Question I have a 7 year old boy, dob 02.08.00. Having always felt he was too young
to start school when he was 4 years old and after lots of research into
"summer born boys" at school, I was fortunate to find a sympathetic head at
our local school who let him start school a year late and go into reception
and not year one. He is at present top of a year 1/2 class. He is really happy
and confident at school and I am extremely pleased with his progress. There
is now a new Head at school who has asked to have a meeting with me about
my son's situation and feels he is mature enough to move up a year into a
year 3/4 group where he should really be. I'm due to have a meeting with her
soon and am concerned I will be forced to move him up a year in September.
This would go totally against my belief of giving summer born boys the
chance to succeed at school by starting them a year later. He's already
established at school now so surely he can't just miss out a whole year and
go straight into year 4. Do you know who has the ultimate say in what
happens to him, is it the LEA or the head? What would an Educational
Psychologist advise?
Many thanks
Answer Your local authority may have guidance on this issue which the new Head is following. Do ask and find out what is influencing the decision.
My understanding is that LA's are concerned for children's rights to have completed secondary education (with qualifications) before they are legally entitled to leave school at 16. The official position is often expressed in terms of ensuring learners are not disadvantaged.
Can you assure the school that your son will not choose to cut his education short?
Psychologically there is no definitive answer on this issue as whenever you group children across a 12 month period someone will be the youngest. If you changed the admissions arrangements so all summer born were the oldest in their group then it would be the spring born children who were disadvantaged instead.
You have found a solution for your son but it can only work when few parents request it. The Head has to balance individual needs against whole school practicalities.
As your son grows older he will identify strongly with his peer group, usually by 7 or 8 this is becoming a huge influence on self esteem. Will he be content to be with younger children for the future or will he yearn to join the class which has other children his own age who have higher status as they go up the school. Your son is now at the age where children begin to notice these distinctions. Is that part of the new Head teacher's thinking?
Your son may be too young now to have an opinion but the school may have experience from other families it would be useful to discuss.
You didn't say whether your son has special needs, that is usually the reason why most parents request being with younger children. The research shows it is not helpful as teachers can and should meet needs individually rather than teaching to a group average age. It can encourage lazy practice from teachers.In fact the range of ability in any 12 month group is huge and teachers should set different work as required.
I hope you are able to have a productive conversation with the new Head and also gain your son's views too, so all the adults can his views into account.
