Secondary school admission for accelerated g&t

[ian71]

Help,

Son was spotted as g&t by primary school while still in nursery. After behaviour problems due to boredom he did maths with yr1, then he also did English with them. So at the end of foundation he went straight to yr2 missing yr1 completely.

At the time we asked the School/LEA if it would cause problems with secondary school. we were told no as all done on school years.

Unfortunately he is now in yr5 but was only 9 in Jan 09. He is excellent at maths working in the top maths group but alone doing individual extended maths work, he is also in top English set, only boy in school choir and plays the drums (natural rhythm and it helps him calm himself). The local grammar school has an admission policy that it will not accept children for entry in Sep 2010 if B'day after Dec31st 1999 or if they have entered a yr 7 at another school. This would mean he would have to go to local sports specialist comp that gets a poor ofsted particularly noting poor maths, science and individualised learning.

Anybody else had to deal with these kind of issues ?

Also not helped as the grammar is it's own admissions authority and then under the neighbouring LEA to us although we are in it's primary catchment (we live on LEA border)

[snorkle]

I've heard of this sort of thing happening before. You can go and fight your corner, but often the schools/LEAs are very intrangigent.

So, I'd advise:

1. Talk to the grammar & discuss situation with them - ask if there's any flexibility at all with their rules.
   
   
2. Look at local school - it might be better than you think. If ofsted have picked up on individualised learning as a shortcoming they may be addressing that.
   
   
3. Consider keeping him at primary another year if you are sure the grammar is the right school for him.
   
   
4. Look at private options - he'd probably get a scholarship & bursaries are available too. It might not be as expensive as you think.

[senua]

Our grammar schools have the same non-acceleration policy but I do know of one family who overcame it and went straight from Y5 to Y7 (but they were relocating from over a hundred miles away so they were a special circumstance).

I'm not sure that acceleration is a good idea from the social POV. DD is in Y13 and I am seing at first-hand the problems it causes for social occasions when some are eighteen y.o. and some are not - if the adults go clubbing then the seventeen y.o. are left out, but if the whole group doesn't go clubbing then there is a vague feeling that the youngsters have spoiled the evening i.e. you can't win. Do you want your DS to be the odd-man-out and left out of the social scene?
Then there is the "everyone else is learning to drive" situation. Or the "it makes work experience difficult because you can't get insurance for under-sixteens" problem. etc etc

It's much simpler to stay in the year group! Also, not wanting to sound rude, but he is only one year ahead which is probably no big shakes at the grammar and there will be others of the same calibre.

[ian71]

To answer the questions in some semblence of order

1 Spoke to grammar - they ammended policy to say would look at individually as we pointed out draft version broke several guideleine - however we were told by the admisions registrar in no uncertain terms that the school was so over subscribed (partly due to state of local school) that the governers had never yet relented on the Dec31st cut off and she couldn't see them changing now.

1. It is believe me - last Ofsted was October and literally the only good points ont he entire inspection were "6th form is improving" and sports is doing well but the extra funding isn't filtering through to better results in other areas.

1. Primary head has said not in a million years and think what it would do to him to suddenly be back with people a year below his current academic year when he is top of where he is.

1. Prep school for a year was suggested by the grammar - the suggested school is £13k for a year days only and they would put him in SEN for Maths at £23 per hour for ALL his maths lessons. We do not have that money. Have looked at scholarships to a private secondary but the local authority's scheme is with Eton !!! my wife was a poor child at a rich school (not that level though) and it is so unfair. Even if he got in, his classmates would be picked up in their jags and X5's with their flashy mobiles and i-pods he would be in our Skoda with a dodgy pay as you go if he was lucky and a £10 mp3 player.

I went to a selective boarding school and shared A-Level Maths/further Maths lessons with a guy whose B'day was 8 days after my son's he was accelerated so not 17 until just before he started his A-Level exams. No problems, went on to do Maths at Cambridge and become an Actuary

[snorkle]

Looks grim then .

No chance you could homeschool for a year? He could probably do all sorts of idiosyncratic things if not bound by a restrictive curriculum.

[ian71]

Considered it as his aunt is a primary dep head, he could go and live with her in darkest cornwall. She speaks about 10 languages plays several instruments and lives alone with no telly so he would definately get a different education !

[muddleduck]

If it were me I would home school for a year and then send him to the grammar with his correct age group.

I do have some relevant experience here...

I was young for my year anyway due to birth date and then was accelerated in just this way in the first year of primary. So I spent all of primary and a bit of secondary being younger than all my peers. I was still top of the class, so academically this was completely the right decision. Socially, I was a shambles and this got worse as I got older. There is a huge difference between an
11 year old and 12/13 year olds. When I was 13 we moved to the UK and the school insisted that I went in with my age group. In effect I repeated 18 months of school. I spent this time learning very little and being teased ALOT for being an irritating know-it-all but in the long run I am glad as it meant that socially I started to fit in a bit better.

All children are different and you have to do what is best for your child, but IMO social development is just as important as intellectual development and if you go a route where he stays accelerated then you need to be sure that he can cope with both aspects.

There is so much fab stuff that he could learn in this year that is outside the curriculum. It is a great age to learn a couple of languages and there is no end to the IT stuff that he could achieve.

Good luck

[peanutbutterkid]

Good post Muddleduck. I would seriously consider home-ed, too.

[Piffle]

Look up Millenium Maths project via Cambridge Uni
Tons of seminars and stuff to go to...
I'd keep him out for a year and give him life experience.
My son now 15 is highly gifted at maths but went through ordinary school and now excels in excellent state grammar and actually got an early offer to Cambridge but we decided to wait.. as much for social reasons as anything.

He is pretty happy and the school provides a reasonable extension for him and others similarly able.

In our areas gifted primary kids now work with the grammar but you'll find Cambridge are very interested in natural maths students...