Is kids' progress steady/ does it plateau/ does it go in fits and starts?

[squashpie]

Apols in advance. I've also just posted this on the ordinary education forum but thougth I'd ask people who'd already made their way through a lot of the school system.

I've started/ read a few threads on here a
bout a child's progress through their school life. Some people have given annecdotal evidence of children who've raced through Yrs 1,2,3 in all the top sets, only to plateau and for kids who were average or even struggling in those 1,2,3 years then coming into their own Years 4 onwards. Has anyone out there got a similar tale to tell about their own DC/ or children they know well?

In my school there is a big pressure to hot house kids to be good at everything from maths to swimming to piano lessons but I wonder if these kids will maintain this edge, or if once the basics of reading and writing and maths are in place, other kids catch up?

I think all children progress at their own rate. Some are slow starters whereas some are like the hare! There are hundreds of examples including a boy who with 5 Cs at GCSE fought to be allowed to do A levels and then got 4 As in difficult subjects too!

Examples:

Dd did appear to be quite bright generally speaking from a toddler (intelligent discussions from an early age), but took very slowly to reading and writing, so was in lower sets in infants school. By junior school had got to top sets in everything, is now in secondary and still in top sets and getting v good results despite the fact that she misses almost half her lessons due to ill health.

Db was nothing extraordinary before puberty, whereas everybody agreed that I was exceptionally bright. He caught up with me in secondary school, and though we have both had similar academic careers, his has been far more successful.

Ds (9) has always been very slow, struggling with reading and writing and in bottom sets=- but in the last year I have realised that he is actually quite bright. Wouldn't be at all surprised if he starts shooting ahead.

IME the ones who were on the top tables at infants/junior school are a mostly average now at the end of their compulsory education. I can think of a fair few of DD's class mates who were deemed to be struggling years ago and are high flyers now. Of course some can sail and some stuggle all the way through school but academic achievement is only part of a childs makeup and every child can develope talents in other ways.

I think that all children develop differently, at different rates. DS1 has been classed as G&T in every area bar PE from reception all through infants, but is now in Y3 and struggling a bit with English. (well, struggling with the top set work, so struggling for him). He's still very ahead with maths/science now, he is currently learning algebra/equivalent fractions.

DS2 has been classed as SEN right from pre-school, to the point where the LEA were unsure whether to even place him in MS for reception. He struggled (VERY much) through reception and the first half of Y1, was in the lowest sets for everything. Since February half term this year (Y1), he has moved through from struggling in the bottom sets in both maths and english, and is now in the top sets for both, with the class teacher saying that he is showing an amazing aptitude for maths, and is going to start sending him home with extension work!!

I do think that children can plateau with their progress, and then make a sudden huge leap forward, and also that sometimes a child will plateau in one area in order to make a leap forward in another.

There were a couple of children from dd's toddler group who seemed incredibly advanced from babies and all the way through Infants. As far as I know, one is still (Yr 8) in top sets, the other has been outpaced by children who were not at all advanced in Infants.

Thanks for all your replies. It's very interesting and encouraging hearing about DC's educational journey.

I think my concern at the moment is that my DS is a well behaved boy at the bottom of the top sets in yr 1 and that because he is well behaved and doing pretty ok, he is not being stretched or encouraged enough. The teachers are concentrating on those who are deemed 'high fliers' (and who go to tuition/ kumon etc out of school) and those who are really struggling. The polite, ok kids get missed a bit, I feel.