Jumping a school year

[Discoveringnewchoices]

This is not stealth boasting this is genuinely asking for advice from anyone who has made the decision:

My dc in yr 1 has had it suggested by the school that they should move up a year (this is an independent school).

They have asked whether we would prefer our dc to be moved up this year, i.e. go from pre-prep into prep now when classmates up to yr 2 and they go into yr 3, or whether we would like to leave it for a year and do it when all classmates move up into prep and our dc goes into yr 4 whilst rest of class is in yr 3.

Has anyone done either of these? Any opinions on which one is better/worse?

Fair enough mm1 - but I guess she wouldn't have been a level 3 without using the rules of writing at that stage.

If it were my Ds I'd ask the school what experience they have re dcs moving years (assume your dc won't bs the first ever to move) and how they deal with the emotional and social issues. At that age I think those are more important than academics.

No, of course not. My point was just that style and content comes before accuracy for some kids, but clearly they won't get very far without learning the rules!

There were 3 girls in my class at school who were a year ahead. One of them had to repeat the year when her dad went bust and she was moved to comp, it totally messed with her head (though i suspect losing everything she knew was probably the source of that, and having to change schools and go back a year was just the final flip point). I see her regularly and she has a huge chip on her shoulder about life!

The other 2 girls were very, very bright, top in everything, in the sports team etc, But socially they weren't so great, they matured a lot later than the rest of the class, and I can't imagine now how either would say school was a great time, so in hind site wonder if it was worth it? One I know dropped out of uni and it took her years to find herself, (we are back in touch through facebook) the other no one has contact with.

I can't believe you're happy to pay for this kind of education, where they can't even differentiate properly without him feeling like he's working on his own.....

What if he is really bright. And he gets moved up but in another 2 years is working ahead of that group? This school is really not going to be able to cope with him then.....

He's only 3c now. By the end of Y2 he might only be 3a's. Not that exceptional......

I skipped the last year of junior school and went to senior school at 10.

It made me a bit of a target for the bullies - well, that, coupled with the fact that, at the same time, the local paper reported that I had just scored highly in a MENSA test, played an instrument to a high standard etc.

I didn't enjoy being different to the other kids. I had been the brightest in my class and very confident, but I became desparately keen to blend in and did my best to become average - academically, musically and in every other sense.

I did fine in the end, and went to University at 17 without a problem, but I tend to feel that was in spite of skipping a year, rather than because of it. I can't think of a single advantage to it, TBH.

Unless your DC is absolutely chomping at the bit and utterly frustrated I would be inclined to keep him/her where they are.

I think you should look not only at the academic reasons but also the emotional; there is a huge difference in the emotional development of a child who is in yr 2 to yr 3.

A good school (state or independent) should be able to differentiate work according to your child's ability so if it means giving him work for the year above, then that's what he should get (whilst remaining with his friends).

And I too agree that being the only 17 yr old at uni who isn't legally allowed to get into clubs and go drinking would be crap.

School and education isn't only about grades (or shouldn't be); it's about the whole student and their welfare and emotions not whether they are a Mozart in the making.

As a teacher in a state school I have to say I'm surprised that anyone is suggesting moving a Y1 child who is performing at a 3c level upto Y2/Y3. I teach Y4 and have children who are performing at level 5a in writing and maths... am I trying to get rid of them? No. I differentiate, properly, appropriately and in line with the needs of those children. It doesn't matter that the national expectation for Y4 is 3b, what matters is that the children receive teaching appropriate to their needs and interests.

My own Y1 DD is a 3c in reading and writing and it hadn't crossed my mind until reading this post that my colleague might want to ship her out of her class so someone else can teach her. She has a great time at school and has made fantastic progress in all subjects, it doesn't matter to her that she is the only one who is at her level because so little is made of it, as it should be if work is appropriately differentiated.

I think I'd be inclined to find a larger school for your DS.

In my ds's year 5 class there are children working effectively at all levels from 2c to 5a. No need to move anyone if the teacher is good at his/her job!

I'm a teacher and I would be very concerned if I were you that the teachers can't differentiate especially in such small classes. I am also a that you know all the levels of the children in the different classes. Is this normal for private schools?

I had a good friend at school who had jumped a year.

In secondary school she was very obviously less mature than the rest of the peer group.

She also had to go to University at 17.

I think you have to consider very carefully whether this is in any way a permanent solution for him, by looking at his rate of progress as well as his absolute position.

Is it that he has made exceptional progress (ie gone from non-reading, just about counting to 10 etc at the beginning ot Reception to performing at level 3 at the end of year 1) or that he started at a high level and has made a normal level of progress?

If it is the former, then what are they going to do with him as he also outstrips the children in the year above? Still fail to differentiate properly and thus have to move him a further year ahead?

If he has done the latter, then tbh I would leave him where he is. If he's moving at the expected rate of progress, it is likely that this will slow at some point, other children will accelerate and come up to meet him.

I suspect that it is because the school is so small that this arises - a larger school with a bigger cohort would have more children at each level and be more used to proper differenatiation.

The child I do know who has successfully moved a year ahead is not just bright, he is one of those '1 in 10,000' type kids - and even a year ahead he has to work alone for Maths (where his special gifts lie) as he is working over 5 years ahead of his chronological age. However, the decision was taken much later for him - as it was for me, yonks years ago - at the transition to secondary where the child's level of ability and progress has been consistently been demonstrated to be exceptional over a number of years. After just 2, I would be much more cautious.