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Dropping back a year !


Peekaboo
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Hi,

Does anyone have experience of putting their British children into French school a year below their age group?  Wknow this is possible and indeed the very fact that the French school system allows this is an attraction to us. 

We have two adopted children, the youngest of whom is now almost nine and just completed year 4 at school here in the U.K.   From the age of three (when she came to us) we knew that she would benefit from more time in nursery and have struggle since with the knowledge that she is simply out of step with her peers by a year emotionally, her early years development had been delayed.  She has made fantastic progress and does not have any major educational needs, but still, certainly from class test results in a private prep school, getting the lowest results.

When we visited our childrens new school in France earlier this year the head seemed keen to keep the children with their appropriate age group.  We were surprised by this as friends who have now been in France two years with kids of similar ages were encouraged to allow their children to drop a year until their French was well under way. They have since been moved back up a class - well done to them !  We would very much like our daughter to do the same.  Our son who is a year older and right on track with his education here in the UK, is also young emotionally and if he stays with his age group in France will only have one year to tackle the language and enjoy the local village school before being sent down the valley to the scary college !  He would probably benefit too by being allowed to drop back and take things in his stride. For both children the gentler the introduction to school in France the better.  We have worked so hard together to build their confidence and it's very fragile !

We have a friend who has asked why on earth would we want to do this.  The kids have priviledged life here, why would we want to risk tipping the balance we have found the wrong way?  Somehow it still isn't enough for us !  We want them to have the opportunity to grow at a slower and more natural pace and firmly believe that we can offer them this in the Alps along with a healthier lifestyle.  They are both very sporty and social children with enormous energy and don't watch TV out of choice. 

27 days to go and terrified !  Any pearls of wisdom would be much appreciated or we will cancel the whole thing !!!

 

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Hi there!

From our experience I wouldn't worry too much about which year group the children start in. More often than not, if it's a small school the classes will be made up of a range of ages, for example at our local school there are 6 kids in CE1 and 8 in CE2 and they are taught in the same room by one teacher. This means that the age range is from 7 to 9. When our daughter started school the introduction was gentle and geared to her understanding of French. As a result she has done some work (French, maths) from CE1 and other work (geography, science, history) from the CE2 class. We have found that the system is very adaptable to the needs of the individual child. I would try the children in the years suggested by the headteacher - it gives the teachers a chance to assess the children themselves and after a year you can make a decision with the teachers as to whether they will need to be kept back or not. I know any advice is subjective and everyone's experiences different - but so far we have been more than happy with the education system here.

Good luck with the move - I hope everything goes great.

Luke

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There is no stigma here about redoubling at school whether its primaire, collège or Lycée so don't worry about. Both mine did their last years at primaire again to ground them in history and maths and french grammar ready for collège and they benefitted no end with no comebacks from anyone and I know many local kids,some have even done two years again.
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Thank you.  The head did explain that there could be 2yr groups in one class, much as you described - an interesting concept as this could put both my children who are 15 months apart in the same class !  "Not on your nelly!" says Daniel and "Yuck!" says Simone.  They are a seperate schools currently.  Challenging times ahead I fear. 

Ideally I would like the children placed in appropriate classes to commence with giving them a better chance of settling as quickly as possible.  Also, far more confidence building to start them off a year below and then promote them as they progress.  However, I am willing to chill a little and go with the flow.  The Head was a very young and personable guy who has already told my son he will be in his class and that seemed to go down well with Daniel.

Another question!  I would like to enlist a private tutor to help with the childrens French, obviously the school might be able to point me in the right direction, but I wondered if there was a national website that connected tutors with clients (there are several here).  We have been boosting their school French with tutoring here and will have a month in France before the start of term.

Danielle

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Hey Debra, we must have been typing at the same time!  Thank you and clearly you echo my thoughts, I will put it to the head when we next get in touch before term starts and see what he has to say on the subject.

Danielle

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Hi Peekaboo

We are also moving to France with two adopted children (in 10 days).  The other child struggles at school because of early problems and some educational needs.  His younger sister is much more in line developmentally.

When we went to see our local school, the headmaster decided to put them both back a year from where they are here in the UK.  He said it would mean that they shouldn't find the work too difficult while the French was a problem.  I am in total accord with this.  If we could have persuaded the school in the UK to let our son do Year 1 twice I think it would have benefitted him enormously.

Good luck

Miszter

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  • 1 month later...

 

Our 9 year old had to repeat CP. She scraped through CE1 and her reading is still weak.If present trends continue she may well struggle to get through this year satisfactorily. 

Our daughter was assessed as having low level special needs in the UK. She is getting extra help here with an Orthophoniste (which seems to be a type of speech therapy crossed with specialist French language training)  and is due to see an immotrician (we are still a little confused as to what she actually does!).

I have already heard of redoubling twice but could it happen more.

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