DS has to miss out a year of school, how can I help him catch up?

[StuntNun]

We are moving from Northern Ireland to England and since DS2's birthday is in July he will be going straight from year 4 (P5 in NI) to year 6 (P7 in NI). (The cut off for the school year is the 1st July here rather than the 31st August.)

DS2 is good at numeracy and I think he will catch up easily but his literacy skills aren't as good and he is going to struggle with missing a year of the curriculum.

He is an interested and engaged learner and I think he could probably catch up over the summer if I work with him. I'm not sure how to find out what to teach him and where to get resources.

Has anyone been in the same position or could advise me on how to help him?

Where at you moving? In England the cut of is usually September 1st

I think if your DS is moving to England he'll go back a year, won't he? If his birthday is in July he'll be one of the youngest in the year below, rather than one of the oldest in his current year in NI.

If he's in year 4 in NI and 1st July is the cut off, he's the very oldest year 4.

In England, he would not make it into year 4. He would be held back in year 3 because July is the youngest in the year.

No lougle, he'd be the youngest in year 5, so going into year 6.

It would help if you give us how d.o.b, but if he was born in July 2006 be would be going into Y6. Of its July 2007 be will be going into Y5 here so he won't miss a year.

My ds has just completed y5. They would be existed to know all times tables and division have so of be doesn't yet, that would be an easy place to start. In terms of literacy, he's done The Highway Man and tons of grammar, urghhh. They've may done ww2 in history. You could look on Amazon as there's tons of Letts and Collins books of y5 stuff.

Oh man, sorry for all the errors. In a rush. Hope you got gist. I think there's tons of books on prep for y6 Sats so you coyote start there and see where his gaps in knowledge are. Particularly the grammar which is yuck bit they need to know it. Relative clauses etc

National curriculum for English maths and science for key stage 2 are available online if you have a google and are broken down by year group so it would be worth having a read through and seeing where his gaps may be

uk.ixl.com/ela/year-5

uk.ixl.com/math/year-5

This is list of English/Maths in NC for yr5.

It might be with looking at the school run online, they have loads of worksheets and booklets you can print off to work through! There is a subscription fee but it's reasonable. My daughter assures me they are "fun" to work through too!!

I wouldn't worry (as someone who has taught in schools). A lot of the NC involves repetition. Year 6 SATs are not the only thing used by most secondaries to set pupils. Your son will have a year to "catch up" or fill in gaps in his knowledge, and year 6 tends to be quite intense preparation.

I would use your energy much more to identify secondaries to apply for etc.

Sorry for the confusion. His birthday is July 2006 so he is the oldest in his year in NI but would be one of the youngest in his year in England.

They do the same sort of stuff every year

Formal letters stories chronological news papers etc

You can ask for target sheets do you know what's missing from his writing.

Ask the teacher for help

http://www.primarycurriculum.me.uk/year6

Oh yes. Where is my brain? Of course. It's becoming the youngest in the year that's the problem. Sorry! Just ignore me

maybe the school he's going to could give you some examples of books the kids there have been using in the past term? And they should have a curriculum you can look at to see if there are any key areas he's missed?

I'd think the key thing is not to stress him out too much this summer? Maybe 10 minutes a day of maths or literacy if he fancies it? maybe read the book that his new classmates have already read in English?

Talk to the new school head about the possibility of remaining in current year. We had the same situation at our school with a girl moving from abroad and it was actually sorted very quickly she should stay with her current year (incl. that this would stay in place at local secondary also. It was of benefit to no-one to put her at such a disadvantage (incl.school from a results point of view). I believe the school had to get a recommendation from Ed Psych but that was done over the phone discussing background and current levels (which were already on the lower side for existing cohort) etc.

The new school only has a space in the current year 5 and not in year 4 which is forcing our hand.