Moving to secondary when taught out of year group

[chowplatt]

Hi

My DS is taught out of cohort so he is taught one year below his birth year.
We are fast approaching the time to move on from primary to secondary.

I was wondering whether anyone has a secondary aged child that is or was taught out of cohort and how the transition to secondary went for them in particular socially?

There has been the odd comment/question from children (and parents) in his primary class but they're generally quite accepting. But I am concerned that secondary aged pupils will not be as accommodating.

So if anyone has or had a child move up to secondary whilst taught out of year group how did it go?

I think you have to reapply? That's certainly what happened here with my friend's DD. The local authority had to get involved because upon movement to a new school she would have been placed into year 8.

Also keep in mind that if he is given permission top stay in the wrong year group then this has implications for sport. He won't be able to play in certain sports fixtures.

I have taught 2 kids out of year group in secondary but both were born v close to 1st September so the line was that parents got to 'choose' which year group to go into and kids just accepted that. Are they a year ahead or below?

Have you contacted his potential schools to check that he's able to move up out of year?

There were 2 children out of year at DD’s private primary. Both were within days of cut off line. When transferring to state secondary The one who was too old had to skip a year and the one who was too young had to repeat 6.
I understand that whilst primary schools admissions were altered making out of year a possibility there’s no equivalent for secondary.

Thanks for the replies.

I need authorisation from the secondary school that he will go to to continue to have him taught out of cohort (it isn't automatic)
Those discussions are taking place at present and generally the consensus is that academically it makes sense to leave him in the year group he is in.

He is summer born and is taught in the year below (I.e. he should be Y5 but is actually in Y4)

My question/concern is less about logistics and more around the personal and social challenges he might face from being in his position.
So that we can consider necessary support to manage that or whether he would be better off if he were to try and catch up to his natural peers and move up a year (but that would be high pressure for him).

I think that would be question for your secondary school to help you with. They are far more supportive now than they used to be. For example, one of my children had an enhanced transition to secondary where they got extra visits to help them settle. If your secondary has an inclusivity officer then I’d speak to them about your concerns.

For your son, it’s a decision his parents took years ago at the end of the day - so whilst they might ask him, if he’s relaxed and says it’s a choice you made years ago because he was young in his year then I can’t see why the other kids would think much about it.

Issues I can think of are sports, checking no funding issues for 16-18 eg A levels, eligibility for any extra curriculars or enrichment events.
I can’t see how peers would know or care. It’s a much bigger pool so people wouldn’t know if his birthday was August or 1/9.

With regard to your question on your DS socially, I don't think it will be a problem. They all hit puberty at different times over a period of years, so there is an enormous range in physical size and emotional maturity. My DS has a late Aug birthday and is taught in his correct cohort so is the youngest. There is really no difference between him and the older boys any more (for us this ironed out by Y5).

Thank you for the reassurance everyone, it helps a lot

Socially it is unlikely to be a problem. Secondary schools are quite big. He will be going up with his year below cohort so will have friends and acquaintances. If he feels self conscious, he just has to give month and day for birth date if asked. Everyone will assume he's the same birth year.

There may be implications for some sports. So check those out if your child is sporty. But there are enough sports where it won't matter. And if he's in clubs outside of school in-line with his chronological age, it's down to coach where they play and I've known good players train with the higher age groups .

What I'd not recommend is jumping straight into year 8. Year 7 is such an important year for secondary pupils, especially when education has been so patchy these last couple of years.