'Out of year group' policy queried

Saturday 20 July 2024

Just five children have officially been moved to different school years over the last decade, in Guernsey's State run schools.

The figure was confirmed by Education, Sport, and Culture in response to a series of Rule 14 questions lodged by Deputy Sasha Kazantseva Miller.

She wanted to know how many requests for Out of Year Group Placements had ESC received between 2015 and 2024, how many requests were rejected and approved, and whether ESC planned to change the island's 'Out of Year Group Placement policy' to align more with the UK policies that might offer better flexibility for summer-born children who end up being the very youngest in their school year groups.

The way school terms are structured means a child starts their Reception Year in the September after they turn four.

For children born in the autumn months they are almost five by the time they start school while some children who are born in the summer months will have only just turned four when they start.

ESC confirmed that the island already has a policy to deal with those children, and that very few parents ask for their children to be held back a year because they are born in the summer months.

 Pictured: School years always start in September.

The island's 'Out of Year Group Policy' is available on the States website HERE.

It was last updated in September 2023 and it was due for review in June this year. It's not clear whether that review has been carried out yet.

The Policy includes information on how out of year group changes are approached.

it also clarifies that children who have only just turned four when they are due to start in Reception can have their school start deferred by a year. They must then enter the school system in Year One, rather than Reception.

These occasions are managed by the individual school's headteachers in conjunction with the child's parents. 

Pictured: The island's 'Out of Year Group Policy' is available on the States website HERE.

ESC says historically the number of Out of Year Group applications has not been formally logged but it's believed that there have been five instances where requests have been made between 2015 and 2024.

"...this number is not necessarily definitive," says ESC.

There is no record of whether those five requests came from the parents or carers or the school itself.

ESC also says it's unable to specify how many requests have been approved or rejected, partly due to the small number of people involved as it could lead to them being identified.

ESC does also say that because historically the number of Out of Year Group applications was not formally logged it is not possible to say categorically how many applications have been received over the last 10 years.