Can year 2 pupil go into year 3 for ability?

[icklepicklesmum]

My daughter is currently in a year 1/2 class and has achieved the grade she needs to achieve by the end of year 2 already.

Next year she is going into an all year 2 class as our school does not have a year 2/3 split class.

This means she is going into a class where the remainder of the children are basically anything up to a year behind her.

Is is possible for a year 2 pupil to go into a year 3 class based on ability?

This year the teacher has worked with us to ensure she doesnt get bored which is what happens when the work gets too easy. Each time she has said she is bored or the work is too hard she has made it harder. She has ended up getting better grades than most of the year 2 pupils in the class.

If any teachers can help with this or if any of you have experienced this I would appreciated your help.

I plan on seeing the class teacher to discuss our concerns so it would be good to hear some of your experiences beforehand.

Thanks very much

I am not saying we ARE going to change it - we are just going to speak with the school to ask what they have planned and take it from there.

Some people think that its dreadful that I even suggested the year 3 option but if a child was put into a year 2/3 people wouldnt even be making these comments.

Thanks Clenched - I am not saying she is a genius because she isnt! She is bright and we want to ensure she is educated and not just left to twiddle her thumbs again.

I asked the question to see what others thought and to be honest I didnt expect people to be quite so hostile towards me.

icklepickle - I understand your concerns. At my DCs school there are mixed classes and lots of moving from one class to another by specific pupils in specific lessons (literacy and maths).
This I think is what you need to be asking about, as was said above there will be no benefit for moving for the other lessons like history/geography as they aren't so much about ability but about learning stuff iykwim.
I'd meet with the school, ask about how they plan to differntiate for the more able and if you're not happy have a look at other local schools and what they do.
My DCs work above their age in maths and I know how frustrated thye get if they feel the work isn't challenging enough.
Being concerned about the more able isn't any less valid than being concerned about the less able - the school must meet all their needs.

icklepicklesmum - i see what you are saying: you have spotted a problem which may develop in the 2010/11 year and you are trying to be proactive by coming up with potential solutions e.g. moving your DD up a year.
Just in case the school takes this the wrong way as others have here and thinks you are requesting that your DD gets moved up (and worse maybe even believe that its a personal ego trip for you - I know its not!!), why not explain your fears to the school today and ask them to work with you towards solutions so that your daughter continues to be enthusiastic about learning and school? (I.e. make it their job to come up with the solutions).

Thank you suite.

This is the sort of thing I was expecting to hear on here - hearing about peoples experiences and what other schools do so that when I meet with the school I have to ideas to discuss and see what plan we come up with for her.

Some people on here seems to think I am a bad mother for even discussing this and that I think she is incredibly clever, some sort of child genius but that isnt what I said and she isnt a genius. I only wanted some feedback from others that have been through this that would help me ensure she gets a positive and good education next year.

In some ways I am sorry I asked but some of you have been very helpful, thank you

I had a girl in my year 3 class who did not know all her letter sounds and another with the reading age of an 11 year old.
She will be fine where she is. Teachers differentiate.

Thats exactly what I am trying to do Claire. It was the sharing information and experiences I was after - not a backlash and made our to be a bad mother for asking the question.

If a child is put into a split class and say have a year 1 child in a year 1/2 class does the year 1 parent say they shouldnt be with the year 2s? No! If my daughters school did a spit 2/3 class would people be saying that she shouldnt be with the year 3 children? No!

Thanks so much Claire, your input has been very helpful!

We will be discussing things with her teacher later.

Thank you Sirius. I do hope that is the case. My experiences in the past at this school havent been that good which is why we have requested an appointment with the teacher to find out what they have in place.

I just want to ensure that my daughters needs are met this time.

Thank you!

My ds was always bright but exceptionally good at maths. I wouldn't wanted him away from his peers and friends though. School in y1 sent him to y2 maths and y2 into y3/4 maths and y3 into 5/6.
Once it became clear he had fully grasped the whole ks2 maths curriculum he was provided with work from secondary and tutored by a teacher who had a special interest in maths.

Icklepickle

My DD is a year one currently in a year 1 and 2 mixed class and I must admit it did work really well for her (she is currently a 3a in all areas apart from a 3c (curses!) in maths) So I can see why you are concerned by a year two group.

In our case:

Teachers give her extended work and she joins a year 4 class for french. She'll be in a straight year 2 class next year (you really can't mix KS1 and KS2 classes) and I am expecting her to follow all the year 2 work topics as with the rest of her class with appropriate extentions.

Shes never claimed boredom as shes kept busy the school is graded as satisfactory in a rural fairly deprived area with a very high SEN quota.

I really do think you should re read Tortoises excellent post.

Your dd although bright is still a six year old.

My dc's school does have mixed year classes, but will not mix years 2 and 3. Year 2 is in Key stage 1, and year 3 is in key stage 2, and the school will not mix different key stages in one class. There are differences in the curriculum for each stage.

And not wanting to boast, but I have two very bright children who in many areas could easily work a year ahead of themselves. BUT, I am more than happy that they stay with their peers, as they still have a lot to learn in their respective years, and they will stay with their friends. Don't get so het up about the academic learning that you forget about the social side of things; children still learn so much for their interaction with others.

