Please any advice on repeating a year at primary school

[Lottie1981]

Hello. I hope I’m writing in the correct forum!!
I would like some/any advice. My daughter is end of July baby and in year 1! She has struggled massively and although she actually very confident the fact that’s she so far behind her peers is now very noticeable and she is becoming aware that she’s not able to do the same things as her friends. Her year 1 teacher has been very supportive, she gets 1:1 most days and has speech therapy but her teacher now seems very irrarated by her and sees her as being perhaps naughty instead of immature and very young for her age. The school have said she’s a year behind her age and a recent (long awaited) appointment with a paediatrician said she has learning delays and has requested blood test to perhaps explain why information is not being absorbed. The fact that she already at a disadvantage being a summer baby and even further behind than that really does give me sleepless nights. I had the chance to defer and wanted to but everyone told me not to and said she’ll be fine, I should have gone with my gut instinct!! I even had a meeting with the head before she started who told me she disagreed with the idea of deferring without even knowing my daughter.The reason I’m writing is because I truly believe she is a strong candidate for repeating year one next year and staying with that year group throughout her school life. I have a meeting in two weeks with the senco and teacher to discuss the support she’s receiving and I want their support in approaching a difficult head teacher about this. I know it’s going to be a point blank NO,so want to try and have us much professional support to back up our case. I’m hoping her speech therapist might also write a report to build a case.
So my question is Has anyone managed to keep their child back a year? Or anyone taking the drastic decision to send to another school who are willing to allow child to repeat a year? Any advice would be appreciated.
I know there’s reasons for not doing this, and I understand these reasons but my child plays with the year below and has more of a connection, which is due to her being so much younger for her years. I’ve listened and supported the school from Day one and now they need to listen to me and what I believe is right in supporting my child. My biggest worry has always been her losing her confidence once she realises she’s out behind her peers by miles in every academic aspect, and want to act now. Can the head say No even if I can build a case for this.

I completely think that keeping her back a year is the right decision, and I'm glad you think so too. I'm sorry I can't offer any advice, all I can say is good luck and stick your guns! I wouldn't be adverse to moving schools if that's what it comes down to.

I have a ds who is summer born and in year 1. He is doing fine and is thriving. HOWEVER, I still think I should have kept him back. He went to a fab pre school abroad, and so he was more than ready to start reception and I didn’t want him to lose his momentum.
If he was struggling like your daughter is I would do exactly the same as you. Have you spoken to the LEA at all? Even now I would hold him back. Just so he has the advantage of being the eldest. We may be moving abroad again and I will be applying for him to go into year 1 again in September,
Good luck

Thank you for your replies.
I spoke to our local authority last week and they said now that she has started school the decision lies with the school and not something the councils education dept would get involved in.

Ah ok. Hopefully the school will be with you on this then.

Yes the head can still say no. It's very rare for children to be kept back a year. Mainly because it offers very little benefit apart from in very specific circumstances. If a child has learning difficulties for example they will still have learning difficulties the next year so there isn't much to be gained really.
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If a child has missed a year or other significant amount of time for illness or similar, it can be a benefit.
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I've known a child kept back because they spoke no English and it was felt they'd benefit from a year learning English before tackling the rest of the curriculum.
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I've known children who were kept back because they were immature and it was felt that they would benefit from having some extra time. However these children were children who were upper primary and behaved more like children in year 1. They also had significant learning difficulties.
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I know a parent who was refused, fought it (and it got nasty) and won. It was totally pointless in this instance.
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Children in the last two instances all went onto special schools.
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The senco/class teacher is unlikely to back you keeping your child behind unless it is something they have also been thinking. They are employed by the school and they aren't going to openly disagree with the head teacher. In a similar way, other professionals are unlikely (unless your case is extreme) to recommend it as it puts schools in a difficult position and often (depending on who the professional is) it isn't their place to make such recommendations.
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Obviously talk to the senco about your concerns. Talk to your local sendias team who give advice to parents. You might also want to talk to heads at other schools to see if they would be receptive if yours isn't. Does your dd have an ehcp?

