Schooling In U.K.

Hello Ladies,
We just moved to Maidenhead, Berkshire. Looked at Ofsted Ratings and exam scores and placed my son in a very good school in year 3. Here's our dilemma.

In U.S., ( California) our cut off date is Dec 2nd. My son whose birthday is in October was one of the youngest in 3rd grade. Here since the cut off date id August 31st, he's one of the oldest in year 3 in the school he attends.

We are here for only 18 months, we'll be back in U.S. for his 5th grade education.
Appears to me that here the ramping up part on academics is a bit slower, my son doesn't do division, fractions etc in Maths here yet .Same with English, doesn't seem to be doing much writing, composition, creative writing etc.

I won't be as much concerned if we are going to be here for ever. I am concerned as he'll have to go back in 18 months,I don't want him
to be in a situation where he'll be lagging behind in Grade 5.

Can any body with experience, ( any teachers out there please comment on this disparity ?)
Seems like reception year is not mandatory out here, also not all kids attend a whole year of reception.
We thought Year 3 is equivalent to Grade 3, doesn't seem to be the case, yet because of his birthdate we are forced to place him in Year 3 not 4. Though if he was born in July or so he would have been placed in year 4, even though he was attending Grade 3.
Any help will be appreciated, as I am thourougly confused as to what to do. I ahve scheduled a discussion with his principal and his class teacher in the near future.

Kasthuri.

Kasthuri,

I wish I could provide you the requested information but as I do not have any school going kids , I am not sure how the system works here.

The best I could do is ask someone about the query you have posted and try to get some answers.In the meanwhile, I hope any ILite in UK has some knowledge on this and responds.

Don't get tensed and as you are having a meeting with school teacher raise all your concerns there and they might be able to help you out.

All the best !

Hi Kasturi:

Looked at Ofsted Ratings and exam scores and placed my son in a very good school in year 3. Here's our dilemma.

In U.S., ( California) our cut off date is Dec 2nd. My son whose birthday is in October was one of the youngest in 3rd grade. Here since the cut off date id August 31st, he's one of the oldest in year 3 in the school he attends.

Well, the positive side of your son being in Year 3 is that he won't get bullied:) But the anti-bully policy in UK is pretty good, so no worries there!

Appears to me that here the ramping up part on academics is a bit slower, my son doesn't do division, fractions etc in Maths here yet .Same with English, doesn't seem to be doing much writing, composition, creative writing etc.

My son finished his year 3 in the UK. So I agree that Year 3 Maths as far as fractions and division is concerned is very rudimentary. However, if the teacher finds that the child is way ahead in class, a good class teacher will see to it that the child is challenged enough not to be bored or uninterested in the subject. I have seen this for 2 years in the case of my son.

Normally in a class, the children are in different levels of learning based on their ability. So for example, a child above average in say English will be in the highest ability group of that subject. And accordingly, his/her tasks / worksheets will be matched to the ability. So a child of lower ability would get a different worksheet and a child of higher ability will probably get a more challenging worksheet.

I won't be as much concerned if we are going to be here for ever. I am concerned as he'll have to go back in 18 months,I don't want him
to be in a situation where he'll be lagging behind in Grade 5.

For the above, all I can suggest is teaching that extra bit of US curriculum yourself to your son. Another suggestion is Kumon classes. Like in the US, there are local classes in most towns.

I ahve scheduled a discussion with his principal and his class teacher in the near future.

Do share your concerns with the teacher and s/he should be able to help you out. It would probably take them a coupe of weeks or more to assess your son and place him in the right ability group.

I do hope this helps ease your anxiety a bit atleast. Let me know if you have any further queries.

Sindhu