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Original poster

Starting P1 in Scotland - what should they know?

26 replies

BeenChangedForGood · 26/01/2026 13:09

Have DS who will be starting Primary 1 this August. I’m going to arrange a chat with his early years key worker about him specifically but I was wondering if anyone with some knowledge of the school system may be able to help me with roughly what level a child should be at before starting P1 in terms of basic Literacy, Numeracy & Practical Skills?

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Original poster
BeenChangedForGood · 27/01/2026 11:38

tedibear · 26/01/2026 19:55

Academically they need to know very little. My youngest was 4 and couldn’t write anything to be honest. Eldest was 5 and could write her name for months when she started. I saw a big difference in their abilities but I also had to remember eldest was 8 months older than youngest when she started. It makes a huge difference.

I spoke to nursery about youngest, they weren’t concerned at all just me worrying for nothing. It was all about what she cld do for herself and being toilet trained etc. She’s p2 now I’m glad she started when she did rather than keeping her back for an extra year.

In p1 most the time she was telling me she had been playing for the first few weeks. A lot of the learning is play based. Some schools they don’t have desks (ours does) but that blew my mind! The class spent weeks doing a different number every week. What did you learn today, we were learning the number 5. Days later same answer. I’m like wtf 😆 this is slow progress!

A lot of it must have been so boring for my eldest but my youngest probably benefited from the very basics they took forever to do. I don’t even think she was doing sums until after Christmas. I felt Aug-Christmas but very much settling in for them.

@tedibear It really does make a huge difference. DS is currently doing a bonus year at nursery rather than being one of the youngest in primary so I’m hoping that will help him as he moves through school 🤞🏼

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