Retake year 1?

[Peanut1980]

Hi ladies,

I’m wondering if anyone has experience on this matter and could share their views?

My son is in year 1. He’s an August baby. Very articulate and where he needs to be for Reading but behind for maths and writing. We’ve recently looked at an independent school which my son LOVED! It’s a Montessori and I was all ready to sign him up until they said they want him to take year 1 again as feel he would struggle in year 2. It would mean he’s the oldest in the class by a month as opposed to being the youngest. I really can’t decide what to do. I feel there’s a lot of stigma attached to a child being held back a year? It’s something that will affect the rest of his education so I feel I can’t take the decision lightly.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thank you xxx

I would definitely do it. We have a couple of August borns in my sons class. No stigma at all. It's more normal to defer now so it's an increasing phenomenon. I'm August born and I ended up doing an extra year at the end of school. Much better for me. I wasn't ready for uni etc. Conversely, my older son is September born and thriving in his class as one of the oldest. I'd do it in a heartbeat OP, particularly as he's struggling a little in some areas and it's a new school so he'll be with a brand new set anyway.

Thank you @jellycat1. I seem to wake up with a different opinion on it every day 😩 Today I’m feeling like we should make the move and have him retake year 1 x

Not sure. How children perform in ks 1 do not tell you how they will be in ks2.
There are children who may stay and perform as youngest of the year forever, but there are children who would change. My dc's best friend is born 30th of August, and he is one of the best academically since by the end of yr2. One of the other friend struggled until midway in yr3, but again, doing rather well later in primary.

Do it! My DS is 2 in July and far behind in his language development due to bilingualism and schools will talk about NOT deferring him over my dead body. I was anticipated (in my country, to 5 rather than 6) and I have struggled, not academically but socially, all my life.

There are plenty of studies showing that UK's early starts are counterproductive and that the youngest ones in class perform worse for the rest of their school career (it wasn't my case, but I was studious and monolingual at the time).

You are so lucky that the school is offering you this instead of opposing it as in the majority of cases. I'd do it in a heartbeat

If you think that it is in your son's best interests then go for it. Nobody will know that he should technically be in the year above unless you tell them.

You could hold any birthday parties that school friends will be invited to in September. You might want to avoid the holidays anyway to make sure none of his friends miss out because they are away. He could take birthday sweets in during the first week of term too.

I held my August born boy back a year, it’s far better to be the oldest than the youngest.

Agree with Junior. I had no idea the two kids in DS1's class were technically the year above until their mums mentioned it. A complete non-issue and we have lots of 'out of year' kids throughout our school.

The maths gets even harder into yr2. Have a look at theSATs papers on the gov website. Something like 30min to do that and like 1/4 Augusts dont meet the standard. (It's more than 50% correct).
He would have about 11m to get to that level.
My concern was that if they dont meet that then the school needs to make less progress with them to get a good progress for the school.
Im not sure how dc will do longterm with maths but they feel bad about it and frustrated. And I honestly think if they were the year older they wouldnt struggle at all.

You also need to start to consider senior school transfers. Does this school go through to 18. If so would your dc be able to continue "out of year" and participate in sports teams etc. If not are there secondaries which would be willing to take him. What would happen if you put him back into state sector later on.

How typical is it for this school to do this? Are they academically selective and what would happen if your ds continued to lag "behind"?

The only reason I wouldn't jump at the chance would be if I wasn't able to get assurance from all possible secondary choices that they wouldn't force him straight into Y8. For example if you live in a grammar area they're very against kids sitting the exam out of cohort. If you stay in the independent sector they'd be unlikely to take issue.

In general I think it's a good thing for kids to be older rather than younger. There really isn't too much stigma - kids don't notice really especially when they have a birthday over the summer holiday,

I'm an August baby and I think I would have been incredibly annoyed with my mum if I was still in school when I could have been at university! I did absolutely fine btw. Kids learn at different speeds and the fact he is August born does not necessarily reflect why he finds maths harder, and in the future who knows. You have to do what you think is right not a school thinking they can get an extra years fees

Beauty of Montessori system is that it is more flexible than the regular school system. So - if he catches up with Y2 at some point he can easily move up.
But - despite other people sayjng - I was august and I did fine - you need to think of YOUR child and how he is doing.
There is a genius Aug child in my kid’s school. Ahead of sept kids in a number of areas. So - that child shouldn’t be held back... (they are still a lot quieter and younger socially)....

