Would you want acceleration ? Teacher advice please!

[AnxiousElephant]

DD is due her report and last report (Easter Y1) was levelled as 2a, 1a,1a and I know she has made significant progress since. Example, in reading she can understand and read most books appropriate to her age i.e. Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, enjoys all Dr Zeus (no problem handling made up words!). Maths she is doing 2, 5, 10 times tables, understands money and value, tells time to half hour, been able to bake a cake independently i.e. weigh and measure ingredients, get out all equipment, read instructions for about 4 months, uses tape measure etc doing division. Writing is always punctuated and starts with a capital letter, uses and, because and some camas. Writes lists, instructions and spells longer words such as chocolate with 'e' missing etc. spells 'instructions' as instrucshons' etc.
So I think she may be 3c, 2c,2c at the end of year report.
Since she is very mature (the KS1 lead didn't realise she wasn't year 2!) Would it benefit her to be accelerated to provide more challenge. I ask because the lament of her teacher is that she daydreams lots and it has been raised on every parents evening! I wonder if she is bored? I have asked what she daydreams about and she says 'making money', lots of enterprises have been discussed, so I believe this is the truth.

But if she is making this progress surely she is being challenged within her current class? It is pretty rare for LA schools to education children out of year group and she is not that far beyond year group expectations in writing and maths (the 2cs you predict, I assume), I have at least 20% of children entering year 2 each year with these sorts of levels (2c/2b, I mean, the reading level is more rare).

At the moment she works predominantly with year 2 in a mixed class. It isn't a middle/ high class area. Most of her friends are in year 2 and due to the structure of the school she will then only see them at break. She has struggled to find kindred spirits since her good friend left last year. I feel that if she is happy socially she will do better even if not at the top of the class, than if she continues in her year group at the top without friends close by. In short she has little in common with her same age peers due to her maturity. The people she has made the progress with are about to go to year 3 .

Would she be happy to repeat year 6, as many LAs expect that is children are educated out of year to do? I know some MN-ers have children who move to secondary school early, but that is rarer than being in a different class in primary. To clarify, you main argument would be social? That may be harder to argue with the LA, than the academic.
PS I'm not a middle / high class area either.

Tbh that's good, but not outstanding and there may well be other children who are better. Assuming going up 2 subsections a year as is standard, then 1a at Easter would be 2b at Easter in year 2. 2b being "average" at the end of year 2. Ie she's just above average in those subjects. Even 2c (assuming she gets it, which obviously isn't taken as read) at the end of the year would be predicted to become 2a, which is above average, but nowhere near outstanding.

You say she's very mature. Well my dd1 has been regarded as exceptionally mature, she was often taken for 2-3 years older than her age due to this at year 1 level. She still is mature now in year 6. However that same maturity makes her roll her eyes when her classmates are talking about fashion and boyfriends and other things that the classmates regard as "grown up".. If she'd been put ahead she would have just had to put up with that talk a year sooner. I don't think it would have helped her at all.

Dewe, really sorry I don't understand what you mean regarding 2 sub levels per year? In reading she has gone from a 1b on entry to year 1 to 2A at easter i.e. between october and april! That is 4 sub levels in 6 months! Potentially 5 (dependent on the report that is due) in 1 year! In writing she started as 1c then 1a and same in maths 1c to 1a in 6 months! If she has gone up again ( as I suspect by her work she has) then that is 3 sublevels in her weak subjects and 5 in the strongest. The levels take her to an almost average year 2 level 1 year early in writing and maths and an average year 3 level for reading. She already knows the majority of the science curriculum covered (covered at home with me at pre-school age! she enjoyed doing experiments at 3 years old). She is already learning french in her free school time on the computer/ ipad. In short I think she needs more breadth in her curriculum, not chasing levels upwards iyswim.

What I hink DeWe is meaning is that targeted progress is two full levels per key stage, hence breaking it down in to sub-levels per year, made more confusing as there are two years in KS1 and four in KS2! It is not unusual for children to make very rapid progress in one year - I have many children that have made 4 or 5 sub-levels (and in a couple of cases 6 or 7) progress in Year 2. However, just because they make very rapid progress for a year or two it doesn't mean they will make the same level of progress in every school year; children just don't learn like that and it has nothing to do with poor teaching or lack of acceleration if they don't continue with the 4 or 5 sub-levels for whole of their school career. So basically what I think DeWe was saying is her levels are not that exceptional and it is an incorrect assumption to make that the same rate of progress will happen next year and the year after.
(Hope I haven't put words in your mouth DeWe?!)

