shifting classes.

Background is DS is a September child. Nursery have (off their own backs) done an assessment and said his current class is too easy for him and have shifted him up the the next class. It's effectively an academic year shift because of his age but the children are actually only about six months older.

His new class has chairs around a central desk and is obviously more classroom like rather than just being mats on the floor etc.

I'm actually concerned that this isn't in his best interests but I think I'm now being pfb! I'm very anti acceleration at school age but not sure what I feel about nursery. Basically, I don't like the idea of kids being placed outside their age group and feel if you're only accelerating a year (which would be ok socially) then that should be dealable with in terms of differention in the classroom. I'm concerned that what will happen is he'll have to repeat a year when all his classmates go off to school. I also feel like it's labeling him as 'clever' at too young an age.

Any opinions? DH thinks I'm being rediculous and we should just go with the flow. I'm fully realising that I may be. :)

I'd see how he got on, what he was doing and whether he was still enjoying it to be honest. Thy evidently feel he will be better placed in the older group but this might be because it's easier for them IYSWIM.

Give it a chance and then they will either be shown to be right or you will have proper grounds to ask for him to be moved back.

Are you saying he is only 2? Without meaning to sound like I'm freaking out here, how can what a 2yo does in nursery be "too easy for him"? Surely what he should be doing in nursery is a wide range of activities, some of which may have an academic component, but many others would be about "sharing nicely" and "wiping your own bum", etc? Personally, I'd be worried about what they think their focus ought to be with such young children, if academic achievement is the main criterion they are categorising the children by.

hmmm. depends. Do they normally only move them once a year - DS's nursery used to move them within a month of their birthdays?

DS (november baby) consistently moved early, though - because his self-selected "peer group" was older than him, and he would get bored (and start playing up) when they moved and he was left with what he regarded as "babies" (he was never good at playing with DC younger than him). Nursery resisted this when it came to moving into the "pre-school" group, but DS set up a determined campaign, starting with refusing to nap, so he was sent up to the pre-school group while the rest of "his" group napped, and then he would "forget" to go back again, until they eventually gave in .

Be aware, though, that if you do this then you may have an issue when all his friends leave to go to school and he is "left behind" at nursery. We moved house at that stage, but if we hadn't would probably have moved DS to a different nursery anyway, otherwise he would have been a nightmare.

So, it may or may not be the right thing for your DS, but YANBU to question it.

How can a current class be too easy for a two year old?!!

What are they trying to teach him?!

Is he in nursery while you work ie for childcare?

Why isn't he playing rather than sitting around a desk!

And what class he's in at nursery won't have anything to do with school - he'll still go at age 4 into reception

OP says the room is "more classroom like rather than just being mats on the floor etc." - not that they are sat at desks learning stuff

..I would bet that it is all still play - just that as they start doing more stuff, it is easier for some of it to be done on a table rather than on the floor - nothing wrong with that.

Yep he's 2 and this is what I'm concerned about! However, I'm very aware that I've got hothousing tendencies (as demonstrated by my knowledge of the existence of this board when DS is only 2!) and sometimes don't know if I'm over compensating or not.

Apparently what is 'too easy' is things like games where they stack blocks (example off the top of my head). He can do it without thinking whilst other children might only just be starting to get the idea. They have commented that he helps explain games to the other children :) For example, he is the only child potty trained in the class. There was a mention of him starting 'academic study' at one stage but I just assumed they meant they'd teach shapes and colours.

They don't tend to move them mid year but it's not a straight academic year split either - I think there are about two classes per year.

I think I'm going to let them carry on for their week's trial and see how it goes. I am concerned this might be influenced by their own agenda rather than by what's best for DS (for example, I'm suspicious they wanted to free up a space in his class but have no basis for this!).

Gumby - I know it won't have anything to do with his class at school. My concern is that he'll get to the final year, all his friends will go off to school and he'll have to repeat. However, I think I've decided we can deal with that as it happens. We can always shift him to another nursery at that stage if necessary.