Do you plan this to be temporary or a permanent arrangement? If permanent the LA will need to agree or you may find she has to transfer to secondary at the end of Y5 instead of Y6 or alternatively miss Y7 and start secondary in Y8. You need a guarantee from the LA that this won't be the case and your child can continue throughout their school career out of year.

Norest I believe it is up to individual secondary schools. It is mostly honoured because the reasons are usually significant SEND and affects so few children.

Thanks I will check this with the LA as would only want to do this if she stayed in the year group the whole way through. soapboxqueen, I get what you mean and can see arguments for both sides. But she has learning delays of a year so putting her down to the year below would put her towards the back end of reception But in the right year for her, and would probably mean she wouldn’t need all the 1:1 support to push her on! If I had deferred before she started she would be in the class and wouldn’t have these worries!! Hindsight is a wonderful thing!!
I do agree that a teacher or SENco will of course not fight the heads decision but I’m hoping they will understand why I am asking for this and be able to support if the head ask’s their opinion on this.

Also her current teacher agreed during an informal chat that she would have benefitted with starting a year later but has said there’s so many ways to move her on and push her towards where she should be. Unfortunately the support has proven not to work and she’s learning at a slower pace. So her teacher probably does agree with her repeating a year although if she’ll come out and say it officially is another thing!!

My experience is different soapbox. Circumstances change, families move, new heads take over schools etc ...better to have a guarantee.

norest I think you might have misunderstood what I meant. What I meant was is that there is no guarantee. Even if the LEA agrees, schools don't have to follow and even less so now that so many are academies and free schools with no oversight from LEAs.

I would expect once in a school, for her to stay in that year group. However, nobody can 'guarantee' she'd stay there if she moved schools. Though again if her delays were significant enough, they may agree to maintain it.
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In all honesty being a year behind isn't really that significant. I appreciate it may seem that way to you but it is fairly run of the mill in schools. However, if she is receiving a lot of support in class what is this for? Does she struggle with instructions, writing, concentrating etc etc? Has it been formalised in any way such as education plan or ehcp? You really need to have a full picture of what they are doing and why. How are they planning to help her otherwise there is the potential for her to go back a year with the same problems and no solutions.
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Yes her class teacher may have agreed she might have benefited from a delayed start but that a different beast to being held back a year even if it amounts to the same thing. I would be very surprised if either the class teacher or senco agreed with our suggested out loud to you that your dd should be kept back unless it has already been discussed. It would put the head in a very difficult position.

Apologies for typos

That’s reassuring to hear it’s not that unusual to be behind. She receives 1:1 for speech few times a week which is progressing well. She’s just started to blend words and just started to recognise numbers. Shes goes to reception class for phonics and maths sessions. She also does small group work to improve her motor skills, social interaction and listening skills. She can do it just not developing as quick as she’s suppose to. Schools supporting her massively but they would have hoped to see more progress. Her teacher said she doesn’t know where to go with her next!!
She has a “one plan” in place is that the same as ehcp?
She’s just been diagnosed with symptomatic hyper mobility. I’d never heard of it but her teacher has and we are putting in place ways to help at home and school. Her concentration & attention is very poor hence the appt with the paediatrician. He hasn’t ruled out ADHD but instead were back on waiting to list to review in 8 months time and in the meantime requested blood test to be sent to GOSH to test chromosomes to find out cause of learning delays. But I won’t actually get these results until I see the paediatrician in 8 months or so! Crazy!!

I've honestly not heard of a 'one plan' but if I were you I'd ask directly if you have an education health care plan. Ehcp have a structure behind them and are legally enforceable. Anything else is just an agreement. Some local authorities are very good at coming up with 'processes' which allow for 'fast track' support which then puts parents off getting an ehcp (was statement) because they see the support going in. However the LEA have no legal duty to maintain it so if money dries up it's tough or if you move LEA you've got to start the whole process again.
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The issues with medical diagnosis are important but are not the focus of support in school. The questions are 1)what is the problem? 2)what should we do about it? If the class teacher is at a dead end they need to get an educational psychologist in or other professional to help them create a plan. There may be resistance to that as it costs money but it is a totally normal thing for schools to be doing.
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Obviously you want the best for your child and her being a year behind isn't ideal. I just want you to panic thinking it was very unusual or insurmountable.

