school want to move my dd up to yr 2

[razors]

My dd is 5 - 6 in July and currently in year 1. The school have recognised she is a bright little thing and want to move her in to year 2 after half term. I'm quite happy for her to do this if she is happy to of course but my query is how does this pan out in future years? will she then have to do an extra year in year 6 and all her classmates catch up with her later on in the school or will she go to secondary school earlier? I did ask the Head but her answer wasn't clear and thought I'd ask if any of you have experienced this and how it worked out for you dc's. I'd appreciate any advice, thank you x

Sorry, that wasn't very well explained. What I would do is this:

Rest of this year - move to year 2
next year - yr 3
following year - yr 4
following year - yr 5
following year - fun gap year
following year - year 6, back with original peers, ready for secondary.

Personally if it were me, I'd favour her moving flexibly for lessons but staying in year 1 officially.

I was told ds would be best going to year 2 for literacy (he's year 1) because he is too far ahead of the top year 1 group to make guided reading work for him. But despite the teachers saying they want to do that, the head has said she doesn't want this to happen as it sets a precedent (presumably she worries loads of parents will start asking for the same situation).

So ds is stuck supposedly having guided reading in his 'group' of just him except in a busy classroom with an overstretched teacher it doesn't seem to be happening very often at all. I knew it'd be the first thing to be forgotten.

Not a great message for him that you are good at something so get less teacher attention and he has been asking why he doesn't get his turn.

So...should I go back and push for him to go up for literacy to year 2 or leave it?

Sorry for thread hijack but it is related.

loopy lovely thought - worth bearing in mind
muddleduck Aww little miss know all!! poor you xx I agree with looking at this long term and wondering how she will feel being moved out then back in.....

Lots of sense above, just wanted to give the perspective of someone who has been there. This was secondary, but I think the points are still the same - or will be later on.

At one school I was given 'differential' teaching - which ranged from extra maths before school, with stuff to do in the class, to going up to another class for English. Not only did it work well, it also taught me to me a self-motivated learner, which was, to be honest, the single most useful thing I got from any bit of my schooling.

Because of that, I ended up with some early O-Levels, so when I moved schools, I was put up a year. It didn't work - I was good at some subjects but not all of them, so struggled in a few. But most of all it was really, really difficult socially. The difference between a thirteen year old and a fifteen year old is HUGE and I just didn't belong. So even if it's OK in primary, it might not work later on.

eenee it's a tough one. I want my dd to get the best ed possible but I'm more concerned she is happy and enjoying the learning experience. Do you think your ds should be moved up a year?

I was moved up from primary 1 to primary 2 and stayed up, no repeating.

It was awkward from the word go - lots of other children said things like "you think you're ace" (70s slang alert) in a disparaging way. Other parents also gossiped about me and my mum (!), and there was this general very weird idea that she thought she was better than them because her little girl was bright. (Admittedly they may have been looking for reasons to gossip, because she was a divorced single mum who had just moved back from America to a small town.) It made me stand out and not in a good way. It's a shame, because my mum was really trying to make the best decisions for me, and I can totally see why she went with it.

In later years (although I moved schools and therefore nobody had to know I was younger), it was still not much fun as everyone else in my class year was that bit ahead of me in terms of physical development/what they were allowed to do socially.

I'm fine socially now, it's had no lasting effects, but for a long time I was awkward, felt out of step etc.

I wouldn't let DS or DD do it, put it that way!

muddleduck

Sounds similar to my experience I went to an overseas primary and was put up a year, came back to the UK and was made to repeat a year. I didn't struggle socially, I think that is because though I was one of the youngest, it was only by a few weeks due to being born in the latter half of September.

Being held back had a definite negative effect. I grew used to not putting effort in and doing things with minimal work was fine through most of secondary, but when I hit coursework and exams, I did a lot worse than expected because I didn't study at all. Partly I was angry I think, because I felt done out of all the hard work I put in, so I stopped working hard, and partly I was just so used to being able to do it without any effort that I was surprised when I needed to, I had a big ego because I never felt pushed in school.

this happened to me around the same age. when the time came for secondary school admission my parents had to send me privately as they couldnt allow me in until the correct age. it didnt do me any harm at all-in fact i would say i benefitted greatly from hte 'uplift' but you have to consider her. she is young in her year anyway- how is her emotional maturity? i remember not being able to do stuff like use a compass that otehrs could do but i did always manage to keep up with sports etc.

They definitely won't do that at ours - the head is firm on that and I don't want it to happen anyway as he is summer born too and short for his age so would just seem tiny.

I would like him to go for some numeracy and literacy lessons in the morning and then do the afternoons with his class, PE with his class etc. He is confident and it's a small school so he knows most of the y2 kids, is friends with some of them and knows the teacher. And he likes the idea. So there's no downside for him. The teachers were happy doing it too.

The head just doesn't want the hassle of having to say no to parents who demand the same thing....not great for my child but easier for her!

onesandwich thank you for sharing - I can see it being a problem for her later on, at the moment though she does have friends of different ages but yes as a teen it will be more difficult

The bright kids in dd's class (equivalent to y1) simply do the y2 curriculum but stay in the same class.

I'd be very unhappy at my daughter being shuffled around the school like that, she'll have friends in her class, the older kids are likely to exclude her as she's so young and she may well level off in ability in a year or two and need to be dropped back, causing even more confusion.