My kid (now 6) -D.O.B. 6th Oct. was in a similar position. - friends with older kids, likes a challenge and yes found things in nursery class between 2 & 3 beneath her - for example -she finshed games/jigsaws too quickly, so yes it is possible and yes she is now 'labelled' G&T but thats not what this thread is about.
I mentioned about her friends to nursery and it was pointed out to me that because of her birthday she would be in the pre-school part for a long time (nearly 2 years) which they had seen before (obviously) and they had seen that keeping her with her peers who she would go to school with would be the best thing as that is what would happen when they started school anyway. Being a september child I can tell you that the 6 months before she starts school are going to be tough on both of you - especially if she fulfills the early signs and is a bright kid. I ended up for the last 2 months taking annual leave and taking her out of nursery every wednesday and going out for a day to museums, theme parks - what we called 'adventure days'. It meant she then didnt mind being in nursery for the rest of the week. I was lucky I could do that.
My advice - do your utmost to keep her with her peers. You are in for a tough time soon enough as there is no way he will be allowed to start school anyway and will be devastated and will not understand why his friends have started school and he hasnt.

Xpost - it's just that there's a table in the room with chairs around it not that they're infront of a blackboard or anything.

I would be concerned that the ratios weren't right

At 2yrs it should be 1 adult to 4 children whereas at 3yrs it's 1 adult to 8 (or sometimes 13) children

meant to say there is no way he will be allowed to start school a year early anyway

Not intentionally dripfeeding but we're not in the UK so the ratios don't apply (and there's no difference between the classes that I've seen). Also, this means I could get him into school a year early but I don't want to!

As long as you recognise (as others have said) that the "wait" to go to school may be painful for all concerned, I would be inclined to keep him with whichever group makes him happy. Personally I don't see the point in any child being bored and am paranoid that if they start getting bored (on a regular, ongoing basis) in nursery/school then it is very hard to get them interested again, so in your situation, if DS is happy in the older group, I would leave him there, and start making plans for that school transition.

would agree with what others have said. not that our DS is G&T, but as a very early sept born, by the time he starts school this september he would have done nearly 2 years in the preschool room (think he went up at 3 and a few weeks). he does 'get' things quite quickly and so has been fine keeping up in the preschool room, though it was incredibly hard for over the summer seeing all of his friends leave for 'big school', and we still have to deal with the fallout of that some days. its hard watching him being upset over such things, but then theres not much one can do!

if your DS is happy where he is, i would personally leave him. in our nursery although they are doing lots of prep for school (phonics, numbers, writing names etc) the emphasis is most definately still on playing - just as it should be at that age i think.

What are the age groups in the two classes? At our nursery they have under 2s, 2-3 yr olds (move when they turn 2), and 3-4 (move the academic year before they start school or a touch earlier for the oldest). DS has just turned 2 and went up to the 2-3 yr old group slightly early. He's noticeably happier in the older group where things are busier, there's more structure and more exciting activities. Being the oldest with little ones who are not yet especially verbal or able to concentrate for long was getting a little dull I think. If that's all it is (moving from being the oldest in a group to the youngest with those just older than him)

Having said that I do find the idea of things being 'too easy' at this age odd. Surely a lot of the learning at this age comes from playing and the way in which the adults play with the children e.g. 'can you find the blue train' ' can you find the biggest one' 'shall we count them' etc which is pretty easy to adapt to each child's stage even within a group.

If it was the nursery my DD went to I would suspect it is mainly to even out the classes. In her case they tried to put her in a lower group when she started at 2, but I pointed out the others were all just beginning to speak where as she was very fluent (the head observed her and agreed to put her up). However at 3 they refused to put her up with most of her contemporaries as she was an October birthday. The next year she skipped 2 groups and was with reception children. This was all more to do with the class sizes than her needs.

Thanks all. I don't have answers to a lot of questions I've been asked because DH does pickup and so I just have answers to the questions he thought about asking :) It's also hard for me to communicate with the teacher because this is all in a language I don't speak terribly well.

Classes normally seem to get reorganised in September. I had assumed there was one per academic year but it appears there are two roughly split on age. Nursery have said most children in the new class are 5-6 months older than DS. At 2 that's quite a big age gap but one I'm sure he can cope with. I'm just not certain I see the point!

Teacher has said that they think he'll be happier in the older class. To be honest he's a pretty laid back kid (teacher also told DH he's the nicest kid she's ever taught which is 1000 times more important to me than whether he can tell an oval from a circle) and there were no signs he was unhappy where he was.

I guess it's just wait and see. I'm just slightly concerned they'll try this again in about 6 months!

Ps advice and warnings on the September born children and school appreciated and noted. It's quite possible a lot of the children in his new class will be moving onto 'pre-school' this coming September (one of the main intakes here is at 3 not 4) so we'll have a trial run. Plan is DS doesn't go until Reception age but we might have to revise that.