If the school and teacher are good, your dd will be given suitable work. All schools are supposed to identify and work with those classed as "gifted and talented", if that is an appropriate label for your dd.

I can emphathise with you because my year one child has also reached 2b and I've been worrying like you that he'd be left to amuse himself next year once he'd got through 2a. The teacher assures me otherwise (and thank god she didn't think I was asking her something strange).

One thing I am learning though is that what happens in class is very much teacher-dependent. A good teacher can cope efficiently with a range of ability groups but a poor one can effectively hold a child back - as has happened to my other child at the same school this year.

Hi asdx - I dont want her taken away from her peers, I want the school to provide a good education. The experiences you have had is what I wanted to hear about - so he went into other classes to learn things as well - this is something we can discuss at the meeting, thank you

Ilove - I am also more than happy for her to stay with her year group. I am not saying she is gift and tallented or any sort of genius. All I wanted to know is other people experiences and some have made some good ones. Yes Tortoise made some good points but my daughter is being brought up very differently - she mixes with a wide rage or children in ages and abilities, she goes to clubs and get on well with children and adults alike. She has a better social life than me! lol

Its about getting the balance right and I thought coming to a forum like this and asking a question was a good idea but now I am not sure.

Thank you to those of you that have made some positive suggestions. I have taken them on board and will discuss things with the school.

Exactly Claire and as we have had previous experiences of this in the school we want to ensure it doesnt happen again. I am glad you got the assurances you needed for your sons education and hopefully that will be the case with my daughters too. Thank you!!

Ickle, our school has an IT system being installed that links to other schools (not sure if it's just in the county). It's called Fronter, and there are groups on their for classes,schools, etc. Bright kids like my dcs are being given things like additional challenges that they access on Fronter, and my dd has accessed this from home and had a go.

You may want to see if your school has something similar, it seems a good way of giving additional work to stretch a child, and some of the challenges have really stretched my dd.

I dont think they have that but thanks for the suggestion.I will look into it.

icklepickle - as a teacher, I find it so frustrating when parents clump all of the teachers in one school into one category. That's not worded well... let me explain. There are some outstanding teachers in my school. There are also some (actually in my school, only 1 out of 20 IMVHO) teachers that could use some more direction/professional development in the area of differentiation (and other things for that matter). I'm not in charge of hiring and firing so I don't have control over all of that. Just because "this school" didn't meet your dd's needs in reception, doesn't mean at all that "this school" won't meet her needs in year 2... well, unless it's the same teacher, perhaps.

Any good teacher will be able to differentiate. I'm sorry you had a bad experience in reception, but please don't let one teacher colour your perception of an entire school.

I am not sure how coherent this has been... I'm really tired.

i didnt realise icklepicklesmum that you only wanted opinions that agreed with you ..... on a discussion forum!

hope you get the answer you want from the meeting with the school.

ah, there, xpost with claire. Yes, it's teacher dependent.
Sorry, I get so worked up when I hear "the school" so much when referring to teaching practice... while there is and should be consistency, if you get a bad teacher (which shouldn't happen TBH) then it doesn't mean that the whole school is bad.

Canella - thats not what I am saying! What I found about strange is how people got on their high horse about a simple question. I was looking for ideas of how we could go about getting our daughter a good education and thankfully some people have given us that so I am grateful.

My DS is being put in a newly created Y2/3 class starting September. There will be 30-32 children in the class, 8 of whom will be Y2's, including my DS. It has been streamed on their last assessment, overall ability, as well as social and emotional development. I have been assured by the Head, Deputy Head and his current Y1/2 teacher its the best thing for him academically.

I am very worried about it.

He's being separated from all the boys his age he plays with ( there is only 1 other out of the 8 thats a boy and they don't get on brilliantly ). The class is categorised as Key Stage 2, which has all kinds of ramifications, but I am primarily concerned that the pressure on him and expectation to self manage etc will be greater.

I want him to do well at school, not be bored etc but I don't want him made to grow up before he's ready, he has a lifetime ahead of him. I want him to have fun with his peers and learn all the social stuff a good school can teach.

So a Y2/3 isn't a magic wand.

Good point SE and even if one child's experience with a particular class/teacher is excellent, another's might be less so.

Yes, precisely, LIZS.

Thanks Taffetacatski. I understand its not right for all children and I appreciate it that you have concerns. Its good you have spoken with the teacher and I really hope that it works out well for him.
My daughter would definitely benefit from a 2/3 split class but at her school this isnt an option unfortunately.

Hope things work out ok for your son.

Thank you Star. You are right in this instance too that there are some good teachers in the school but believe me there are some terrible one. For example we have just found out that one teacher has been told of lots of instances where boys are getting their willies out and lifting girls skirts and trying to pull their knickers down - she has kept this to herself! Not told anyone, not done anything about it!

There is a good third of the teachers in the school that I would say are not good teachers. We have a lot of teachers leaving at the end of term and this is a regular thing. We tend to get very young teachers that have just qualified. Obviously they have to start somewhere and some are brilliant but others ..argh!! I bet you have met some questionable ones in your time as a teacher.

Thanks for your input, its much appreciated!!