Moving from English to Scottish Schools (Primary and Senior)

Sorry - your ds not your dd.

Also , if your ds is sporty and/or played enjoyed rugby at his private school, you might be interested to know that Shawlands is a "School of Rugby". The S1s and S2s in the rugby class get 4 periods a week of rugby (2 x PE periods and 1 each from Maths and English which the school manages very well)

When is your ds' birthday? Would he be going in to S2 or S3? As a very rough guide, 2004 kids are currently in S1 (there is flexibility for Jan/Feb and even possibly Nov/Dec).

This is a Zombie thread so you might be better starting a new one in the Scotsnet topic.

But in answer to your question, both Hyndland and Jordanhill are good schools. You'd be unlikely to get into Jordanhill (it's an anomaly in the Scottish State system, the only one outwith local authority control) but with your dd being older, you might be lucky and they have a place.

Shawlands on the South Side also has a good reputation. (you'll get more for your money for housing on the South Side).

All the schools mentioned have a good reputation for getting pupils into HE/FE.

Hello ladies,
I will be moving to Glasgow with my 13 year old son from France from an English private school. So need a bit of advice.we are going to a state school for finance issues, .does anyone know or has opinions about Hyndland secondary school, or Jordanhill in West center Glasgow ? Thank you

From what i can recall from threads about it at the time, I am sure that Aberdeen-shire have a blanket policy covering all their schools on how they were introducing CfE and they were doing maximum of 6 and over one year. I might be misremembering though so it would be worth checking out the website/giving them a call after the holidays to find out for sure. That would definitely be an easier scenario for your circumstances. Some areas/schools have started the National 5s in 3rd year in order to offer more. Ours is starting slightly early and squeezing in 7 but all schools in our council area are doing things slightly diferently.

Looking at Aberdeenshire I have family in undy so maybe around insch or Inverurie

no problem, which area/school are you looking at?

Thank you that cleared a lot up
Regards

I'm not really up on the English system as far as knowing whether GCSEs are easier or harder than National 4/5s, but those exams are meant to be a one year course.

However, individual areas and schools have decided to do different things so you would really need to contact the school that you would be intending to go to and hear what they say.

The standard is supposed to be S1 to S3 = Broad general education, S4 = national 4/5s, S5 = Highers/Nat 5s, S6 = Advanced Highers/Highers

My niece moved up 2 Christmases ago and moved into the last term or so of S4 and that was just at the last stages of Standard Grades, however the school she moved to did the majority of their Standard Grades at the end of S3 so she cam and just started Highers without ever having done her GCSEs or Standard grades.

So my daughter moving and starting in S4 would not impact her and leave her behind at all ?

There is no way they'd put her in S3. Remember our age cut off date is end February, not 1st September so she won't be the younger one in the year in Scotland, she will be around the average age.

Well she'd probably get As in her Nationals then too
I don't think S3 would be a good idea at her age. Nationals are a one year course remember.

Thanks I think unless they would put her into s3 then we should wait although GCSE wise she is on target for all a's, so would be wrong to disrupt that course

Yes better to start in S4 than S5, as she would be only half way through her English exam courses but would be moving onto highers in the Scottish system.

yes. my son was born July 2000 and is going into 4th year in May - most high schools move into the their new year in June to settle into their new timetable , ours is a bit earlier. The school system has changed since this original post - National 5s are supposed to start at the start of 4th year though some schools are starting them earlier.

Ok thanks maybe not a good idea this year then
Maybe next year instead

Hello, pretty sure it would be S4 as she'll be 15 then. Note the schools start back mid August not September!

Hi I am thinking of moving to Scotland from England my daughter is currently 14 born in July 2000 and in year 10
If I moved during the summer holidays would she go into s3 or s4 this coming September

The school may be flexible.

I was a high-achieving grammar school pupil when we moved to Scotland when I was 12. I was actually put up an academic year and, I didn't even notice. I do remember that Maths was the only subject where I felt I'd "missed" anything, but soon caught up. The only "problem" would've been that had we stayed in Scotland I would've finished my highers aged 16 which would've proved awkward.

DD1 - yes, this would be an issue as she won't have covered the standard grade syllabus. she may have to go back a year - this won't be a problem in the longrun as our secondary school is only 6yrs rather than the 7 in england so she'd be the same age entering university.

DD2 - i don't see any problem there, she'll be in exactly the right place to begin standard grade work from the start and again same as above re. uni entry.

DD3 - may find p7 a bit easy, speak to the school about good extension work, but also an easy year might be good for her with the upheavel of the move.

DD4 - if she's in the top half of her year ability-wise may be fine with the move, otherwise i'm sure she'll gent plenty of support from her teachers. i don't think there will be a problem unless she's already behind her class.

so, basically i think they'll all be fine, but poor DD1 may have to go back a year to cover the standard grade texts etc.

good luck.

Jumping on the bandwagon late. DH and I are Scottish but lived in England and chose to move back to Scotland before kids were school age deliberately. Any move for kids will be upheaval but as everyone is saying they'll soon get used to it. Have spoken to others who've moved and they felt even in primary the classes were further ahead in Scotland so might not be too bad for DD3 - plus she'll have all the fun of another leaving year, and probably more trips. Some parts of Scotland (here in East Renfrewshire for example) don't even do standard grades, we go straight into Intermediates which are higher level than standard grades, so even more reason for DD1 starting at S3 - my DD has been hard at it with homework and exams for all of S3. And she's had various new people in her year this year and last and everyone has been pleased to see them, hear all the different experiences and make really good friends. Good luck and hope the transition goes well - by christmas you'll wonder what you were worrying about!

Definitely try to get DD1 into S3, it's a 2 year course, completely different from GCSEs and she'll need 2 years to do it.

Try to sell DD3 on the social aspect, she'll have a year to settle in before going to secondary rather than being thrown in with people who all already know each other. (bearing in mind that it's very unnusual not to go to your local school in Scotland) Also when they hit S4, her friend will have to stay on till Christmas while she can leave after her exams if she wants. (yes I know if she's academic she'll stay on, but it might cheer her up, lol)

Oh good luck on the house fhl. Which part of Scotland will you move to? There are quite a lot of us MNers up here, and some of us are even English.