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

I was in a class of two children at primary and for some subjects I did the work of the year above and for some the coursework of my age group. With such a small class at such a small school, it caused only a tiny bit of resentment. I went into secondary school at the right age for the year but very well prepared and with the vocabulary of a 16 year old. I don't remember ever being bored.

However, to actually go up a class, permanently, may not cause problems now, but may at puberty when differences between ages become so much more noticeable. Two years then is the difference between a child and a teenager. My brother experienced significant social problems at this stage. He really stood out as being different and he has carried this with him all his life, and although very bright, has never fit in well in work environments, and in the end has dropped out and is doing manual labour. Not the happy ending for someone who as a young boy was fun, outgoing and full of joy - everyone reflects on this.

So, I have always been wary. Staying with your peers is not to be underestimated. A good teacher plans 'extend' options for the brighter children, where they get to take the area of study to a higher level.

Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts and experiences. This has really opened my eyes and raised many questions for me. I have made a note of all your points that I will raise when I go to see Head next week. We also have parents evening next week so can speak to her teacher too. Obviously I want what is best for my dd and I am keen for her to be stretched but not sure moving her in to a higher year is the answer.

Thank you everyone x

I taught a yr6 class once that were made up of some children who had been moved up a year and were now in their 'second' yr 6 class. Most were fine and had made good relationships with the older class they had been merged into, but they did find it tricky to rebond with their peer group, some were a bit superior and others felt a bit sad their friends in the older year grp had gone to a new school. Overall the class worked well by the end of the year and the children who had been moved up were working from the yr7 lit and num strategies, all went onto grammar.

I think it helped that they were a group, one child on her own might find it harder, but of course it depends on the child

Razors - I think it is a shame that this thread has made you question the school's decision to move yor daughter. Obviously raise the concerns you have and be guided by what the school suggests. I am sure the Head and teachers at the school are only too aware of potential problems. Are the school experienced in having children go up a year?

I was a "gifted child" and it was pretty horrid tbh. I know it was a long time ago, but I have the impression things haven't changed that much in UK education. After being bumped up a class I ended up repeating the final year of primary, which was very boring. In my younger years I was stuck in a corner with more advanced workbooks - and treated as a nuisance by the teachers. I think this is part of the reason I underachieved: What child wants to be bored and/or picked on?

Having said that, there were girls in my secondary school who'd gone through the whole system a year or two ahead. Some of them started uni at 16. It must be possible! I love some of the more creative ideas put forward in your thread. From what you say, DD's headteacher will be open to discussion. I should make it clear that I loved my 'ahead' teaching; it was the schools' failure to integrate that gave me problems.

Congrats on your bright DD :)

magdelene Hello thank you for your posts. This thread has certainly made me aware of the pitfalls. Tbh I was a bit unsure of the move up myself and wasn't sure why - if that makes sense - but it has made me think! I don't know if many children have been moved up but this Head has come from a very good school and my dd's school has improved under her leadership which is why I wanted my dd to go there because of what this head has achieved previously. I'll be talking to the head on Monday so will raise my concerns - I think she has probably thought about those concerns herself though and hopefully will have answers for me.

As it's a small school my dd has gone through nursery and reception with her little group of friends so they are a tight little group but I do believe a move up will benefit my dd as long as she doesn't feel too alienated - as in losing her friends in yr1 and not making friends in yr2 and feeling left out

ageinggrace Thank you for your kind words

I don't see why they can't have some mobility within the school lessons.

Ds1 has ASD and ADHD. He's in a mixed year 3 and 4 class, and is in year 3 himself.

For maths (and only maths), he is working at high year 4 level ... so they sit him with the year 5 children who have learning/behavioral difficulties, because he has behavioral difficulties himself and could not access his maths requirments without the supervision of that table.

It's a win-win - he stays with his peers for breaks and other lessons, he gets the supervision he needs to access his higher maths abilities, he isn't left to disrupt a whole table without supervision (which he undoubtedly would)

But his school have a LOT of experience of differentiating work, as they have a high intake of children with SEN and a very mixed socio-economic area.

Their sats results are dire - their added value results are amazing.

OP, we were in the same situation last year. DD is currently in year 1, and is a June birthday. Like your dd, she is very bright and she is also a confident little girl. At the end of reception, her teacher said that they wanted to move her up a year and put her straight into year 2. I refused, instinctively feeling that it was better for her to stay with her peers. However, I did have some doubts about my decision later, particularly as some friends felt that I was mad to turn down this opportunity.

Fortunately, lots of lovely MNers assured me that I had done the right thing, and I concluded that I had made the right decision. However, I was still quite concerned about what might happen if I refused and then found that dd was getting bored in school - I was worried that they'd throw my decision back at me and tell me that it was my fault.

One year on, I couldn't be happier about the decision that we made. Her year 1 teacher has gone to great lengths to ensure that work is appropriately differentiated, and she continues to be happy and stimulated in school. Socially, she has forged strong friendships with the other children in her class, and I am so happy that we didn't separate her from her peers.

