kiwik Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I was part way through posting on the afterschooling board but decided here would be better. Ds5 started school on his fifth birthday as is normal in NZ. Because his birthday was after the school's cut off he did 1.75 years in year one and is now starting year 2. Most of the kids in his class are the older year 2's. They do not all have IQ's in the 99.8th percentile though. Apparently the school has a rule that year ones are not allowed to go past level 18 in reading. He reached that 1/4 of the way through the year and his teacher quite reasonably let him keep advancing with his year 2 classmates for as long as she could get away with it. He was on level 22 for the whole second half of the year. I figured if he was higher than the other kids this year he coukd go to a year 3 class for reading or his teacher could borrow books. It turns out though there is a hard ceiling of level 24. He has instead been put back a year to level 19. He was happy enough last week and his teacher is nice but I can see this happening every year. I could after school and send him to school for social reasons but I would rather he practised his social skills while actually learning and his only close friend left at the end of last year. NZ schools are very similar and the one he is at is supposed to be the best for gifted. There is a state integrated Christian School though. It has fees but it works out less tgan $20 a week which is doable. They are smaller (200 versus 500) and i think more flexible overall while being more structured day to day. I think I should bite the bullet and do it. It goes up to year 8 so ds8 can join him for intermediate (7/8). Ds8 finally has a friend in his class and was born the day before the cut off so is youngest in his year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I went to a semi-automous catholic convent school which is state funded so my parents did the optional donations to charity (leprosy camp, vietnam refugee camp, old age home) every year I was there. I had Mary Poppins style nuns for teachers which was really great because there was no ceiling when the nuns could teach K-12 easily. They were really good at ability differentiation and classroom management. My 7-10th grade secular gifted program wasn't that great despite teachers who have masters degrees in their subjects. I would opt for the Christian school in your case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Consider that his social skills may deteriorate if he has to focus on behaving well while being bored for years and years. In that case, it may cease to be a supportive social environment even if the teacher and kids are nice and well-meaning; if you think you may need to change schools eventually, sooner is better. I would talk very openly to the potential new school about his specific qualities; some teachers, I have discovered, think that when I tell them my kid is gifted or an advanced reader (even if I specify that the kid is reading a few grade levels ahead), I mean that the kid is maybe in the top 5% in intelligence, or at most top 1-2%. Very few have recognized both that the child might be not 1 in 50 but 1 in 500, and that being 1 in 500 on the top end can be almost as difficult for the child expected to complete grade level work all the time as 1 in 500 at the bottom end. At any rate, given my current difficulty with DS, my advice is just to get really clear expectations and procedures from the new school before committing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Thank you both. I gave quite a lot of imformation to the principal on the phone and will lay it all out when I see him on Tuesday. I know a number of kids who attend the school and they have been good with both the child who has taken a long time to learn to read and the gifted/ASD kid who started school at end of year level but went through a several month phase of refusing to read non-English names. My main problem is I am bad at changes and have to remind myself that not doing anything isn't the safe option. Of course I already bought stationery and will now have to buy a uniform. Lucky it is summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Yes, I am having the same issue. It is easy for me to just stay the course, any course, because I dislike change and I *really* dislike confrontation or disappointing anyone. But when you can say to yourself, "What will this be like in 3 or 4 years? What makes me think it will get better instead of worse?" and not have any good answers at the current school, then change is necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I don't know which school will be best for your son, but if the Christian school has differentiation and high standards, it's worth considering. I will say that my kids are in a Christian school but still don't have any real differentiation in assigned work. All the kids are in the same place in the same reading book (and every other schoolbook), whether they are significantly behind or years ahead in terms of ability. They use their own free time to do more challenging reading/math (if they want to). Surprisingly, my kids have never complained about this. Maybe my kids are weird though. :P Being young for their grade probably helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 I saw them today. I think they have high standards. The principal said all the right things (quality over quantity in regard to writing, why did they give him the same test 4 times when he obviously got it last time? etc). I have several concerns for my ds6 who is EG with some ASD traits if he stays at his current school. 1/ lack of challenge due to rigid system. To be fair when I found him sitting on the classroom floor reading Roald Dahl today the teacher did say since his reader wasn't new to him he could just read keep reading his library book. I think she will do he best but she has too many limitations placed on her. 2/From next year on he will be in a modern learning environment. He fell apart last year in a 46 kid class with 2 teachers. The Christian school has separate classes and smaller numbers in each class. The Christian school also has a year 3 plus the brightest year 2's class where he would probably be placed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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