Hi ColinsMum, We are in the process of making a decision on a skip for my DS7 - but we are very lucky because the current school is great and working with us. They are currently looking at whether a 1 year or 2 year skip is best. DS has been to classes 2 years above to do some subjects (they have just been seeing how he copes with the work and the older children). This has put my mind at ease to a degree because at least I feel that he has been able to "trial" before anything is decided.
Yay for a good school working with you!
You make a really good point about trying out the new class: in fact, if it should happen that they do suggest a skip, maybe a good response is to ask for him to be accelerated to the new group in maths for a while first, and then reevaluate whether moving to it for a base (and maybe up again for maths) is a good idea. I doubt if they will suggest it, though. (And DH is strongly against, but that's another post.)
would the Head of your school consider making enquiries on your behalf? We still haven't made any firm decisions and it is starting to get to me!
Are you by any chance an over-planner, like me? I started thinking about where we'd send DS for his first school before he was born, and although I've tried hard to let him get through his first year at school before I think about his senior schooling, you can see I'm not doing too well at it... But yes, the Head will definitely be involved in talking to possible senior schools: in fact, one of my reservations about the system here is how much senior school admissions rest on what the first school head says about the child. I can see that could be a real problem if, for example, a child was bored and non-compliant in their first school: if that gave the Head a bad impression, it could damage the child's chances of getting into the right next school too. Hopefully in DS's case the system will work in his favour though. I am definitely hoping for advice on which of the local day schools would suit DS best if we go that way.
A Math club sounds good, also does your DS play any instruments or could he do an additional language (such as Latin) at school to give him more challenge? I totally understand when you say that the senior school experiences will be significant and you want him to be able to get the most out of it. Is he generally happy at school, does he complain of boredom? If he is generally happy maybe you can keep him in his year group with additional challenges - if the school are able to accommodate.
He is generally happy, thank goodness. He doesn't play any instruments yet, but may start next year, and yes, there are other possibilities too. We'll see how he feels - there's a danger of over-scheduling him, and he does like to have time to do his own thing, which I think is important too. In fact, I don't really think he lacks challenge in his life, overall (he's just started judo, he's learning French at school, he's mad on chemistry, there's ALEKS, etc.). Actually if he simply didn't have to do maths at school at all, that would probably also be a solution, but probably not one the school would go for! (In fact that's pretty much how I feel about school in general at this age, i.e. younger than Scandinavian children start school at all: if they had him doing free play all day, it would be fine by me, but if they insist on his doing work then it should be not-boring.)
Good luck with your DS7's skip, and I'll report on how the meeting goes!
