Any primary school teachers about who can advise me?

[Rosie29]

We recently moved from abroad where my ds, 6, was in the local school system. He is bilingual. The school system he was in starts school later than the UK so he didn't know how to read or write English or his other language. Fast forward to starting school here in the UK and he's been put in a mixed year group with reception and year one. He should be in the mixed year group for yrs two and three. The school did this so he covers all phonics and basically spends this school year learning to read and write and they say he'd struggle to do any work in the higher class. He is so frustrated being with the young kids but is trying hard with his reading and writing. Sorry for the ramble but should I insist he's moved up? Could he cope? Any advice please.

I may be facing this issue with my DD next year if we move back to the UK. She also would not start formal schooling till 6 here and so would have to be in year 1 to learn to read and write. I think it would be a mistake to move him unless you can tutor him so he is at year 2 level. He needs a solid grounding in order to be able to progress. Could you tutor him to enable him to catch up and maybe move up mid year?

We are working with our daughter on her phonics and learning to read and write in the hope she will be able to be with her peers

My parents moved me at a difficult time. Here in the U.S. our town uses an IEP to get additional resources for any child that is behind. There should be a teacher that comes along soon who knows the UK system and can advise on how you should proceed with the school.

I think you're best going along with him being in y1/r for now and see how he goes. The great thing about the y1/r environment is that it is well suited to children working at the right pace and level for them. Without making your son feel pressured it may work out brilliantly - he's only a few weeks in now and probably barely settled in, but I expect the school are hoping that his increased maturity compared to the rest of the class mean that he will grasp the key lessons quickly and race through the reading scheme, possibly being ready to join his chronological age cohort by easter with any luck. Have they talked to you about a long term plan for getting him caught up with his age peers?

As a teacher and SENCO I wouldn't accept this for my child.

How far is your DS from being 7?

If he has e.g. an August birthday, he'll only be a few weeks older than the oldest Y1 kids. In that case I'd agree that PERHAPS it is a good plan to keep him in that YR/Y1 class for now. But only if there is a clear plan for the future: Either a plan for him to catch up with reading/writing (how is his maths?); or a plan for him to remain in that year group through secondary as well. What you don't want is for him to potter along with his current class, just to then have to miss out on either Y6 or Y7 when moving up to secondary.

If he is going to turn 7 soon, I'd absolutely agree with mrz. As a nearly 7 year old he will be able to learn differently, and faster, than most of the just 4 to just 6 year olds in his current class. E.g. in phonics, learning a 'sound per day' will just be to slow for him and rather than catching up, he'll be bored to death quite soon. In maths he should be able to grasp the concepts very easily and quickly, and get bored at the endless repetition etc.
That all would not be too much of an issue if the school were brilliant at differentiating. However, IF the school is indeed brilliant at differentiating, then he should be equally fine in the Y2/Y3 class. If they can differentiate for a nearly 7yo in a YR/Y1 class, then they should EASILY be able to differentiate for a (averagely smart) nearly 7yo who hasn't yet been taught phonics and has little reading experience, in a Y2/Y3 class. In other words, unless he has a summer birthday and isn't actually much older than the regular Y1 kids, I would insist on him being moved up. Regardless of which class he ends up staying in or changing into, what you want is a clear plan for how his reading can be supported - a plan that goes beyond 'stick him in with the little ones'. School IMO is being lazy. What if he were 10 and couldn't read English yet - would they stick him into a reception class to learn the phonics? Well no.

Thank you all for your advice, he will be 7 at the end of January. I've made an appointment to see the head and discuss their plan. I think he should be moved up and the school should come up a plan to support it.

I have taught a child who arrived 8 months previously with no English at all, and was placed immediately with their age peers. When I first taught the child, they were reading and writing in English, as well as speaking it, at an age-appropriate, or slightly higher, level, though with some grammatical idiosyncrasies linked to the structure of their native tongue.

I would not accept the placement with a lower year, but ask for support in a correct-aged class - this child had daily phonics sessions 1:1 initially, then daily reading 1:1, and support during whole class teaching for the first few months (mainly pre-teaching of relevant vocabulary).

Yes, you can insist that he's taught in the correct age group.

I taught a boy last year who'd been educated in Germany before starting at Y2, which was his appropriate age group. He came to my class with no phonics/couldn't write his name and left reading Harry Potter and writing elaborate and interesting stories-not a stealth brag for my amazing teaching skills, just an indication that it was the perfect year for him to learn these academic skills. His age can be a great age for picking things up quickly, especially if he's got previous experience of a more creative/play based education system in a different country-the difference between the boy in my class and the kids who'd slogged through our UK system was that he could see a purpose for reading/writing and, more crucially, had the play background that gave him something to write about. I would say that the age group he's in will frustrate him, this is a great year for him to pick things up quickly, but he needs to be motivated/inspired in order to do so. It would probably involve a lot of help on your part to give him a leg up with phonics and reading, so that the experience of being with the older ones didn't just destroy his self confidence.

Sounds like your school doesn't have much or any experience in this area.

The schools round here have a steady stream of children who haven't attended school before, have no English etc.

They go into the correct class for their age, and are given appropriate support to catch up.

Your son will be missing out on so much important teaching and social experience by not being in the correct class for his age.

And he's never going to 'catch up' if he doesn't have access to what his 'proper' class are doing.

Just make sure there is a clear plan in place for teaching him the phonics he has missed.

Some years ago I taught twins in year 5 who had arrived in the UK in year 2, having come from a country where they hadn't yet started school. When I taught them 3 years later (transfered from another school to us) their spelling was shocking - it was common to see the same word spelt 3 different ways on the same page. They had made up their own spellings as they missed out being taught basic phonics, and by the time I taught them, their own version of English was so deeply embedded it was very hard to get them out of it.

I suggest you speak to the school about how you can support at home. Just 10 or 20 minutes a day 1:1 will make a big difference. There's so much good information on the internet now, that you should be able to supplement what the school is doing without too much difficultly. That will help him to catch up even quicker.

Having said all that, I too feel quite strongly that he should be with his correct year group. I've seen SEN children who've been held back by an infant school and so are out of year group - what makes complete sense when they are 5 leads to all sorts of problems when they are 12 (going on 13) in a group of 11 year olds.

More great replies which I'm happy to see concur with our opinion. I've had a lovely chat with the school who will move him. They will discuss it and let us know next week whats going to happen. I told them I understood it's a new area for them but they were wrong to put him down, it's not the normal route taken and I should have stood up and said something sooner.

I feel as if I've let my ds down so badly, we had a very sudden move back to the UK and it's been quite emotional for us all, the poor thing has been so miserable but I suppose I hoped it would sort itself out, as it was one less thing to worry about. Does it matter that he's been in the younger class for 6 weeks? It's sounds ridiculous but I'm worried I've damaged his confidence/development permanently in some way.

I made it clear I will be happy for him to be taken out of his new class for phonics work etc but if they were doing a writing project, for example, they should be able to find ways to include him. I stressed that his development was suffering too.

Thank you again for the help, can anyone recommend any online resources for us to use at home?