who can share an experience with jumping over the Year ahead at school?

[Al1234]

I am new to this forum and need your help. Everybody is so proud of kids, so do I :) I want my twins to finish Primary school 2 years earlier at thier 8-9 y.o.
They are now at Reception. Reading is higher than Gold band (teacher keeps them on this level but they read any books now), maths even better than reading.
I think thier level is about Year 3 of English Primary School (we do all Bonds books and cover the primary school of another country).
Is it possible to put them into Year 2 or to Year 3 this September and where I need to go and what I need to do?
Thanks a lot.

You could of course home tutor which would give you the flexibility to teach them at their pace and learning level, but basically following the National Curriculum - it would also enable you to enrich their learning experience beyond the NC to incorporate other learning experiences that you and they would value as a family ;-)

I'd just like to go against the stream and say that I skipped a year aged 8 (another 70s child) and it was absolutely fine - no problems at all (also saved my DPs a year of school fees, though that's not why it was done).

However I do not think it is the solution to the OP's problem, and will be well-nigh impossible in the UK state system.

I'm really not sure why you want them to finish primary school early. What's the plan? It sounds as though your children are bright, not 'skip a year' bright though. The only reason why my son was allowed to do this, was because he was working 3+ years ahead and he was bored, even though his work was adapted to his needs. I seriously don't think that it's a good idea.

I really don't see why you need them to move ahead in primary school just because you want to take them abroad for a couple of years.

There is no such thing as 'graduating from primary school' in the UK, or any set list of things they need to have accomplished. Plenty of families move abroad for a few years and back into the UK education system with no problems, and you could easily do the same.

By trying to push them into 'finishing' primary school before you go abroad, you will just put them under huge pressure, and quite possibly damage their emotional development, as well as being unhelpful for their education.

If you are unhappy with their present school, you can either supplement with activities at home, or even tutoring (though that is really not a good idea at reception age), or find a different school.

But I very much doubt that even a private school would support a suggestion to move them two years ahead of their age group unless they are both academically gifted and socially and physically mature for their ages.

Kids get put up a year if the year above is better suited to their needs, and ideally they don't stick out like a sore thumb. I was a year ahead, and way too tall (tallest girl in my year - so would have been even worse if I had been in the year below). DD has been put up a year, and again is very tall (ie still the tallest) and is top of the class. She also emotionally identifies with that year group of children - she is happier in the new class than the old. I wasn't given a choice, but if she hadn't ticked all three of those boxes I would have protested. Makes no difference academically - she is still top and still bored the majority of the time - but because she gets on better with those kids, she enjoys herself more IFSWIM.

IMO education isn't a race, or a set of targets to be ticked - what I want for my DD is that she enjoys learning new things and her curiosity is encouraged, that she enjoys socialising with others (particularly that she gets to be with like minded kids), that she doesn't get tired out so she can still to extra curricular stuff if she wants to, and she wants to go to school in the morning! I think the most important thing is the attitude to learning which will help them the most in future years - spoon fed kids educated to a tick box system will not necessarily if at all turn into the university students with the most enquiring minds who will get the most out of that experience.

If I were you, I would encourage them with learning in a foreign language, read lots together and let them develop their imaginations, let them make things and be creative, and then when you go abroad take the necessary Bond books with you, so you can feel that they have 'completed' their UK primary education!

I think it can be done but you can not skip from key stage 1 to 2 until they are old enough. Dd1 has always worked with the year above (but her classes arer mixed year groups (so her class is made up of year 3's and year 4's, she's year 3 but works with the year 4's). When she was in year 2 and still key stage 1 they would not allow for her to work with the year above (as they were key stage 2) but now she's key stage 2 she has access to all key stage 2 work (which ever work suits her). A child does not have to skip a year, they just need to be given the correct work by their teacher, most children will be working at different levels in a class and i'm sure your children wont be the only ones working at a higher level.

