Skipping a year

[GreenMarigold]

My daughter is currently in y1 and her school is talking about her skipping a year as she displayed ‘deep understanding’ when she took some y2 tests.

The teacher said she’d struggle to keep up with her learning needs next year as reception, 1 and 2 are taught in the same classroom (it’s a small school).

Obviously it’s lovely that she is doing so well but I’m not sure socially that she’s ready to go up a year and be away from her friends.

Has anyone got any experience of skipping a year? Good or bad.

@GreenMarigold - Don’t do it, especially if you are thinking of moving to private secondary, and even more so if it’s a selective private secondary.
Academically - most kids in selective secondaries would be a few years ahead of national curriculum at the early primary age. And probably at least a year above by Y6. Just have a look at entrance exams.
So - you’ll put her at a disadvantage if she skips - as it is, at the entrance exams she’ll be competing with kids from private primaries, specially prepped for those exams.
So - realistically - you daughter is just showing aptitude and achieving similar to what a lot of privately educated primary school kids do. Exactly the kids she’ll be competing for the places in Y7.

It’s great she is ahead now - and the teacher should absolutely be able to handle giving her extension work. It’s mostly an issue with math - and that can be sorted quite easily.
With everything else - she should be able to read/wrote more in depth on any subject.
Her being ahead also would mean in Y5/6 when you’ll need to be prepping her for the entrance tests - it won’t overload her.

And socially - you don’t want a 10yo start in secondary these days. My eldest is a summer child - so was just 11 - and social difference was vast. ‘Older’ girls were dating, interested in makeup and boys, etc. Younger haven’t even started their periods. Being even younger than that would not make it easy for her to fit in.

I was moved up a year in the middle of primary school. was hard socially as friendships were already in place so harder to fit in. Then the secondary school would not let me go a year early so I had to repeat year 6.

DS1 should have been put up about 4 years in school if they were going by his academic attainment but socially the school said it was not a good idea, especially as socially he was not great so he stayed in his same year but went in with older groups for maths/literacy and they also provided extra work when needed. eg developed seperate spelling game for when everyone else was doing spelling tests etc.
He is now in year 11 and doing GCSEs, socially he has gotten much better.

Dm was put 2 years up at that age (and she's a summer baby too)
Academically that was fine but she said it was sport/art/music where she lost all confidence because those are things that really improve with age. She was an adult before she realised she wasn't just naturally rubbish at them.
She didn't stay up either, she went to secondary at the right time, and now realises she wasn't below average then, but the early years of struggling had entered her subconscious and she thought she was.

@MargaretThursday

Your (summer born) child was put up two years?!? In the UK?

What happened in year six then?

@Vintagecreamandcottagepie
Not my child, my Mum, so a long time ago in her village school, which went up to 13yo. She left at 11yo to go to the local high school, so year 6 wasn't an issue back then.

I wouldn’t be keen on the idea, but I equally wouldn’t be keen on a class with reception, y1 and y2 together either anyway!

I skipped at year aged 7. I kept up just fine academically but (with a May birthday) it was a car crash socially. I went back into my own year at secondary and was bored to tears for a year. But worth it, very worth it to have friends. DM now says that they were flattered into it by the independent prep school I went to…

Better to be top of the group in year 2 than average in year 3. 🤷‍♀️. Moving could affect all sorts of stuff such as SATS and potentially gcse if somehow she managed to stay a year ahead in secondary school. The teacher should be able to differentiate. My nephew was moved up just for maths….so in year 7 he was doing maths with the sixth formers. But he stayed in the same year group.

dsis skipped year 6. Not really sure why and because of what a disaster it was I can’t ask DM now as it’s become our “ we don’t talk about Bruno” thing. Like we literally never mention it. Dsis was towards the top academically but not miles ahead. Became probably top third in her new class. However, socially it was really hard for her. Her year was one of those bad years anyway- lots of toxic “cool” people/ drama. It also skewed really old- most of the girls were sep-dec born and a few too old for the year as held down so just not great and she was really miserable. Ironically her “correct” year had loads of lovely people in it.

DS was put up a year (one of three who were) into a yr5/6 class in yr4 (effectively skipping yr4). He is very academically able (4A*s and top of his year at Oxbridge). His sweet village primary basically ran out of material to teach him at the end of yr5. He ended up doing the yr6 curriculum twice. It was a great relief when he went to a superselective grammar school.