Absolutely no way would I allow this to happen. If she's bright enough let them be doing some year two stuff with her but moving her would be a mistake.

In our school there are 2/3 classes per room and the teachers manage to juggle the different curriculums quite easily... no reason your daughter couldn't be given some y2 work to do in y1.

I was two years ahead of myself at primary school and a may birthday - so 2.5 years younger than some of my peers. a huge difference when you are eg 7 and they are 9+. I was also tiny for my age. I was considered a bit of a freak and bullied quite a bit. I then had a sort of gap year after year 6 - I went into school but they found different things for me to do ike teaching me to develop photographs in the darkroom and stuff , killing time really.
I was then a year ahead of myself at senior school. I thought it was fine at the time and academically it was all easy enough but with hindsight I was always slightly running to catch up socially with my peers.

It is difficult because if I'd been in my proper year I would have been bored out of my head academically but much better socially

I would suggest that your school keep her in year, but give her extension work, special tuition if necessary, and don't make her do the dead boring repetitive homework everyone else does. She doesn't need MORE work, she probably needs less but at a higher level.

On the flip side - my dd was kept back a year and stayed there. She couldn't cope with the work or socially and ended up starting secondary at 12 and a hlf.More flexability is needed when it comes to teaching - they are all individuals and should be treated as such.

I think this sort of issue is harder to deal with in smaller schools. If there are two or three classes per year, there is more chance of there being children at the same stage. In ds' class there aren't others anywhere similar at reading so he can't make up a group with e.g. a couple of kids from the other classes in his year, as it's one form per year.

I think it does depend on the child as to how successful or disastrous it is. I do wonder, though, whether people who say they didn't develop a work ethic as a result of being kept back a year actually would have developed a serious work ethic if they had been put up a year or two, or just been pushed a bit harder for longer so that they achieved more up until the point they could slack off by choice again. I don't remember unchallenging work putting me off working altogether - I still had an innate sense of how much work was required to do well, and it doesn't bode well for future independent work and long term success if you only do as much as you absolutely have to.

I would simply say go and have another conversation with the head having seen the advice on here but do not be bullied by the head into doing what they want, do what you think will be best for your daughter both socially and education wise.

PS there is a bit of genius at my kids school. Year 3 but does maths and sciences with year 6 (plus extension) english history geog french latin with year 5. But is in a year 3 class for art, music, games, pe, re and homeroom time so he is with his peers. That works very well I think. Requires quite some timetabling but the school accommodates it.

Private though

rabbit I had no work ethic at all. didn't see the point of prep. was in detention every week for 3 years for non-production of homework. only exams I ever passed were o levels and a levels. had no need to be top of the class because I knew I was cleverer than everyone else anyway and didn't feel the need to prove it

university was a piece of piss and only did what I needed to do to get a 2.1

only developed a work ethic at law school, oddly, and that was mainly because I had a very intelligent boyfriend who DID have a work ethic and I enjoyed getting better marks than him! And have managed to keep hold of it once discovering it...

Hi, freshmint - doesn't that indicate a lack of interest in academic work for its on sake on your part? Law School had a direct link to success in your chosen field. Academic work at school was a tiresome means to an end, not something exciting and inspiring to you on its own terms. ie maybe you are clever, but not a very good academic?

And if you aren't academic, why bother to race through school and out the other side? Why not challenge yourself in other ways?

I never felt that the work at school was particularly academic rabbit - it was all easy and obvious and once they had told me in class I knew it so why do prep?

But yes, I suppose I am more of a practical person than a theoretical one. I would have made a hopeless law professor but am a v good lawyer...

hmmm >

it wasn't my choice to race through school - its just what happened

they didn't know what to do with me at primary school. my sister had the same problem. we were the Freak Sisters

My DDs school is also a very small we have mixed year group classes and dont actually have one class per year groups and there is only 5 classes in the whole school from reception to Y6.

My DD1 is also extremely bright and her school have always managed to stretch her while keeping her in her peer group. Moving her up a year has never been an option she has ASD and socially very delayed.

Others in your DDs peer group will catch her up, my DD was miles ahead in reception and Y1 but over the last 18 months (she is now Y3) or so some of the others are catching her up rapidly, which for her is great!!.

The way I've always felt was that I was never challenged, so I didn't expect a challenge when I reached the end of secondary, I had always been capable with the knowledge or instinct I had and I didn't realise it would change. I was also terribly lazy and immature, so I'm not blaming the schooling, it was my own personality and my experience simply backed that up.

I guess I wish I'd been encouraged to reach my potential more, instead of being the problem child who was always finished work well before everyone else and was never really pushed, either within the year group I belonged to by age or within the year group I belonged to academically. I spent a lot of time annoyed that I was doing stuff I felt easy. I was a contrary nightmare I should imagine.

I ended up doing a lot of "helping teachers" and boy did I develop an ego when it came to that, I should have been like every other kid, schooled to my ability level without the special treatment, which I got because I got disruptively chatty when I was finished whatever we'd been set.

I was awful in school.

I think it is important to have them working to their level, not being held back, but how best to achieve that I couldn't say. For some going up a year might work, for others staying in their peer group and having their work tailored around them might.

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