I would push the teacher to give them the correct level of work rather than pushing them to skip a year, they maybe ahead accademicly but socialy they may struggle in a higher year group.

If I have understood you correctly, you are saying that where you are going abroad will be 2-3 years ahead of the english system by the time they are 10, and therefore you need to boost them now. I am guessing you may be Chinese - if so you will find that they teach different skills to what is taught in the UK. Although I find that hard to believe and, as another poster said, it is alot more about building blocks and understanding concepts than reciting facts.

You will also find that different areas are covered - I have coached a Chinese child for entry to UK boarding school - top of her year in top school in her city - in some ways she was very good but in other ways she had real gaps in her thinking, and had been taught to write & think in a very formulaic manner. Incidentally I think she will thrive over here once she adjusts to the system, and actually be alot happier than the pressure cooker she is currently in.

I (like many of my friends) spent time abroad in schools - and we all found that there were things that we were ahead on and things that we were behind on each time that we changed country / system. It isn't a big deal for a bright and confident child to catch up - and being abroad is an experience in itself.

My 2 (2 & 5) are both bilingual. It is a wonderful thing to have. However what you are proposing - pushing ahead into a Primary environment they are not going to emotionally or socially be able to cope with - so you can improve their linguistic skills later on - is not going to be in their best interests. Your plan to find a more challenging school sounds much better for them.

You also need to consider their educational needs if/when you move abroad. Be aware of the huge differences between, say, the Russian education system and the English one: there are hugely different teaching methodologies and expectations and the standard of infrastructure in many state schools in Russia is very poor, as is the pupil-teacher ratio. Also be aware of the issue of language attrition, which will occur in functional language after only 6 weeks of stopping using the language. So simply moving abroad and having them acquire fluency in another language is no guarantee of it continuing into later life.

I do disagree with your assessment of children in the countries you mentioned being 2-3 years ahead of English children as this is not really accurate. What you have is different education systems focussing on different things. In many countries such as France, Russia, Korea, China etc. you have a focus on assessment based on the memorisation of facts (e.g. in History) whereas in the UK it is about applying knowledge and reasoning. So you can have a Russian child who is a star of the Maths Olympiad because he can compute quickly but who cannot do algebra. So again I would say you don't need to force your children ahead now to allow them to integrate. They will enter their new school with a different skill set anyway, and at least they will have (hopefully) have been taught to reason, argue and work independently, all problems I have found for children coming from some other national educational systems.

You don't need to consider pushing them ahead now to allow them to have an easier return after your time abroad or to allow them to integrate into their age group abroad. If you are planning on enrolling them into a local school as you say, then you will find they should manage the transition, if handled with care. Better to wait until you know what country and education system you will move to and prepare for that alone. I also recommend to you to do some reading on Third Culture Kids (some good books on amazon) to gain an understanding of the difficulties your children may experience in entering a new culture and in their later re-entry into Britain.

I don't live in the UK but my children (12,10 and 6) are all bilingual and very bright. My middle child was jumped up a school year when she was 5 after her teacher asked for an IQ and maturity assessment by the school psychologist. Despite initially being against the idea of moving DD up, we agreed as she does have a very high IQ and is really keen to learn. She was bored at school and very bossy and domineering with her peer group.

It has been a very positive experience and so far (she is 10 and in last year of primary), in that she is happier at school and less bored. Rather than being "top of the class" by miles, she is amongst 2 or 3 children who consistently get the highest marks. She has a lot more in common with her classmates.

It seems to me that DD is just a normal, happy child who happens to have the ability to learn things very quickly. She does equally well in sport, music and academics. If your children, OP, would really be happier in a higher class then why not push for it. Jumping ahead will not change their abilities but may prevent them from feeling bored and disillusioned with school if that is the case now.

However if your priority is for them to learn more in a condensed time in order to take them out of school later, then I wouldn't bother. Let them continue in their own year group and give them some extra tuition whilst abroad. If they are going to change school, country and friends in a few years anyway, is it necessary to make them change peer groups now as well?