Sitting 11+ a year early

[RosemaryandThyme]

Hi - has anyone with a HLP child considered or attempted sitting 11+ a year early ?
Looking at Wiltshire here, there is scope for HLP children to sit a year early if "they have been taught in the year group above their age group for at least two years".
Presumably quite a few children out there might be in this catagory, DS is and two others at his primary have been.
Just wondered if anyone had heard of this and what the implications might be, thanks

I did the whole of primary school a year earlier than would usually be expected. My parents were discouraged from putting me through the 11 plus a year early because of the social implications of being taught with an older cohort throughout adolescence.

I did Y7 at the school I was already in (independent 4-18) and sat entrance tests during that year (with children who were still in Y6). Then started Y7 again at the new school. As it was within the independent sector, there wasn't a huge amount of the curriculum that I had to do twice.

I do know of people who continued to be taught with an older cohort until finishing A-levels at 17 (including my father), but re-calibrating my education at 11 was the right decision for me.

One of my children is of the same ilk with regard to aptitude. We have kept him with his own age cohort. He is currently in Y6 and his (state) primary school have been very helpful, bringing in secondary teachers for some subjects so he can learn at the level he needs to.

I think that if your son's current school is capable of giving him interesting and aptitude-appropriate work for a further year, then I would consider letting him sit the 11+ with his age cohort.

Ah thank you, it does mean than that if you sit a year early you don't hold that place for a year and then start but you change schools a year early.

Its tricky here, my Ds is 8, in year 3 but taught for english maths and science in year 4 - which we thought was fine.

Unfortuately school called us in just before easter hols to say well we've teasted him and he's finished the syllabus and we don't know what you (me!) want us to do with him, when I asked what they meant about finishing the syllabus they said he's completed level 4 - I thought they meant Year 4 work but when they pulled out his test papers he'd got level 4a for everything - my husband asked well whats he going to be doing for the next three and half years and there was just silence....

The primary school should then continue to provide work at an appropriate level for him.

DS2 had this problem in Science (level 4a in Y3). Since Y4 he has been taught KS3 Science by a secondary teacher. He visited one of the local secondary schools regularly for the practical work that couldn't be done with the equipment they had at primary school.

His Maths has been easier to cater for, as there are three others at his level (he is currently a strong 6B in Y6). A secondary Maths teacher comes to teach them once a week.

For English he is just regular, run of the mill top set.

Hopefully your son's primary school will be able to offer similar provision.

Oh that's brilliant !
That makes a lot more sense to me, so primary school could have KS3 teacher come in and / or DS could go to secondary for small bits of time perhaps. - Will raise this with school next week - Thank you !

Just a thought, I sat the 11+ at age 10 and was a year ahead for the rest of my schooling. It worked out fine, but in retrospect I think I would have done better if I had stayed in my age group. I wasn't as mature as my peers and while I did well academically there's more to education than grades.

My Dad kind of did this, but only because they moved to Scotland at the appropriate time. He took the 11+ in England, they then moved to Scotland where it was taken a year later, but because he'd already passed, he was allowed to go to Grammar School a year early.
He was also fairly sporty and good at music and singing etc and he said he fitted in ok. He even made the sports teams!

My DS did - he's in year 8 at grammar now. He always worked a year ahead in his prep school and took the 11+ a year early. Please feel free to message me directly.

I was a year young at secondary school and at university at age 17 and it worked out very well. I was a bit smaller than those in my class but that was not important (and I got the best A level results in the year as well so it didn't really have a bad impact in terms of school work either). My brother was the same although he Oxbridge in 7th term entry/had gap year so was 18 by the time he went up to university.

Umm just a thought from having a bright child who is/was educated in year but very young for the years group...academically no issues, socially she found it a pain. Every one else was driving /drinking /clubbing 12 months earlier than her ( she's too law abiding to use false ID)she missed birthay parties etc etc

I would think hard about pushing your child through everything early, I think, probably "they system" should stretch them academically within their peer group.

As a grammar school teacher I'd still lean in general towards extending in other areas, broadening education, music, sport et. There's on prizes for getting there first, and being a year younger than teenage friends can have social implications.

I think that the numbers of children who are advanced a year in school should be pretty small, but there are definitely some for whom it needs to happen, despite all attempts to broaden education in other ways.

I was in a system (not UK) that made it very difficult to be put up a year and yet my parents were recommended to have this done on moving me into private school at year 2. Unfortunately that school wouldn't consider assessing me at all. The school I moved to at year 7 promptly suggested moving me up at that point but my parents felt it was too late. I was happy with that decision when they told me about it (years later); but still remain bitter that I couldn't be moved up in primary school. I never got along with my peer group at all, always identified with and socialised most easily with those 2 or 3 years older than me (as did my younger sister). Being tall meant I wouldn't have stuck out particularly either. By the time I got to the end of school I was desperately bored and had never really learnt how to work hard and apply myself.

So if you have a child working ahead in primary across the board, who is comfortable with their academic peers and doing very well, be very careful before deciding to "put them back" to the right age for senior school.

My son was a year ahead from year 2 on. He has an October birthday, so he's just a few months younger than the youngest in his class. I think people make too much fuss about this; it is really not a big deal, or even an issue at all. He was slightly annoyed that he would have been on the A team for rugby if he had been with his age group (according to him at the time, but I had my doubts).
Holding him back at year 7 would have been a terrible idea, and he would have hated it. If you have a child who is very academically able, he is never going to be challenged by the school system anyway, in my opinion.

If your child has a summer birthday, it could be more of an issue, I guess, especially if he is small. I am thinking more about games and possibly social life, though unfortunately lots of them start drinking at 14, and boys grow and develop at very different ages, so who knows really...