She may be more advanced academically, but is she emotionally?

My DH and my DSis were both moved up a year. It was fine academically, but weird for both when it came to friendships.

DH went to private school throughout (pre-prep, prep, then boarding school), but his very academic, selective private secondary (13+) didn’t do the “move up a year” thing, so he repeated the final year at his private prep, which he said he loved at the time because he was top of everything, but put him on unstable footing friendship-wise then and after. He always excelled academically, but he said he hated school and wonders if being moved up might have something to do with that.

He wouldn’t consider it for our kids if it was suggested. Neither would I.

I wasn’t moved up a year, but I was “great” at maths and was put in the year above’s maths lessons in primary. All I can remember about that was how awkward I felt being with the older children for a bit, and how huge they looked, and how terrified I was of having to moving back down again if I didn’t continue to do “better” than my actual peers, which would make my mother disappointed!

Dsis (who was also moved up a year) is very clever, but moving her up a year was slightly pointless and she went to university aged 17, and said she felt really scared and young when she started. (We didn’t go to private schools.) I can remember her sobbing for ages before she left for uni in the car with my parents!

I should also add that my parents were the type to get us to do a lot of schoolwork at home. DSis, as clever as she is, probably wouldn’t have moved up a year if my parents didn’t do this. Same with my maths. We didn’t want to do school stuff at home every evening, and we were both motivated enough to just learn in the lessons at school. It didn’t make the slightest bit of difference to our eventual academic outcomes, in my opinion. So if you’re doing lots of stuff at home that she isn’t doing at school yet, and your child isn’t into it, you might want to think about how helpful it actually is for them.

Both DH and Dsis have autumn birthdays, too. I have a summer birthday. My (pushy, competitive) mother spent my entire childhood lamenting this. Did my head in.

This.

If she had been in a class of 30, then there's more of an argument. But a class that size? Na this isn't about what's best for your daughter at all. And that would really trouble me.

She needs to learn how to interact with kids who aren't as bright as her. That's a social skill in itself.

I have a very early September child who socialises a lot with kids in the year above and was close to them at nursery. But I wouldn't consider it because of the impact on confidence etc. I had a choice whether to have him in August or September and I picked September for a reason.

I went up a year aged 6. It was the right thing academically but very difficult socially- probably a combination of friendships already being established, the fact everyone knew I was a year younger (so saw me as the year below) and the fact I was a year less mature socially than my new class. I didn't really find my feet socially until I was about 10 and had an unhappy few years. Going up the school doesn't just mean harder work- it comes with a whole raft of expectations regarding maturity and development, and these need to be taken into account.

It might be slightly better if she's been in a class with Y2s, so will at least know some people.

I'd be far keener on her having extension work. If that's not possible, I'd look into other schools before agreeing to this.

Where I live this happens occasionally. In my experience, the teachers aren't wrong about the academic side, and the kids do fine and make new friends. There isn't a massive maturity gap. But they lose a year of their childhood, essentially, and for that reason alone, I would never do this.

There’s official paperwork involved in being taught out of cohort. It’s often requested by parents with summer babies, not recommended by staff..unless they can’t meet need I guess. If it were me, I’d be looking at moving to a larger school. Reception , Yr1 and Yr 2 together is mind boggling. What a challenge.

Ouch. I skipped a year as a child. It’s fine when you’re tiny but. The changes/differences really start to bite in secondary. The academics are fine, it’s socially, developmentally and in PE. You’re always behind. It didn’t help my parents never let me go through milestones early, and some (E.g driving) you can’t shift, so i was often up to 15 months behind peers and I was only November, not February. I wouldn’t do it to one of my kids.

I'd say trial it for a month and if it doesn't work out, ask the school to return back to their original year.

Two relatives were accelerated. One in primary in the UK, but he then ended up doing two years in what is now Year 6 and was bored. They suggested an assisted place at an independent senior school.

Another was put up three years abroad, very bright, went into academia and then senior level in business. As an adult he told me socially it was hugely difficult as a teen.

I'm amazed they are suggesting this. There are very good reasons this is no longer a thing.

I posted this thread last summer. Since then the school decided to keep her in her normal year and give her extension work in class. She seems to be doing fine with this so I’m quite glad they didn’t skip the year.