Appeal against decision to hold DD back in yr 1- MAT

[mummytwobears]

Hello, has been yrs since I used mumsnet, but I'm stuck and wondered if anyone had experienced this.

My kids go to small village school (55 kids). For last 3 yrs it's been great, couldn't ask for better. Last yr school became part of large MAT, with 8 schools not all locally and the leadership is very very different now.
The classes are divided into 3 classes EYFS/yr 1: yrs2&3: yrs 4-6. This has always been fine.
My DD will be going into class 2/yr 2 in Sept...or so we thought.

Yesterday we were given a letter at end of the day stating that DD is not 'emotionally mature' and will therefore not be transitioning into yr 2.
Never have the school or us raised any concerns before this.
My DD is so excited about going into class 2 with her big friends and was really looking forward to Monday when they have their meet your new teacher/class room day. All her friends are moving up without her.
I'm so appalled they've sent this with absolutely no warning.
My DD has no SEND, is meeting expected targets.

I'm sure the real reason is that they only want to employ 3 teachers and want to reduce some of the class sizes.
The ridiculous thing is and I know this shouldn't matter, but I am a (currently unemployed) teacher and my husband is a children's MH nurse, so we do know what we're talking about!

I'm not going to tell her and have written a letter of complaint and asked for decision to be reversed.

Just wondering if anyone has heard of this before and what people think?

Ta x

They aren't going to give you a formal assessment of emotional health. Be serious. They are going to tell you that they have used their professional judgement as teachers.

I would agree that this is, in all probability, a 'split the year group between 2 classes' decision - a perfectly normal operational decision that schools with mixed age classes do all the time - rather than a 'change year group allocation for a few children' - which is much rarer and would require evidence.

Small schools / very small schools - and with a school with 55 pupils it is lucky that you have 3 classes with separate teachers, as finances will be based on 2 classes of nearer to 30 would be normal - do this kind of thing all the time to try to balance class sizes.

You can question the basis on which the split was made, and should of course check that she will take y2 SATs etc as normal. However, should they say that they have decided to split Y2 as an operational decision, to equalise the size of classes, they are at liberty to do so. You should check carefully how the Y2 curriculum will be delivered, but it is entirely lawful, and quite normal, to split year groups within a school.

Mrz, I have come across splits by age (often done by schools because it is factual and non-subjective) and by 'ability' (obviously less black and white, and can be emotional readiness as well as academic readiness).

IME parents quibble less about age, but 'teacher judgement "ability"' splits are often, educationally, much more successful.

I was trying to ascertain whether emotional immaturity might actually mean young in year

Apologies for weuird sentence caused by editing and not re-reading:

A school with 55 children will, given standard funding arrangements, have sufficient funding to pay 2 teachers, as the model is based around 30 pupils per class 'paying for' 1 teacher.

So maintaining 3 classes will be a budgetary struggle - using junior teachers will help, as NQTs and teachers up to 6 years into the profession are paid on a gradually increasing scale. Sharing a head will also help. However, the model of less than 20 chuildren per teacher, especially in the current climate, will be hard to sustain unless the school has many pupils who come with additional funding of some kind.

It may therefore be worth thinking about next moves, as the MAT may choose to move towards a 2 class model over time unless they can increase intake.

Totally agree that class 1 and year 1 are different.

However the reasons given are that her DD has emotional difficulties. They have stated she's remaining with younger children due to send.

If it was a case of "due to numbers we are having a yr R,1/2 class and a year 1/2/3 class so the year 2,s will be split over 2 classes" then that would be more difficult to challenge. The same way in schools with yr1 class, yr 2 class and a mixed 1/2 parents who think their genius child should be with yr 2's in the mixed class find it hard to challenge except in cases where they stated and organised it as top yr 1 with lower yr 2.

Youare,

Np, the OP stated that the letter said:

"DD is not 'emotionally mature' and will therefore not be transitioning into yr 2."

No SEN was mentioned [OP stated that her DD had no SEND, and did not say that the school claimed this], and I think it is worth the OP establishing whether this is into Class 2 (normal) or Year 2 (not normal).

If it is to hold her back in Year 1, then fight it all the way, because in our LEA secondary schools do not 'recognise' that a child has been held back and will put them straight into Year 8, skipping Year 7 completely, which would be a nightmare scenario!

cantkeepawayforever
The OP has further clarified that the letter says
"based on DDs emotional immaturity she will remain in class 1" which indicates that they are keeping her in class 1 rather than year 1.

"However the reasons given are that her DD has emotional difficulties" no the reason given was her daughter isn't emotionally mature

Not being emotionally mature and having emotional difficulties equate to the same thing.

