Should my son skip a year at school? What are the social implications of this?

Question

I live in the United Kingdom. My son's headmaster wants him to skip the next year of his schooling and proceed directly to the following year. What shoud I do? My son is aged nine.

Answer 1

Please take your son's physical and emotional maturity into account when making your decision regarding your son's education.

What is son's birthday and when was he initially sent to school? Did he start school early because of his intelligence, or with other children his age? If he was born early in the year, he is more likely to succeed if placed ahead a year as he is physically more mature than children born in the late summer or fall.

His maturity should play a larger part in this decision than his grades, especially as boys mature much later than girls. If he is emotionally unready to be competing with children a year older, than let him stay with his peer group. Remember, it's not just grades he will be competing for. There is huge competition for friends, sports, the "pecking order" socially, being bullied, and the teachers' attention. Does he lose his temper easily, or cry, or have trouble making friends? Then keep him in his age-appropriate grade.

Please also take into consideration your son's wishes and feelings. He will be separated from his friends and forced into a new grouping where he will be the youngest and will have to prove himself in many ways.

It is a great honour for your son's headmaster to refer him up a grade and your son may do very well, especially if he has a great deal of support at home to help him deal with side issues.

Answer 2

I'm in the U.S. and sometimes kids get skipped a grade here too.

I think the first thing I'd do is talk to your son about it and find out what HE wants thinks of the idea. Is he bored in school? Is the work so easy for him that it's not presenting a challenge? Would he miss all of his current group of friends or does he know children in the next grade that he would still have friends there? Is he small for his age? In other words, would he get picked on by the bigger kids because he's now really the tiniest kid in the grade? Is he mature enough to handle it?

I've seen it work very well and the kids adjusted and loved the new challenges they got moving up a grade. I've also seen a few kids that were miserable after they got moved up.

I think the key here is your sons feelings and making sure he understands the additional work he'll be doing, etc. It is not a decision I'd make overnight without a lot of discussion and thought.

Answer 3

There are pros and cons either way. What matters is what is best for your family!

I like to see kids challenged academically. He can always keep his friendships with his peers, especially if you keep inviting them over on holiday etc.
My son's a 15yr old goof-ball, silly as can be. He's gotten in trouble now and again just doing impulsive things: jumping o\ver a chair, squirting ketchup at his friend, BUT he has 5 college credits already and aced calculus, which he took on-line because the school didn't have a class for him. As a youngster I was told he needed to stay with his peers, not only by his school but by my dad. He said he skipped and when he got to high school all his friends were dating and he wasn't (So what!) People can find any number of reasons for either decision. My son's girlfriend is 18, so go figure!

In the real world, we all work with people of all ages and maturity levels. School is the only place where there are boundries based on age. It's rather contrived, isn't it?

Good luck

Answer 4

I would take a couple things into consideration. First his maturity level. Although the difference between nine and ten year olds is minimal, if he acts younger than his nine years it could make a difference. Second ask him how he feels about it. He's the one that will have to leave his friends behind. That would be my deciding factor. If he's smart enough to skip a year he's smart enough to know what he really wants. I'd talk over the pros and cons with him and see what he thinks about it. If he skips a year it will be easier on him now rather than when he's older. You must be very proud! Congratulations to your son and you.

Answer 5

First it is probably a good idea to ask your son if agrees or disagrees with this. If he does find out if what the following grade level will be teaching and the expectations that will be expected. if both these two tings are fine then it would be great for him to proceed to the next level. there is no point of leaving him if he already knows the material being taught.

Answer 6

I skipped the fourth grade with 6 others and most are doing well. One year might not make too much difference though it may in sports considering growth with an extra year. He's probably at a higher reading and math level than his peers. Another factor to consider is how he feels about his classmates and if he wants to. I wouldn't recommend more than one skip though I would talk with another school counselor for his/her opinion.

Answer 7

He'll be an outsider in the new class, the older kids won't accept him and he'll be picked on worse then normal. He may lose whatever friends he's already got. On the flip side he may become bored in his class and start acting out and being disruptive. I had that problem i could do the work faster then anyone in my class so I'd be sitting there with nothing to do, and I wasn't even close to smart enough to skip a grade. Talk this over with your child get their opinion.

Answer 8

keep in mind that very clever people could have discovering disabilities. It does not basically prepare to scholars who get undesirable grades. it could desire to be his oral/verbal processing the place the discrepancy lies. With a typical score, you're looking at one hundred being user-friendly. Are those the only rankings on the WJIII you purchased? i could have an interest in seeing what his GIA, Numbers Reversed, seen Matching and determination velocity. genuinely, we've not worked with your new child and for this reason would be unable to rather supply you an fairly good clarification basically based off of the numbers. we don't be responsive to what his frustration ranges have been (that __/ninety from the attempt) or any of that. i could say in case you fairly desire a good clarification, refer to the faculty psychologist or whoever it replaced into that administered the attempt and spot what they could desire to assert. they are going to in all hazard be greater advantageous waiting to help out.

Answer 9

Don't do it unless they are going to provide extra tutoring to make up for the years lost education.

He may also end up being picked on for 1) Being seen as the school whizz kid because of being fast tracked up a year, 2) simply being a year younger than the rest of his "year" etc etc

You need to think on this carefully, and consider how it may affect him emotionally.

The 2nd answerer has also highlighted some of the problems

Answer 10

I never skipped a grade, but my friend did. She was very immature for the class she was in and made up for it by doing all sorts of risky things. She got into lots of trouble. Finally she sat out a year of college and got "back on track". Just from her experience, it doesn't seem like a good idea.