Thank you v much for the helpful information, I’ll certainly be looking into these point before my meeting with the SENco.

There is definitely a girl in my daughter's year 1 class who was repeating the year. She is August born with some other challenges and that is the plan for the rest of her schooling. It definitely can be done so do fight for this if you feel this is right for your DD. Good luck!

I know 2 kids who repeated reception. 1 did then go on to a SS.
I think it is an issue being the youngest in year. At least being oldest being a year behind they may not even be bottom.

I cant see why schools are so against it as it could save thousands even with the costs of repeating.
For starting at CSA there is no requirement for proof of SEN and with these kids now doing this there shouldnt be any reason for secondarys to move them up. How could it be in their best interests?

You don't need to show a child has SEND to defer starting school anymore. That is correct. However nor do you have the right to have them out of year. The only thing that changed with reception school admissions is that the LEA cannot have a blanket policy on rejecting requests. I do not believe you have a right of appeal either.
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Schools are not against children being kept behind a year per say. There just needs to be a good solid reason for it. There is the social issue of others being aware that they have been kept behind as well as how that might affect their self esteem. Though this might be less of an issue for summer born children as they would be much closer in age.
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Additionally, for many children where being kept behind a year is suggested, the same argument could be made for the year after and the year after that. Very few children are just a year behind and need time to catch up (a child with a serious illness that they recover from would be an exception) . They often have learning difficulties which means they will always learn at a slower pace so the same argument could be made again and again. Which makes the whole concept pointless.
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Most secondary schools do honour the adopted year of a child but that is usually because the child will have significant SEND and their results will be unaffected. Secondary schools are judged on the qualifications a child has at a certain age so an out of year child will count as zero even though they might take exams the next year.

Hi Lottie

Were in a very similar position, only with twins. Both not hitting targets. Not as late born as yours but march babies, now in year 1. They are struggling and I favour doing a second year staying in yr 1. In France its seen as pretty normal and not looked down on but I fear here it may not be as easy. I just believe that another year in yr 1 would see then rise to nearer the top of the class rather than failing at the bottom. Not sure yet how the school would feel.

If the head agrees, what happens when she has to sit SATS or start Secondary, would those be able to be delayed?

I would assume they would then just go up the years as normal, they would just be the eldest in each year. I don't see an issue with that. They would progress to secondary school after year 6 is completed with all their classmates as normal without any upheaval to knock any more confidence.

I think you might slightly be clutching at straws if you think this is just about being summer born. SEN and delay can happen with September born children. They too can struggle! If she goes down to a lower class, there could be SEND September born children.

Therefore I would not get hung up on birth dates. I would be wanting to see if her modified curriculum can help. I think many SEND children progress at a slower pace than the others. There are many barriers to
learning. (I’m a governor and I crawl over progress stats). Therefore she might never “catch up” (however you wish to define this) even if she goes down a year because everything will take longer for her to learn and it ends up being cumulative. The new class mates might soon outpace her. So when do you stop putting her down a year? This time next year you might be saying the same thing. Is she not going to miss friends and feel different eventually? What about her self esteem? What will happen to friendships?

I’m not saying don’t look into it but be careful of thinking it will help in the linger run: it may not.

Ds stayed behind and did two years in Reception. We are in NI so the system is different.

He is 10 now and I think and the school agree it was best for him. He still has SEN though. Dyslexia and some dyscalcia but is progressing year on year.

The main poster - I could have written this exact post. This is happening to me right now with my year one daughter. If you still access this thread - how did things work out? My child has learning difficulties and she currently is in year one but goes to reception class for phonics etc as she can't understand anything in year one. Please give me some hope/reassurance. I also want to speak with the school about repeating the year. Hope it all went well with you