Flossie and Jim

Wow! Is it six months already - congratulations!

I don't have experience with school age kids just yet, but another idea might be considering alternative programs? As well as French immersion, there's Spanish immersion, Mandarin immersion, Traditional Learning Centres (still don't quite understand what these are), Charter Schools e.g. Westmount, even private schools if you have the cash (some of them are cheaper for a year than daycare costs!!!)

http://www.cbe.ab.ca/programs/prog-choice.asp
http://liveincalgary.com/schools-and...rivate-schools

Good luck!

Pine Cone

Moving very advanced and/or bright kids up a year is not just about academic advantage though. A child that remains unchallenged can easily become very disillusioned with schooling, and do worse in the long run.

And as bright children get older, they can sometimes stand out like a sore thumb among their own-age peers, which can lead to plenty of social problems too, whereas moving a child up in the early years means that by the time they get to high school age they are well integrated and have developed firm friendships among their (slightly!) older peers.

Remember there is a considerable difference in age and maturity even among a single year group, and not everyone goes through puberty at exactly the same time, so moving up one academic year is not neccesarily going to be a social disaster. A childs social maturity depends somewhat on the social norms of their peer group, and they will adjust their bahaviour to fit in. If they are surrounded by slightly more mature kids, chances are they will start behaving as such.

Geordie Lass

Your post sums up how I felt about the whole situation. Thanks for your reply

prairiechicken

I'm in the process of working out whether we will move to Canada or not. Our son is 9, so I worry about him in the early days, settling in and moving away from his friends here. But I also think the opportunities it may open up for him in the future could be well worth it.

Where did you move to Geordie Lass?

helcat12

As a teacher, I am worried I will find the curriculum here boring and too easy, never mind the kids!

I would say that at the ages of children we are discussing here it isn't about whether academics get jobs or not, or the merits of vocational training over academia, it is about stimulation of the mind and fostering an enthusiasm for learning.

If your child is hungry for knowledge and enjoys meeting new concepts and learning new facts then being forced to repeat things they already know or always doing work which is far too easy for them is boring, demoralising and ultimately likely to turn them off education or result in a deterioration in their behaviour in class.

I would not want that for any child in my class.

It amazes me that the teachers here need to be told that is the case - if I was in the UK teaching I would certainly not need the parent to tell me their child was finding the work too easy!
Differentiation and extension of the curriculum to meet the needs of all the children in the class, including the higher achievers is part of my job.
In the UK, I have had classes with children at levels of achievement which vary from Level 1 to Level 5 (UK NC levels) at age 9 and I am expected to accommodate and stretch them all.
Moving children up age groups just isn't really considered as an option for high achievers in the UK, as it seems to be here.

However, from working with Canadian kids in a non-school but educational context, my experience is that they are also lower in maturity than children of the same age in the UK, so I might not have the worries about moving a UK child up in year group here from that point of view.

It just worries me that this seems to be the common solution offered when IMHO the teacher should be using differentiation to manage attainment across their whole range of ability.
Can't teachers here do that?

prairiechicken

Actually I am quite interested by the idea of kids being a little behind at school than they are here in the UK. Our son isn't 'behind' here but he's not a natural academic and is certainly not one of the highest achievers, and he is also one of the very youngest in his year group, which sometimes shows. I wonder whether he would benefit hugely from repeating stuff he has already done, but without having to repeat a year or appear to be behind where he is meant to be, if that makes sense. I guess I would have to go and check out how things seem to be in the schools in the area we are looking at... but it's not putting me off....

helcat12

Of course, you must make a choice depending on your own child's needs and aptitudes.
If he is of moderate attainment, as you suggest and is at the younger end of the year group in the UK, maybe he would fit in very well with his own year group here.
As he is "not a natural academic" he might enjoy the diversity of extra-curricular activities that seem to be available at Canadian schools.

I am certainly not one of those teachers for whom academic attainment is the be-all and end-all. I think that in the UK there is too much emphasis on year-on-year grades improvement at such a young age.
But, I do believe that if the child wants and has the capacity to learn they shouldn't be held back by the expectations or abilities of the teacher to provide for their needs.

I worry that moving high-achieving children up a year (with its associated potential social issues) just because they are above the academic attainment for their age expectations is being used as a get-out of properly managing teaching and learning and that leads me on to worrying that the other children are not being properly catered for, either.
I suppose I will find out shortly.

prairiechicken

No I'm with you really. I was a high achiever, but I am so glad I was never moved up a year; I think studying alongside peers is really important. It's a huge shame if teaching can't provide for those at the top and the bottom as well as in the middle.

Although, I'm not completely sure that it works all that well here either...

helcat12

Only in some classrooms!

Geordie Lass

Calgary. We have hit more problems with his school today.

It seems to be and I might be way over generalising here but most Canadian boys who my son is in contact with struggle to keep their hands to themselves.... sigh. I've spoken to his teacher tonight as he came out in floods of tears. Its not all rosey in the education system here that's for sure.

prairiechicken

Oh no Georgie Lass

Might he benefit from doing some martial arts? My son (and my husband and I) do Goju Ryu Karate, and it's absolutely BRILLIANT for self confidence, and self defence obviously, although it's intended to be used only as a last resort of course! Our son has benefitted enormously from it, and whilst he has never actually used it on anyone, he has had some bullying behaviour from some classmates who have been really physical with him, and the Karate has allowed him to stand up to them really well, not just physically but mentally too.

The federation of Goju Ryu karate that we belong too is very stong in Canada (the World Chief Instructor is Japanese but lives in Burlington, ON), and I believe there is a dojo in Calgary. It's a traditional martial art too, not a sporting style, which means it is non competitive, and taught in a very traditional way. More info here www.iogkf.com, and in Canada specifically here http://www.iogkf.ca/

I highly recommend it - it's been such a positive thing for me, and for the past few months I've been helping teach the kids' class once a week, and I can see the good it does for those kids. Might be worth looking into?

Londonuck

7 months back for us. Still adjusting and missing home a lot, which is weird for me. I feel so different to the first time i came.

Geordie Lass

He can defend himself I've just taught him not to hit back. He's never needed to really. He did hit one of his friends a couple of weeks ago after I told him if he did it again he had my permission to hit back. Proper walloped him he did. His friend hasn't hit him since. I am toying with the idea of telling him to do this at school too... Not ideal but I'm not having this carry on.

I think we all get homesick from time to time. Whereabouts in Canada are you?

helcat12

I really do feel parents' frustration when they have issues with this sort of thing in school and teachers don;'t handle it well, but please don't tell him to hit back at school.

He will only get into trouble as well as the guilty party, which is so unfair on him.

Get the Principle involved straight away if the teacher won't/can't sort it out.

Geordie Lass

Thanks Helcat. I needed to hear that really... As a mum all you want is to stop the hurt and if that means hitting a kid that's lashed out first then so be it. I will talk to him again and tell him normality ie don't hit has resumed. He's such a lovely kid with a good heart that this is really upsetting. He has his faults but there isn't a mean bone in his body.