Holding a year six pupil back

[Kidaround]

Hi there,

our daughter is in year six but sadly missed over three years of school so very behind. ( due to health and being in hospital) she leaves next year for high school.
she is working currently at year one level both maths and English and only just started reading.
I worry how she will cope. She carries a band six funding with her but at her current school she does not have a 1-1 ?
she’s mixes with the others but has lung issues sadly which means she’s very delayed.

who decides if we can hold her back the head at her school thinks a good idea and with the extra year hopefully things will click in place - which they are now and be in a better position to go to high school.
any advice ? Thank you

Does she have an EHCP? Ours explicitly states DD is a year out of cohort to try and mitigate any issue at secondary.

Otherwise-I would think you'll need agreement both from your primary head but also the secondary school she'll transfer to. If your secondary is like ours, they'll only consider out of chronological cohort admissions 'in exceptional circumstances'.

If you don't get this, I think you run the risk of them treating her as an in-year admission when she does apply and having her back in her chronological year (I.e skipping a year of secondary school).

Good luck-hope you and your daughter are doing well, sounds like she's had an extremely tough time x

If she's working that far behind, she has significant learning difficulties and will not close the gap. You are better off finding a school that can meet her learning needs and provide an appropriate year group.

With such a large gap I would consider looking at a SEN school, one which is understanding of all off her needs. Delaying for one year is unlikely to catch her up significantly.

I'd normally agree with this, but in this child's case she's behind because of missing 3 years of schooling (and presumably in the other years she's had a lot of sickness too). If she's now getting better and is likely to miss less school, I think there is a chance that the year would make a difference.

Op, what I suspect would make the most difference if you can get the LA to pay for it is 1-2-1 tutoring. If she had a year of that, so it would be directed at her, then it may make a bigger difference. And also has the advantage for her that she doesn't have the year below asking her many times in September why she's still there, which she might find a bit embarrassing.

If she is currently working at Y1 standard, then she’s not just missed 3 year’s schooling. She sounds like she’s got significant SEN if shes receiving funding.
What you need to consider is how keeping her ‘behind’ will impact on her self esteem and mental health. I’m assuming you've submitted her Secondary School application forms, but did you consider a special school? The gap between her and her peers is indeed very significant. Special school may well be a more suitable option.

You can't hold her back a year

She just needs a proper EHCP etc put in place with proper support

They will discuss what she thinks and feels and that is part of the process

The OP said shes working at Y1 standard, so in fact there is a 5 year gap. Children with significant illnesses get lots of support, from hospital school to home tutoring provided by the LA. Closing a 5 year gap in 6 months isn’t realistic.

She will get better support in secondary school where they have teams of staff dealing with many pupils with SEND

Are her health problems over or are they likely to be ongoing?

If they are ongoing and she's likely to miss large chunks of Secondary I'd keep her in the same year group with friends and support her academically at home to bring her on as best you can.

If her health problems are over, you'll need to go for an EHCP (which you should apply for anyway)if you want her to be out of year group and see if she can be kept back. Sometimes however children that have been kept behind will then be moved forward again, we have had some children who were moved back into their chronological age group in Yr 11, leaving them without friends socially and having missed a ton of GCSE work.

In order to stay another year in year 6 I think it has to be agreed on her ehcp. I am a Y6 teacher and know of 2 children that did this.

Before making this decision also think about her social maturity, friendship groups and physical development Children in year 6 and 7 can grow up very suddenly and start to look and feel more like teenagers.

Secondary schools are very used to dealing with children working at different levels. Our feeder school has excellent SEND transition and support.

I can't see how she would cope in mainstream secondary with those levels.
She wouldn't be able to access any of the non practical lessons.

The info that isn't clear is where is her cognitive ability? If it is in the wider 'average' range then I can see that in 18 months if held back she could make good progress, and supported at Secondary potentially catch up.

However if there are any additional learning needs then I can't see how mainstream would work.

Yes, you can. It's perfectly legal, whether as part of the provisions in an EHCP or through agreement with the Headteacher and, on applying to Secondary, the agreement of the Admissions Authority of the Secondary School.

In fact, it's illegal not to consider it in all cases - it may not be agreed, because it has to be in the interests of the child foremost, but any school that says an outright No in all cases is breaching the Admissions Code 2022 in respect of applications to join the school and a whole bunch of other legislation in respect of staying.

It's not unusual for a small number of children in mainstream secondary schools to have reading ages of 6 years + as well as a myriad of other difficulties, most of them eventually move on to more specialist placements if placements come up.