If school are saying she is remaining in class 1 with mostly 4-6yo and not transitioning to class 2 with all the other yr 2's where there is also older children and staying emotional maturity as a reason they are saying she's not emotionally mature enough to transition. They haven't said due to class sizes. Or at least op hasn't said that they have.

A child who is behind their peers and needs different educational input is established as having send. That doesn't mean on Sen register etc - and most children can have some kind of send during their school life. Most aren't kept with younger children as a result and if they are it's severe.

Not emotionally mature and having emotional difficulties aren't the same thing at all. All children mature at different rates, not least because they start school at different points in their lives and have had a range of life experiences prior to starting school, combined with their innate personalities.

Children develop at different rates and mature at different rates and it's also important to remember that a child who may be very mature and confident in one setting, may behave quite differently in another setting. For example, I'm often surprised that my youngest DD, who is by far the most academically able and confident of our children, is described as lacking confidence and requiring reassurance at school - her desire for perfection holds her back and makes her unsure of herself.

Teachers allocate classes to benefit the children. Perhaps you should consider that there is a good reason for this decision?

"Not being emotionally mature and having emotional difficulties equate to the same thing" sorry but totally untrue not the same thing at all

Sorry lougle, i had missed that. So just a split of the year group between two classes? Worth clarifying / discussing provision, then, but a perfectly normal happening in schools across the country.

Bloody hell im angry on your behalf op

Just a thought but when my children's school was taken over by an academy and I had serious concerns related to bullying, I spoke to the head but got nowhere, so I then contacted the academy who were amazing. Good luck sounds like an awful situation for your poor DD.

I agree with lougle and others that this is not about holding your daughter down a year. The wording in the letter indicates this is about splitting Y2 between two classes. That is a normal operational decision which can happen for all kinds of reasons. It is unlikely that it will be possible to get the decision changed. You need to make sure she will be taught the Y2 curriculum. That will confirm she is not being held back.

Not being emotionally mature and having emotional difficulties equate to the same thing

What a ridiculous statement. A typical child aged 5 will be less emotionally mature than a typical child aged 6. That does not mean the 5-year old has any kind of emotional difficulties.

Regardless of whether the OPs child is in class 1 or 2 they will be assessed against National Curriculum expectations (SATs) so the school would be shooting themselves in the foot not to teach the correct curriculum.

BumWad and Lilybensmum, ta for your support.

To those who wondered, no letter explicitly says it's not about being young in year, if that was the case she'd be with her friends, as they're all born in the same month.

I don't want to get into the semantics of the letter and what it may or may not mean, nor the maths of teacher funding and class sizes. Because that's not why I came here. I don't agree with the decision, haven't been consulted and don't believe it's in the best interests of my child, so I will fight it.

I have a plan and will update ASAP x

The school doesn't have to consult you in organisation of classes. There are 55 children to be divided between three classes and they have decided that it's better for all to have more equally balanced class sizes than one very small and two large.

I think the main thing you need to take away from this thread is that your child isn't being held back in Y1.

As only 3 children out of 12 are remaining in class1, I would complain. The Home/School agreement is not a policy required by law but equal opportunities is. Read that policy and be very clear about what your child is not being offered that the rest of the cohort are. The way to fight this is to say your DD will not have the same opportunities as her peers in Class 2. She is in a room with 4/5 year olds who are on the Early Years curriculum. What attention will these three children realistically get with 4 year olds playing?

Ask about class trips to support the Y2 curriculum, whether they can teach her the same sport as Class 2 and find out how else she will be excluded from what the other children are doing in class 2 or included in what they are doing. How will these three children be taught humanities, music and science? Will they be included in the Y2 cohort in the Christmas production or be in with the 4 year olds? If they don't have enough money, the Head will have to do more teaching.

Ask about why they have done nothing to help. If they think she is not mature enough to go into class 2, what are they doing about it? What help is being given to her? Why has this aspect of her schooling not been discussed with you prior to this decision. It is not acceptable and I really would fight it.

Personally I dislike schools this small. Never enough friends and classes are messed about too much. I would walk!

55 children across seven year groups means there are very few children per year.

"How will these three children be taught humanities, music and science? " the same way as their peers who are in a class with Y3 (Y4?) pupils

It's not just about what they are taught in lessons though surely? It's the impact on these children of being told they are not moving up which is a very big deal when you are that age.

Not a teacher so am guessing I am missing something but I just don't understand how it's ok to do that. I have a DD the same age and she and her friends would be crushed not to move up.

It's very common in small schools that have mixed aged classes. They have to organise classes in the most effective way possible.