My DD is a July baby and is coming to the end of year 1. She is struggling academically and in the bottom section of the year group in terms of her academic attainment. She is getting some extra help for this and also with behavioural problems she is having. The school has been helpful and supportive, and there will be a multi-agency meeting taking place over the next few weeks to try to work out some strategies to help her.
She has a neurological abnormality which may explain some of the problems she is having, although so far the child psychologist involved cannot identify any cognitive explanation for her behavioural problems.
I have raised the idea of keeping her back in year 1. She is very young for her year group. She has a reputation for being "naughty". She has found the transition to year 1 quite difficult and I think she will also find year 2 difficult. I think she is a bright child (and the psych agrees) who needs to overcome (as yet unidentified) barriers to her learning. I wonder if being the "big one" in her class, who has a bit of a head start, would be the making of her. My obvious worry is that she would find it humiliating and it would bring her even more unwelcome attention. The school is 2-form entry so she wouldn't necessarily have to remain with the same teacher (if the teacher felt 1 year of DD was enough 
).
The school has been fairly non-committal about it and the LEA's ed psych tells me that our LEA "doesn't like" messing around with cohorts like that. So if I decide that I want it to happen, I need to be very clear about my goals and strategies to try to make it happen.
The child psych has suggested that I would need to set myself against the LEA in a way that might make it difficult to get their help if DD needs it. She suggested trying the strategies that will be suggested at the multi-agency meeting and re-visiting the question of staying back a year at the end of year 2, before she goes into the juniors.
I know not all LEAs have this policy. A school in a neighbouring LEA actually suggests to some parents that their child would benefit from an extra year in reception.
Does anyone have any experience of this sort of situation? DD's difficulties are quite complex and unusual, so I'm not expecting any expertise on that, but I'd be interested to hear of anyone whose child has re-taken a year in school.
Thank you 