I always tell my girls when they roll their eyes at more reading that they only have to learn to read (English) once. Dd1 was slow to start and at this stage in yr1 was making agonisingly slow progress, now she has caught up with her peers who were good at decoding, but not as good at the comprehension. Dd2 has been faster to have it click, but her advantage in reading will level out with her peers as they catch her up.

If she goes ahead she is likely to have to repeat yr6 and find that more of a stigma IMO. If you feel that the school and the peers are not a good match for your dd, have you looked further afield. Places do come up, especially at the end of yr2 when parents move to independent prep schools. Certainly in our state school she would not seem so far ahead. Maybe a school with more experience of differentiating work would benefit her. Certainly in dd's class we have a full spectrum of abilities, but they still all seem happy and learning at levels appropriate to them.

I think your issue is more down to the school and few children working at her level? Because tbh, those levels are good but not outstanding - she sounds like a child likely to get all Level 3s at the end of KS1 which is about 20% of the year group nationally.

(whilst I'm not generally a fan of children moving schools) is it worth considering if moving her to a different school might be beneficial? Also consider introducing "other" activities e.g. music, teach her to play chess - sounds like you are doing some of this already.

red, she is already level 3 in reading at the end of year 1 so I really hope she doesn't stay at level 3 for the next year!
fwiw she has consistantly been at least a year ahead across the board since 2 (noted at her development review by the HV) so I doubt her progress will come to a grinding halt this year. If children are understimulated they resign themselves to what they have and either blend in or rebell. I don't believe the tosh that children ''just slow down'' and tbh feel it is justification for teachers that bright children have failed to make expected progress due to lack/ poor differentiation. In prep schools children appear to make far more progress, coincidently where they can spend more time with each child/ 1:1! Expected progress is a majority target, not what bright children are capable of imo.

She has already learned some violin but didn't enjoy it so we stopped, she now does piano which she enjoys.

Sorry, my mistake I though she was level 2 reading. What are her current writing and maths levels? You mention 1a last term, so probably up a sub level as well? Sorry, but that is not exceptional.
Do I also understand you expect your child to continue to progress at at least one sub level a term, or it is "lack/ poor differentiation" by the teacher? So ... level 4 reading by end of year 2, level 5 by year 3, level 6 by year 4, etc. Is that your expectation? And the same for maths and writing? If so, I think you are setting yourself up for lots of anxiety, stress and MN teacher bashing!

At KS1 3 sublevels is expected and she has moved 5 in reading and 3 in writing/ maths. The teacher said she was probably ahead of the 2a,1a,1a she had at easter so if that was the case then she is probably 3c, 2c/b and 2c/b. She is neatly joining up her writing using punctuation, spelling longer words phonetically well and knows the key words well to spell. Maths she is onto division/ multiplication/ money/ telling time (not sure really about maths expectations at each level but judging by last grades?)
The fact that she isn't ''exceptional'' is irrelevant because she spends ''lots of time daydreaming'' according to the teacher. Its about the non academic things and speed with which she can learn i.e. trampolining started at just 4 (before school age) on level 3 and in 1 year was at level 6. Did ballet where they told her she needed to learn to skip rope (age 5) she went for 2 weeks (joined after all her friends at half term) and could skip better than them after 2 weeks. She refused to go back to ballet because she said it was babyish with lots of pretending instead of learning positions. Rode a 2 wheel bike age 4 (no stabilisers). She has taken it upon herself to grow a watermelon from a seed dried from one we bought at the supermarket and it is now a vine without our help. She has made jewellry and sold it to her friends. She has amazing vision and imagination, constant what if questions. She refuses to do homework most nights and I don't force it until it has to be handed in, she rushes through it without care. In a recent time excercise she had to write times in for events in her day. She laughed and wrote that she gets up at 11 am (an in joke because she never lays in even at weekends) and that she has breakfast at 12noon etc. (abstract sense of humour).
Socially she is well liked by her same age peers but she doesn't like them, prefers older children for company. Despite being a year below her friends when out of school it is always them calling on her and her leading the games.

Abigail that is what I mean.

*Anxious" I think you are setting your dd up for a very difficult time. Nothing you have written sounds amazing, but you seem determined that she is unusual.

I'm not sure why you think she needs extra stretching. I think it's very likely that there will be children in her own year that are better than her from your descriptions. Certainly in all of my dc's forms there would be children further on in reading.

If you go in with the attitude that your dd is "above" the children in her year, she probably will take that attitude and she will have difficulty making friends. I've seen it happen.

