Anyone thinking about requesting their child repeats a year?

[sirbobblysock]

Hi
I have a DD who will be entering year 10 in September. She has moderate dyslexia and we moved her from a large state school to a small independent school as the state school was not meeting her needs and she was becoming increasingly unhappy. She has really struggled with online teaching (despite the provision being better than many other schools) and has become increasingly distressed and anxious (she has suffered with anxiety for several years anyway). Depending on how things pan out in the next academic year I am wondering about looking into having her repeat year 10. Due to her learning differences, she is not going to be able to "just catch up." I understand that independent schools will sometimes allow this (and indeed there is an option open for students from state schools to do so at the discretion of the head). Is anyone else considering this? We would of course need to discuss with her and she may be quite resistant to the idea, although I think the option may be good for her mental health as well as academic attainment.

I have come across several children who have done this. It is difficult socially, and also causes problems for sports teams, if that's relevant, because you can't play outside your proper year group in matches.

In my opinion, it's better to get extra support in and out of school, such as learning support and tutors.

I'm not sure that being effectively kept back would be good for a Y10s mental health, although of course you know your dd best.

What about speaking with the school about reducing the subjects she is taking as options? A friend's daughter in a state secondary is taking a reduced number of options because of her learning difference and sits in some classes eg science and history twice. This has really helped her, but might not be possible due to timetabling, esp in independent schools with fewer pupils.

There is a lot of support in sixth form with retakes etc for after GCSE's should she not achieve what she needs to, which may suit her better with colleges and being treated more as an adult rather than the year 10 child. In fact there seems to be a hell of a lot of support from 16-25 for students.

Covid does put a slightly different spin on things though, I think it needs to be a three way conversation with her and the school.

Hi - thanks for the responses. Yes, she certainly wouldn't want to feel "different" and this would have to be something we discussed and considered carefully, but for various reasons it's not that uncommon at her school for students to be out of their chronological year group. Cutting options is a possibility, but I don't want to try and ramp up the extra "support" as essentially she is already struggling to complete the work she is required to do, and extra (which will inevitably be in her own time) will just add to the stress. Also while she's so stressed and anxious she's really not able to take much in.

EvilPea - thanks. Yes, we have good 6th form colleges locally. My concern is though that if she does poorly in her GCSEs her confidence will be so severely knocked she will struggle to get back on track.

I don't think many schools would want to set a precedent by allowing children to repeat a year. Where would you draw the line in the sand? Ideally, everyone should be allowed to repeat the year but that will never happen.

My ds was allowed to repeat a year, although he has a statement which helped greatly. Everyone said he would suffer socially and feel inferior to his peers but it was the best thing we could have pushed for.

My DS repeated yr4 when he moved schools and it was the best thing we could’ve done. He got the support he needed for his dyslexia and made great friends plus it didn’t effect him playing sports much either. You know your DD best so talk with her but also her school

I don't think it's that uncommon in the independent sector - after all, they will get an extra year of fees out of you!!
I know a handful of children who have done it for various reasons and at various stages.

I think the difference this year is that everyone could ask for it (justifiably so given the loss of six months' school), so think it highly unlikely schools will be agreeing unless there are extenuating circumstances.