biggal:

 

whats is year 13 is that the old 7th form ?

 

Yes. 

FWIW, several people I know have children that did what I did - leave school at 18 and work for a year before going up to University, which is almost the opposite of what you are considering. Admittedly they are all in the UK, as was I at the time.

Looking back on my own experience with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I probably benefitted from doing that. At 18, I was still a child really, and a year living in a caravan on a farm milking cows twice a day 6 days a week etc really improved me in ways that going straight up to university from school never would have. I was already pretty self-reliant at that point in life having been away at boarding school since I was seven and a half and spending the preceding 5 years doing a lot of mountaineering, rock climbing and Outward Bound type stuff, so living alone on the farm was no big deal (even managed with no cellphones or computers...!) and having the edges knocked off by being in an adult work environment probably gave me a better work ethic, increased maturity and made me less insufferable. (Last point possibly open to debate, I am told..)

I certainly would never have skipped the last year of school - for two reasons: firstly, my father would never in a million years have permitted me to do so and secondly you do not take your A Levels in the UK until the summer you leave (unless you actually are a genius and can pass them with only 12 months of the 24 month syllabus) so you would not normally have the grades awarded until you are 18 anyway.

Of course, YMMV and we are in NZ not the UK, but sometimes the road less travelled is the more interesting one.

Unless the kid truely hates school, he should stay at school for another year. And if he hates school, do what geektastic suggests and do a gap year and learn about life - a season in the freezing works will teach him more than a year at Uni.

Also, discount all views from reddit and geekzone and the wider internet- let the kid make his own mind up on this. 

Thanks for the comments so far. Gives me a lot of insights to consider. And yes, I will have a sit down with my son and discuss with him his options but ultimately up to him to decide. 

Geektastic:

 

FWIW, several people I know have children that did what I did - leave school at 18 and work for a year before going up to University, which is almost the opposite of what you are considering. Admittedly they are all in the UK, as was I at the time.

 

Looking back on my own experience with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I probably benefitted from doing that. At 18, I was still a child really, and a year living in a caravan on a farm milking cows twice a day 6 days a week etc really improved me in ways that going straight up to university from school never would have. I was already pretty self-reliant at that point in life having been away at boarding school since I was seven and a half and spending the preceding 5 years doing a lot of mountaineering, rock climbing and Outward Bound type stuff, so living alone on the farm was no big deal (even managed with no cellphones or computers...!) and having the edges knocked off by being in an adult work environment probably gave me a better work ethic, increased maturity and made me less insufferable. (Last point possibly open to debate, I am told..)

 

I certainly would never have skipped the last year of school - for two reasons: firstly, my father would never in a million years have permitted me to do so and secondly you do not take your A Levels in the UK until the summer you leave (unless you actually are a genius and can pass them with only 12 months of the 24 month syllabus) so you would not normally have the grades awarded until you are 18 anyway.

 

Of course, YMMV and we are in NZ not the UK, but sometimes the road less travelled is the more interesting one.

 

My gap year I spent on the Gold Coast in a workshop making bed bases.  The owner was a guy who knew a guy who knew my best mate.  I stapled the fabric on.  Most fun year of my life.  Rents in the GC were reasonable back then (it was lot smaller).   I was earning good coin and it was still a party town back then.  It was a year George Best would have been proud of.

The first questions is "What does he want to do??"..  it should flow from there....

wellygary:

 

The first questions is "What does he want to do??"..  it should flow from there....

 

Have asked him this question in passing and he told me he will live with us for as long as he can... sent chills to my spine lols... but if you are referring to course wise, he is leaning towards architecture/engineering. I don't think he cares too much as to how he gets there. Only reason why the subject was brought up was when one of his mates mentioned that he will be skipping Yr 13 to take up law as he will have the required credits.

Had a chat to my 20yr old about this, she still thinks would have liked to have skipped yr 13. Missed out on it at the time by a few weeks, as obviously the school didn't promote it as an option. She was pretty miserable in yr 13 such as eating lunch on a bench by herself, and also always been pretty mature thinking for her age.  If your son is not particularly sociable  - and academic, target driven kind of person already it might be fine for him.  If pretty sociable and wanting to make most of that side of uni too then probably not. Did say that doing yr13 made the first yr of Uni a lot easier than it would've been.

CrashAndBurn:

 

 one of his mates mentioned that he will be skipping Yr 13 to take up law as he will have the required credits.

 

Good way to set a kid up to fail.  High achiever, un-accustomed to failing at any academic pursuit is dropped into a difficult, competitive course.  Competing against kids with an extra year of schooling, maturity (especially boys) etc.  I

IME it's the kids who were ultra high-achieving at school that struggled at uni.  Mothing had ever been hard for them academically speaking, when they encountered something that was they didn't know how to struggle on until they got there.

I was in the accelerated classes at AGS and stayed for year 13 - it was by far my favourite year of secondary school as it was the first time I was able to take classes that I was interested in rather than the narrowly focused "core" classes. I also made a lot of new friends and developed a fair bit socially.

Of my friend group (largely from the same classes) I think only one skipped year 13 to go straight to uni. He did fine but so did everybody else. I did get the impression he had a somewhat lonely first year.

Leaving after year 12 means missing out on the opportunity to apply for a number of scholarships as well, if that's something that's important to him.

On the other hand, if your son feels really strongly that he wants to do this, and has the necessary academic record, then I'm not sure there's much to gained by talking him out of it. Perhaps he's just not enjoying school all that much and is ready to move on to the next chapter of his life. There may be deeper reasons behind his decision than what he has openly discussed with you.

Handsomedan:

 

biggal:

 

whats is year 13 is that the old 7th form ?

 

 

Yes. 

 

Is the old 7th form the older "upper 6th"?

When I left school at 12 for a "gap year" I never imagined that would last 1/2 century.

BlinkyBill:

 

Unless the kid truely hates school.

 

Oh I did.  I'd have been in detention for making a mistake like that, or beaten mercilessly.

Batman: Yes agree.

Normal people - do year 13
Aspergers / Einstein - go to uni

Asperger's has an apostrophe, and Einstein didn't.