But your child isn’t like that. There is a gap and that wont go away in the next few years easily. And, more importantly, your son’s self esteem and awareness of how ‘smart’ he is compared to his peers will form based on this early years performance.
It’s sad, really. Because in most other countries he’d still be mostly playing. And by the time he went to proper school at 6-7 he’d be a lot more mature and not as far ‘behind’.

So - given that it’s a move to a different school and schooling system - i’d Say moving him back is the best thing you can do for him. To give him time to mature and build confidence.

No one wants to turn 18 just weeks before they go to Uni.... think about that. He gets to be the oldest in his class while still being the correct age so he doesn't stand out. It's just like him being born September 1st.

Plus as someone who couldn't go to any of my friends 18th nights out I'd appreciate it 😂

No one wants to turn 18 just weeks before they go to Uni.... think about that. He gets to be the oldest in his class while still being the correct age so he doesn't stand out. It's just like him being born September 1st

Whilst I agree with not standing out etc. Other than it being quite obvious as soon as kids understand birthdays and ages - whilst different it's not so simple being the oldest - imagine being 18 for a year before you go off to university, imagine not having anyone to go out to the pub with on your birthday except your mum etc.

Being the first to all those milestones and mixing with younger kids given less freedom than you is just a different challenge to being the youngest and the last to them.

If he's not engaged with formal education when he's older, or is desperate to get to uni like stucknoue suggests, that extra year in education might be something he resents.

The extra year is not all win/win, so you do need to think about the other side.

With an Aug birthday they will be on holiday either way.
Yes i guess it's possible no friends are old enough/look old enough to go to the pub.
But likely they would become friends with the eldest in the year.
Can then enjoy somewhat that last Alevel year with them. Whereas in cohort they are at no point old enough to go out.
Downside is that they may not concentrate on Alevels.
Tbh im not that obsessed with birthdays on the day so for an Aug that would be sept sometime anyway.
Yes they may get annoyed to not get to leave/go to uni that year however there is a chance they wouldnt have got in in cohort.

Well he's not really being 'held back' because you could have started him at school a year later if you'd have wanted to. So that would have been the correct cohort had you known that summer borns don't have to start school at 4 years old.

I really don't think there's any stigma. With an August birthday he'd only be a month older than a September born both of whom may have their holidays in the summer. In DC1's class there are two girls who are best friends and born a few days apart One late August the other early September so actually a year apart. They find it very odd that one is turning 7 and the other only just 6. It would probably make more sense to them if they were both the same age.

Most countries including Scotland have flexible systems anyway. UK is unusual in being so rigid. While of course some summer borns do fine they are statistically worse off (academically and socially). I would be careful about the transition to secondary though. There have been cases where kids are forced to skip a year which would be a disaster.

Thank you all so much for your input. It’s been an emotional few weeks trying to come to a decision. We have in fact decided to start the new private school and retake year 1 🤞🤞🤞

Great - nice to have to have the decision made. Best of luck to you and DS :)

Obviously those of us who have been stupid enough to have summer born babies have caused them significant educational damage. This birth issue is overplayed and is never the reason for being a long way behind in a subject when a DC is good at another subject. How do summer borns ever get to university one wonders?

if you stay in the private system wont this cause problems when he moves to secondary school? He'll be outside the age range for 11+ by a month won't he?

Thank you.

Yes it would cause issues if he were to go back to public school. It would mean he would miss a year. So we’re really signing him up to private school for the rest of his education x

In the private system as well though maybe? The school my dc sat for all detailed an age range for sitting the exams for each entry point 11+, 13+ etc and you'd be out of it by a month. You'd think theyd be understanding that he was in his correct year but it might be worth checking? Also they do contextual marking on the exams based on age in the year so he'd get zero allowance? (as does my son in fairness as born early September)

We had our son repeat the year, but it was slightly different. He is October born and started reception age 3! His school is a French bilingual school and because of that some of the children who apply through French side enter age 3. So youngest of the class can be 16 months younger from eldest and December born. Long story short, we repeated the year with no regrets. He is now one of the oldest in his year (but where he should be in regards to the British curriculum). If we pushed him forward he would have struggled.