Q Looking for pro's/con's from any parents who repeated grade 1 for their little one...
My daughter is in grade 1 in QLD, during Prep last year and 3 terms of Grade 1 this year she has struggled across the board. Learning difficulty testing/behavioural optometrist test results have ruled out anything unusual, so it's been put down to her simply being a year younger than most of the class (she was born in June, with the cut off for enrolment each year being 30 June).
The school isn't encouraging my wish as a parent to repeat, saying if we repeat now, she will never have the opportunity to repeat again if needed later. I feel doing it now will give her the best chance to solidify the basic learning foundations needed into the future, to avoid being even further behind. She has always tracked about 6-12 months behind where she should be in her reading/writing/maths skills etc. Socially she is very outgoing, so I know this would make the process somewhat easier.
Ultimately I know as the parent I have the final say to repeat my child or not, but I'd love to talk to anyone who's been in a similar position, and hear if it was a worthwhile decision or not. I understand every child is ultimately different though ;)
6 Replies
My sister repeated a year, it did her the world of good. I wished I was held back a year. I'm a late November baby and really struggled to keep up not just academically. Doing it when they are young saves a lot of trouble in the long run. I kept my son back a year but in kindergarten. I'm not sure why she wouldn't be able to repeat a level later and why they think that would be necessary. There are too many arbitrary dates put on out kids these days. What's wrong with finishing year 12 when your 18?
I repeated my daughter in prep just because she wasn't accademically ready and I was getting upset seeing her struggling and her getting frustrated from not being able to do the work and keep up with everyone else, I was worried she was going to get a bad attitude against school from a young age just because she would get left behind, it was very difficult to get her to repeat as the school kept saying let her go another year and just see how she goes, I had the strongest guy instinct to maker her do it in prep as it will just be harder on her social emotional state the older she gets and closer friends she makes, it was very hard and emotional on her the first month when she couldn't understand why all her classmates were in a different class, but once she made new friends and settled in it was an amazing change, she did the work with a breeze was the 'leader of the class and confidence just grew and grew, and to this day I believe it's all because she repeated, she just wasn't ready for school and that's ok we are all individuals and are ready at different stages, but if you have a slightest gut instinct fight for it we as mothers know what's best for our children!
My child made the cut off date for school by 2 weeks, if i had sent him to school then he would have been the youngest in the class. I sent him the year after. he is 3 months older than his classmates only and is one of the kids that has his birthday at the beginning of the year rather than the middle or the end of the year. His kinder teachers told me he was ready for school but I still kept him back. I think I made the best decision ever by giving him the extra year. So I say if she is the youngest in the class let her repeat now rather than later.
I also say if you can repeat at a different school.
I'm doing it for my daughter in prep for all your listed reasons. The school is onboard with me as I suggested it from term 1. There should be two opportunities to repeat, so re-check that advice.
Do it! I have repeated 2 of my kids.. One in prep as he was very anxious and emotionally immature. The other was in yr 2 (which is almost too late!) for educational reasons!
Both of them are better for it! I'm so pleased I did.. They made new friends easily, it didn't effect them emotionally.. They are both very tall (one is now 16 and 6foot4... He is a national level sportsman and getting A and B in year 10!!