sitting the exam a year early?

busybusy · Post by **busybusy** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:55 pm

Does anyone have any advice on my child sitting the exam in year 5? Would the schools allow it?
She is mature for her age and we are concerned if she continues to be treading water in primary schoolshe will become disalusioned
thanks in advance for any comments

DC17C · Post by **DC17C** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:10 pm

I personally think it would be a shame for a child to miss out on yr 6 and be rushed into senior school. Perhaps my school is good at making yr 6 a great year and it would be a waste of time in another school. They have a week long residential, school elections, additional responsibilities in school helping out with younger classes, leadership development skill workshops, 2 terms of theme work which DD has clearly enjoyed and finish the year with a show.
There is more to life than academics and I know my DD will do well in school but I want her to enjoy the other aspects of school life and be in the right age group when she is older.

I know some school allow it though - look up the schools you are interested in. I know there are Gloucester schools that do allow it and the criteria is there in the admissions information on the schools' websites.

Post by **hermanmunster** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:21 pm

All the schools / LEAs vary in their willingness to allow this. Some do not allow the child to retake in year 6 if they don't pass in year 5...

I am sure there are plenty of kids who could pass in year 5 but actually grow up quite a lot emotionally and socially and have a great time being top dog of the school. My DCs definitely benefitted though could have moved on a year early

busybusy · Post by **busybusy** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:39 pm

We have discussed it with her and she is keen to do the exam. She finds her friends in her year group little immature and she has a lot of friends in the year above. I do have concerns regarding emotionally is she ready?
I am living in fear that we will get to year 6 and her rebeling! She neither likes nor dislikes school. She doesn't see the point in going most days but at the moment goes without too much moaning!
In maths and English she is at least a year ahead of her age and has quickly learnt to not draw attention to herself!
Does anybody have a child that has gone a year early?
Thanks in advance

Post by **scary mum** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:42 pm

There have been two threads about this recently - just search (one is in the last few days). I couldn't find the older one from a month or so go, but it became a bit heated so may have been removed or something.

Here it is: http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... =6&t=25437" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DC17C · Post by **DC17C** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:56 pm

I think the older thread was deleted as it suddenly disappeared.

I would say that my DD had a lot of friends in Yr6 when she was in YR5 and worked with YR6 for maths etc and is also mature for her age reading age 12+. She was really quite unhappy at this phase of yr5 as she realised so many of her friends were moving up to senior school and she wasn't. She also went through a big growth spurt earlier than a lot of other girls in her class and went through a stroppy phase. However she did get over it and started to get on better with lots of girls in her year and has had a really good yr 6 so far especially as has passed 11+ and got her GS place.

Post by **hermanmunster** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:18 pm

busybusy wrote:We have discussed it with her and she is keen to do the exam. She finds her friends in her year group little immature and she has a lot of friends in the year above. I do have concerns regarding emotionally is she ready?
I am living in fear that we will get to year 6 and her rebeling! She neither likes nor dislikes school. She doesn't see the point in going most days but at the moment goes without too much moaning!
In maths and English she is at least a year ahead of her age and has quickly learnt to not draw attention to herself!
Does anybody have a child that has gone a year early?
Thanks in advance

I am sure there are some around who have gone a year early ... they will pop up soon no doubt. The other thread referred to got a bit heated and was removed..

It is difficult to assess whether a child is ready to take the 11 plus early - I would have thought that they might need to be a couple of years ahead of the mean for their age .. many of the kids going to GS are at that stage and you don;t want to be in the situation of her not getting through in year 5 and then not being able to take the test in year 6 when others at school will be able to do so.

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:22 pm

There will be social issues when she's older e.g. not being able to go into University Halls at 17.

As a teacher I'm afraid I've only seen it go wrong.

pixiequeen · Post by **pixiequeen** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:54 pm

busy busy, I know that here in Gloucestershire, a child can only apply to sit the 11+ a year early if they are part of the year 6 cohort and have been following the year 6 curriculum. It also has to be approved by parents, school and LEA, and not only does the child have to score in the top 50% of scorers to qualify, they are not allow to resit the following year.

This may of course be different in your LEA, I don't know what the rules are where you are, but I would definitely find out before your DD sets her heart on it as it may be a no go anyway.

I do know a family where the eldest child went early and the parents considered that they had made a mistake (social issues I think - the being last to learn to drive etc.) and although their youngest daughter could have taken the test a year early they chose instead that she would effectively 'repeat' year 6 (she had been moved up a year at school) and take it at the proper time.

faitaccompli · Post by **faitaccompli** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:51 pm

Having seen how much fun my son has had being in year 6, I would heartily recommend that she remains for that year - residential weeks away from home, performances, projects - they spend much of their time "growing up" - and the whole class appeared to have matured almost overnight. Being the school "seniors" has given them way more responsibility and they are having a wonderful time.

You also run the risk that if she does not get the required qualification mark, then what happens next? She spends next year in year 6 and is not allowed to retake the exam with the rest of her class - so where does she go? I'm a relative newcome to the 11+, and it appears it is very much a matter of understanding and knowing things that will come with age rather than being good at maths (for example).

And on top of this, the issues which people have reported of children who have gone into grammar a year early, then not been able to enjoy nights out with their school friends due to age restrictions, university hall restrictions etc. I would have thought that you, as the adult, will not be swayed by what a 9/10 year old thinks as they clearly don't have the experience to know what the best thing is for them! For info, my son had a reading and spelling age of around 14 years when he started year 5 and was scoring highly in his maths (he was doing year 6 work in year 5) but he was in no way ready to sit the 11+.

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