She sounds like a normal,very slightly above average child. Not exceptional. Just normal.
As for "I really hope she doesn't stay at level 3 for the next year!" I think you are in for a huge bump down to earth. (And I say that as a parent of a normal, slightly above average child who entered year 1 on level 1a's across the board.)

my DCs school seriously considered moving DD1 up a year due to her ability and the fact that in Yr1 she actually fitted in socially better with year 3

so yr 2 would be a compromise, and she would still be expected to be top of the year

however long term she would have to repeat a year as the LA will not allow early admittance to high school and I wasn't going to take a chance that they would change their mind by the time DD was ready to go to HS

the school has been brilliant at expanding the curiculum sideways with her, and they have also allowed her to build on her ICT skills -she is confident and happy in year 5 (her age appropriate year) and is NC level 6 across all subjects so keeping her in year at school was not a problem

40% of the children at my DCs school are on free school meals and 9% are statemented so it is not a 'naice' school catchment area

you may well find that her levels will even out now anyway as in english you reach a point where it stops being about technical ability and is more about content and comprehension and you need a level of maturity to achieve these levels

you have a bright little girl, enjoy her and try not to pin too many expectations on such a young child

She refused to go back to ballet, she refuses to do homework most nights, she doesn't like her same aged peers. It's not her academic ability I would be concerned about!

She refused to go back to ballet, she refuses to do homework most nights, she doesn't like her same aged peers. It's not her academic ability I would be concerned about!

Wss!

Where has this level 3c come from for reading? Your own prediction?

Wait until you get the report. You are just imagining all those scenarios at the moment. 3c doesn't just require being able to read those books, but high levels of comprehension demonstrated.

The problem with acceleration is: if she is truly exceptionally intelligent then it won't be enough. If she moves up one year, by the end of primary, she could be academically several years ahead (I have known one boy sit GCSE Maths in year 3 in his State primary), emotionally she will not be that far ahead. That is why you don't hear of children sitting GCSE English early, they don't have the emotional/life skills to do so.

Now I would suggest that you read around exceptional children,maybe join NAGC who can give you advice. It could well be that your daughter's social skills need working on. Her dismissal of activities as "babyish" may actually mean that she does understand or get pretend play. She may get on better with year 2s because they are more tolerant of foibles. How good is she at writing imaginative stories? In creating her own worlds?

(Err I sat GCSE English early!)

Tbh I think this is more about you.

It sounds like you are very determined that your dd be recognized as exceptional that you are ignoring what other people are saying to you regarding levels. In my experience, her levels sound as though she is bright for her age, but not as exceptional as you think.

It also sounds like you are excusing behaviour such as refusing to do homework by saying its because it's too easy, babyish etc.

Yes she is bright for her age, clearly you put a lot of effort in with her in order to push her further, but I would be also concerned about the behaviour and social aspects as well as the academic side.

However, if this is really concerning you, why not wait until you get her actual levels, rather than what you are predicting and then go in and see her new class teacher and discuss what you can do to help your dd next year.

DS1's school discussed moving up a year when he was in reception.

We all agreed that it would be a bad move taking into account his emotional maturity relative to academic ability, and also would raise the difficulty of deciding what to do at year 6.

He does some literacy work, including guided reading, with year 4.

I think that you are perhaps jumping the gun to expect that her progress will match the progress she made in terms of moving through the sub levels. When will you get her report?

Fwiw ds was given some practice sats papers at Easter of the reception year and got 2a. This year he hasn't made massive leaps through the nc levels - partly because to progress beyond a 3 involves far more complex understanding of texts. His maths has jumped up, and his writing. But his reading is more static despite having read much more complex texts.

Incidentally, we paid for an ed psych assessment at Easter this year because he seemed really unhappy and to have struggled with friendships. Turns to he might be slightly spectrummy, potential NVLD/aspergers. I'm even happier now that we took the decision to keep him in his age cohort. We thought he was acting up and unhappy because he found the other children boring and was academically advanced. Which doesn't actually appear to be the case.

Um, I dont wish to appear negative but this seems to be more about your views and also about proving your dd is exceptional. This may be why you are finding the views of others that she is obviously intelligent but perhaps not exceptionally so, difficult to accept.
As a teacher in an outstanding school I can tell you she does not sound exceptional. tbh in my school she would be average. Obv for some schools this is not the case and she would be above average. she is doing well. Leave it at that and ease off the pressure.

She sounds very athletic--does she do football, swimming, riding? I would get her into some organized sports (and make her stick with them!) to stretch her. She has her whole school career to learn higher maths but now is the time to be learning how to be with others.

As a precocious child, I wish my parents and teachers would have pushed me less academically and more physically, creatively and socially. I would have learned the academic stuff anyway.

Also think ahead to the teen years, do you want her to be the youngest by far amidst her peers when the inevitable drugs/sex experimentation starts?