Is it possible an 8/9 year old is in Primary 2?

[JamMakingWannaBe]

DD is a winter baby and we chose not to defer so she's recently turned 6.

Other children in her class were deferred and have recently turned 7.

There is one particular boy in her class who is quite a bit taller/broader than all the others. Has been since starting P1. His mum is petite, I don't think I've seen his dad.

I asked DD if "Andrew" was 7 yet and she said, "oh no, he's like 8 or 9".

It's believable but is this possible?

There is a 9 year old in my 7 year olds class that I know of for sure, and one who is bigger and taller and always has been that I suspect also might be older, but I haven’t asked. The children in the class all know how old everyone else is though, they are still little enough to have birthdays on the wall and it be a big thing, describe themselves as 7 and three quarters etc. So in my experience, yes it’s possible.

Technically you can defer if your child is not 5 when school starts so they could turn 5 on say, 1st September and be deferred so turn 6 a few days after starting P1 and 7 a few days after starting P2 so on their way to be 8 at the moment.

Add in that they may have repeated a year, have health or other issues that meant they've started later, arrived from another country with no English etc etc and I guess you could quite quickly get to an 8 year old P2.

It's also possible that he is just tall and used to people saying "oh I thought you were about 9 not 7" and just carried that on themselves at school. Kids love to get one up on the other kids sometimes.

My DSs both started P1 in age 7 to 8 clothing and size 1 shoes so looked older.

I have 2 sister in laws who are around 5 foot and both have adult DSs who are over 6 foot 2. I'm presuming they were tall kids as well but I was a child at the time myself so can't remember.

Not sure what Orimary 2 is, is it in Scotland?

My son is in (England) Year 1. Typically kids start at 5yo and turn 6yo at some point in the year.

He has at least two friends in class who have turned 7 in the school year - both are in you ger yeargroups due to additional factors (1x deaf, 1x foetal alcohol).

I'd imagine it's quite common to have the odd kid or two in each school who isn't in the "correct" year group for a range of reasons.

My DD has a February birthday and we deffered. She is in P2 and her and a couple of others are the oldest at 7. The only way I can see them being older than 7 is if they were kept back for some reason.

Why does it matter to you? Children don't get deferred back unless they need to be for a good reason

He could have been ill when younger, moved from overseas (a lot of countries don't start school until they're 6 or 7 so they might go back a year when they move here), he might have additional learning needs, any number of reasons but it's not really any of your business!

DS4 will be a delayed start to P1 but we will need supporting evidence as he is an August birthday and just misses the cut off. I don't envisage there being a problem.

My eldest had a boy in his class who was incredibly tall for his age when in P1. A giant! But he was same age as the others. The dad was a giant too, so completely genetic.

I have taught several children who had recently arrived in the UK and had no English. They've all been put in the correct class for their age.

I had a 7 year old in my P1 class. He had been deferred, then kept back a year.

My ds is 9 and in P4. He is the eldest in his year as he was defeated due to being a Feb birthday. It's very unlikely a 9 year old would be in P2. A very tall 7 year old possibly though.

There was a very tall child in my dd's P1 class who I thought must have been deferred or repeating a year but she was just naturally tall with very tall parents ( mum was 6 feet in her bare feet so I felt like a midget) and now is a stunning young woman in her 20s

I would say it's unlikely that he is 9. I do know a child with a late spring birthday that was deferred due to learning disabilities. It was not an automatic deferral and they had to submit quite a lot of evidence to do it.

He's not from overseas. He was notably larger than all the other children starting P1.

Surely if a child has additional support needs, these should be addressed in their academic year group - not that they are held back?

I expected children in DD's year to be a year older, but not 2 or 3 years older, hence the question if it was possible.

@JamMakingWannaBe

He's not from overseas. He was notably larger than all the other children starting P1.

Surely if a child has additional support needs, these should be addressed in their academic year group - not that they are held back?

I expected children in DD's year to be a year older, but not 2 or 3 years older, hence the question if it was possible.

Why does it actually matter though? For whatever reason, the child best fits in the class it is in.

Does that affect you and your child?

It's also not impossible that they might move classes. A boy joined DS2s class from overseas when he was in p5, ds2 got really friendly with him and then so did DS1, turned out that he was actually older than DS1, he was a Feb birthday and DS1 was summer. Then after the holidays he appeared in DS1s class when they moved into p7, so he was like a deferred pupil in that class.

There can be loads of reasons but as long as they aren't causing any bother to your child/the class then I guess it's largely irrelevant. I think they prefer to keep DC with their age peers but as there is already an 18 month spread in most classes, generally that means a choice.

@JamMakingWannaBe

He's not from overseas. He was notably larger than all the other children starting P1.

Surely if a child has additional support needs, these should be addressed in their academic year group - not that they are held back?

I expected children in DD's year to be a year older, but not 2 or 3 years older, hence the question if it was possible.

A child will not be three years older than their classmates unless there's been an error of some kind (unlikely).

There are P7s working at first level. There's no reason for a child to be kept back and in P2 even if at first or even early level.

My friend's son repeated P4 because he was going through some severe anxiety issues and missed a lot of school. It doesn't necessarily follow that repeating a year is due to something they 'brought' to school with them, if you see what I mean.

It's very unlikely he will be 2 or 3 years older. As others have said its very usual to have an 18 month spread of ages in one year group, but really not any more than that. Most p2s will be aged 6 at this point in the year but some will still be 5 and some will be turning 7. None of them will be 8 and certainly not 9!

Children don't tend to be held back in Scotland and will most of the time follow their peers and year group through school. Even children who have missed a lot of school still stay with their age group.

My ds1 is very tal and always has been, now in P6 he's still about a head above his peers but he's in the correct class for his age. I'd hate for other parents to have commented about his size in the way you have. Does it actually affect your child in any way?

It really is none of your business.

Deferring does affect the younger kids though as the peer group changes.

In our area the majority defer.

@AmeliaChameleon

Deferring does affect the younger kids though as the peer group changes.

You don't defer for three years!!