I think it's important to realise that children who are ahead in some areas may not be ahead in all areas. For example, my dd may be working several years ahead of her peers with regard to literacy and numeracy etc, she is very musical, and she also has extremely good social skills. However, emotionally, she is still only five, and she is also distinctly average at P.E. and art - she would be distinctly below average in a class of chilren much older than her.

If your dd is exceptionally bright, chances are, moving her up a year still wouldn't be enough because she will still be further ahead of her classmates. So the work will still need to be differentiated in any case.

At the end of the day, only you know what's best for your own child, and if your daughter is showing signs of boredom in school, I think that's cause for concern. However, if I were in your position, I would be looking for other ways of dealing with this, rather than moving her away from her peers. It is possible for a teacher to cater for a bright child within their normal class - I know because it's working for my dd. I hope that you can find the right solution for your child, and that the school is prepared to support you in whatever you think is the best approach.

So pleased your daughter has thrived and is happy. What a sensible mum

Thank you mrz. :) I too am delighted with how it has all worked out.

And immensely grateful to her amazing teacher for all that she has done, and continues to do!!!

What about going private? She could get a scholarship. She would probably be in the same year she is now but the pace would be faster and it would be a very different curriculum.

Why will the pace be faster?

I think razors needs to find out exactly how far her daughter is ahead before doing anything, and this is something she obviously has thought about as she's seeing the HT on Monday, and the teacher after that.

I hope they accommodate your needs, razors.

Moving up one class isn't a huge leap in ability and should be easily managed by the teacher with the child remaining with their peers as magicmummy has seen.

Pace is faster in private schools because they are selective and follow a different curriculum (some schools follow prep school curriculum which is more rigorous). Sorry but it is the truth

For most stuff kids are doing at this age it is very very easy to stretc the brighter ones. eg. Write a two page story on what it would have felt like to be an evacuee, instead of one paragraph. Easy to get a child to work on the next table, to have done multiplication sums, now try division. Talk about Nouns with the class, then with individuals talk about adjectives, and get them to put an adjective with each noun. To get the whole class doing open ended investigatons (eg. what things float, can we predict what will float?).

Teachers even in secondary sets should be teaching at least a 2 year stretch of abilities (I have known sixth-form classes where a small group was working at a much higher level than the rest). 3-4 years is quite normal in primary.

In such a small school, maybe they just aren't very practiced? Is it state or private? I really don't see the point in moving her up so young, if she really is so bright what are they going to do when she is too bright for her new class in 2 years time?

As I said below, not all teachers do do this even if they should - some are over-stretched, some are inexperienced, others are superb and do manage it.

It is surely easier when there are two or three children together working at the higher level rather than just one.

Ds is an outlier in literacy in his class and would probably be among the top readers in yr2 but school won't let him do literacy with yr2 and his teacher is so over-stretched that not much is happening for ds differentiation wise.

So yes in an ideal world teachers would differentiate in class but in the real world how far they can go with this seems limited in a class of 30.

Update - we're going to try : ) Spoke to Head and spoke to some mums who children have done this in our school and their experiences have been positive. The move will only be until this summer then her class mates will move up and she will stay in year 2 for the September start. There are four children that she wants to move up. After her class have done their sats the Head will look at moving them again maybe in year 3 - we'll see how it goes. Spoke to dd - she's ok with it, so - wish us luck and thanks again for all your wise words x

Hmmmm DD's school is one form intake (well her old school that is) - and they moved 6 from reception in all into yr1. They kind of had 2 yr 2 classes.
reception
yr 1 and 6 reception
yr 2 and 6 yr 1
yr2

WHat it really did was cock up friendships. DD had a great friend in her class, but she went into junior school the yr before dd - she didnt have all the girls in her year IN her class until yr3
I second millionth everyone elses suggestion that move for classes only.

(the school banded for lit & num from yr3 normally)

MagicMummy - I was offered the opportunity for my DD to spend time in Year 2 (when she was in Year 1) but I declined as I felt she was not socially ready for it.

She is now in Year 2 and loves it - not bored at all (never has been btw) :) and learning socially as well as academically - she is top of the class by a long way - but is not precocious with it (something that her teacher has commented on - and has pointed out that some children can be precocious when they are aware they are ahead of their peers iyswim..).

It was definitely the best thing for my DD - I think she would have lost all her confidence if we had moved her.

I don't really get the point of this. They're dropping the 4 children into a Y2 class at the end of the year. I can't see how that will accelerate the children's learning. Their extension will be arase about tail - summer term Y2 followed by authumn, spring Y2, dropping staright into Summer term Y3.
Doesn't make sense to me.

stoatsrevenge The four will start in year 2 after half term and remain so in September her current year 1 class will then go in to year 2 and my dd will stay there. Any subjects covered the four will be given extra work to do - I'm probably not explaining it very well - dd not well and have been up most of the night so apologies. The Head did explain it all and it made perfect sense. Had all my questions prepared and she was very understanding.

Sorry, obviously I hope it works out well for your DD and her peers but I really don't see the point of this and to me (a teacher!) it smacks a little of laziness on the part of the school.

Good luck razors glad you came to an agreement with your head. Hope it works out for you

Bit confused as to why she is only moving up a year for each summer term to then be reaquainted with her original class back in September again each year, but sure there is a good method in that approach. At least she is doing it with others.