Do bright children still get moved up a year to start secondary school early?

[Carolinethea]

I was reflecting on my school years with friends the other day and we were thinking about the number of pupils at my school who were a 'year ahead' when they started - ie they were age 10 when they started secondary. I was wondering if this still happens?

At my school -very academic, independent day school- there were maybe 10 children out of our year of 120 who were aged 10 at the start, ie a year 'young'. They were generally autumn babies so only marginally younger than some in the year but all had passed the entrance exam/ interview etc so the school was happy with their presence.

I'm not aware of any such children in my son's school and I was wondering if it had fallen out of favour?

(Of my acquaintances one or two were a year young and they have mostly turned out ok; one was generally regarded as being very bright, top of the class in every subject, and still is 20 years later definitely and one was a later bloomer who was unhappy at school and probably could have done better at school if she had been in her correct year)

I went up a year in a selective school. I don't think i realised that i was too young for the year until i got there! I suspect i would have been better off in the correct year to be honest but i was only slightly young as i'm autumn born.

No

No. Sats have to be done at certain ages it's no benefit to be moved up these days

I know of one child (late primary now) with a 1 September birthday who is a year up. The child had been at a fairly formal preschool and so had already basically done reception so was allowed to start in year 1 and has flourished. Not sure how it will work when secondary applications come round though. My mum was a year up in school and hated it as she was already summer born so was nearly two years younger than some. Not sure why that was thought to be a good idea.

I was put up a year at state primary school - this was in the 1970s. It has nothing to recommend it long term.

1. Grade skipping (whole year acceleration) is legal and quite possible in all UK schools. Year group placement is at the headteacher's discretion. There is no statutory impediment, and no authorisation beyond the headteacher's decision is required, though frequently a strong recommendation from an external specialist such as an educational psychologist may be needed to spur the school to act.

2. It is much more common internationally than in the UK. I've seen estimates of 1% in the US and 2% in France as well as references to it being common in German-speaking countries.

3. It is rare in the UK. Through national groups for gifted children I've been in contact with many parents whose children have been accelerated in the UK, a handful by more than one year. Most are happy with the decision. Many of the children are/were outliers with extreme ability who were bored rigid in their chronological age group. But overall the incidence appears to be extremely low.

4. There is overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of acceleration (both grade-skipping and other forms) as an intervention for gifted students (those in the top 2-3% of ability). See e.g.:
   https://nagc.org/page/acceleration
   https://www.accelerationinstitute.org/
   https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/acceleration.htm
   https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ880578.pdf
   https://www.giftedpage.org/acceleration/
   But "bright" students (e.g. those in the top 5-15% of ability, but not in the top 2%) do not need whole-year acceleration.

5. Much of the resistance to acceleration arises because the teachers in the UK are poorly informed about gifted education and unaware of international research which shows acceleration to be evidence-based best practice. This ignorance extends to headteachers who act as gatekeepers, refusing acceleration.