Hi all, my ds is 8 years old and is in Year 3, educated a year below his chronological age (summer born) as we had to home school at age 4 due to an illness which is under control now.

I would like to look at possible opportunities for him, as he is a average kid academically, so 11 +may be an option.

However I don't know when is right time to take 11 + exam for him? Should it be along with his current academic class when he is about to start Year 6? Then he will be 11 years old already.

I could not find any clear guidance on this. Hope some one will help me. Thank you.

You will need to check the exact rules for your Local Authority/ the LAs to which you wish to apply, because they will all differ on this point.

If you want to mention which LAs they are on here, someone will probably be able to point you at the right information.

Hi Sally-Anne, we are in Solihull so will be applying locally-Birmingham.

Who should I check with in the LA?

Thanks

I am replying because I sympathise but my own experience is well out of date now. We chose not to send our children to school until legally required to do so, and in my daughter's case this meant joining reception a year late. It was very hard to do at the time and while most schools were OK with the idea of a late start, they wanted her in Y1, which we didn't. We won that one, but in the end we home educated our children for some of primary school and DD eventually rejoined her chronological year group.

I was at the time blissfully ignorant about the 11 plus and she didn't end up sitting it anyway, but I met another mother who happened to have done the same thing as we did and kept her DC out of school for a year on principle and who lived next door to the then head of the most superselective school in our area. As it happened these parents were morally opposed to the 11 plus and would never have permitted the child to take the exam anyway...but the Head made a point of telling them that it would be ok to do so if the child remained out of year and was educated with the same group until Y6. This is in Gloucestershire.

I assume with the new rules about parental choice around Reception entrance for summer children, this situation won't be unique to you and there must be provision for it. If there isn't... and you want your son to take the 11+ a year outside his chronological age, then fight! I fought for the right to a Reception place for a 5 year old and in the end had the press all over me trying to make a story out of what I did, but now there is a legal basis for a child being a year below the norm, so it ought to be possible. Good luck to you.

The grammar schools will be in Birmingham who state on the website: https://www.birminghamgrammarschools.or ... ligibility



Might be worth checking with the foundation office as to whether there are any exceptions.
Worth also checking which local schools are options for you in Solihull

Found this on the Solihull website: http://www.solihull.gov.uk/Resident/Sch ... admissions



Quick anecdote: at the secondary school where I work we did have a child last year in Year 7 who was actually a year older than the others - he had some physical disabilities and needed support. However his parents actually withdrew him halfway through the year to home educate (which we felt was a shame as he was settling in well).

I love this. I wonder which of the experienced pedagogues and child psychologists (haha!) responsible for churning out this piece of propaganda has enough specialist knowledge to judge what is 'entirely appropriate' for the 'vast majority' of 4 year olds. I particularly like 'the opportunities offered by the EYFS curriculum' and would be interested in an expansion of what those opportunities actually consist of. The opportunity to get started on formal learning 2 or 3 years before the rest of the world believes it to be desirable or 'entirely appropriate' perhaps?

Sorry, personal rant...this kind of Big Brother speak gets right up my nose.

I know of a boy last year who should have been in yr 6 but moved up into yr 7 in a Birmingham grammar. It seems that it is allowed that way round under certain circumstances.

This would normally only be allowed where the child was registered in the school year ahead of his / her true cohort, i.e. actually working wholly within year 6 at the time of taking the exam, not going into year 7 straight from year 5.

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At DD’s Grammar, not in your area, they only seem to allow younger children who are in Y6 at the time of sitting the test and make it clear they can’t try again if they don’t make the cut.