To get slightly irritated when people refer to their children being in Year 4 etc?

[Nirvana69]

Just ever so slightly irritated but every thread I've read today related to school aged children I'm told they are in Year 6 or Year 10 or whatever.

This means nothing to me (Scottish) I have no idea what age a Year 6 pupil is.

Aibu to ask that people even stick the age in brackets?
Just a bug bear of mine.

[CountessOfRule]

Sorry, SDTG, that wasn't aimed at you, although I can see why you would think it was. It was aimed at the whole thread and the repeated explanations of equivalence which differ precisely because the systems themselves are not equivalent.

So there's "what English class would this Scottish child be in if we moved?" and there's "which is the year when a child would learn such-and-such?" for a start.

[cairnterrier]

Does anyone know why the Scottish year runs mar-feb and the English one goes from sept- August? Thanks

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Sorry for snarking, Countess.

Maybe 'loosely equivalent' would be a slightly more useful phrase - for the purposes of answering the sorts of questions you mentioned - though it doesn't hold up when you are looking at the lower years of Primary school in England and Scotland.

[BlueberryWoods]

Silvermantella it may be a fairly straightforward system but do you not think it would be a bit confusing to a non-English/Welsh person that Year 1 is actually the second year of school?

[nagynolonger]

No idea why the English school year starts 1st Sept.......After the harvest was in maybe.

[Bea]

apologies if already said.... but just add on 5 for age...

thus Y2... age approx 7...

[nagynolonger]

Blueberry I think year 1 is the first year of compulsory schooling in England. Many years ago my eldest children couldn't get a school place until the term after they turned 5. Then they allowed rising 5s to start and DC started school at the beginning of every term depending on their birthday. Now most schools don't have a Christmas or Easter intake.

[BlueberryWoods]

I've heard that before nagynolonger and I can understand the reasoning though if were up to me I would have started the system at Yr 1 and said compulsory from Yr 2.

[Writerwannabe83]

I don't get the school year thing either - when I read threads and see the child is in Year 6, for example, it means nothing to me It's definitely easier if the OP just says how old the child is

[Megrim]

silvermantella - "Mumsnet is a UK website" - that's right, and Scotland is part of the UK (for now at least). The "Registered in England and Wales" registration means that the head office is located in England, so basically you can sod off with your "why should they pander to the tiny Scottish population" comment. Did you learn nothing in your (English) school?

[silvermantella]

Blueberry - no, sorry, I really don't. A lot of school systems have a 'reception' equivalent before numbered/other grades begin (kindergarten in US/Germany, ecole maternelle in France, etc). I could see how it might be confusing the first time, but once you've established that children start reception aged 4, then go up to years 1-13, then you would know. Even if you couldn't be bothered to ask someone/look it up (takes 1 second to google), I don't see how you couldn't make an educated guess within 1 year either way from 'Yr6' etc.

I don't see how you can go your whole live next to a county with a very similar school system and not work this out, tbh. Even getting the same TV shows that show the English/Welsh system.

Just feel that on this issue, majority rules. And I say that as a Welsh person who is used to seeing English things seen as the automatic norm regarding certain issues on Mumsnet when they are not necessarily applicable in Wales, it doesn't bother me. But I understand different things irritate different people!

[wobblyweebles]

If only there was some kind of internationally recognised system that we could use for referring to our children's general physical and developmental stage. One that didn't differ according to which country they lived in, or whether/which school system they were in.

Perhaps something simple that used either a number or a letter.

ponders

:-)

[BlueberryWoods]

silvermantella I'm not at all familiar with the French school system but thought that Kindergarten was like nursery - often not even at the same site as a school and is 'learning through play' type facility. You would say your child was at kindergarten not school. I just think it would be easier if once you start school it is Year 1.

[Weegiemum]

I find the inflexibility of the English system hard. Dh and I considered a move to London. I talked to admissions people - my dd1 and ds would have been summarily moved up a year, and with no extra support. We would have been moving them out of Gaelic medium education - and no language support would have been available (Gaelic wasn't on their list).

We chose to stay put, almost purely for the children's education. The English system took no account of the educational needs that they would have.

[wizardofearthsea]

I would assume that when people post for advice that they are looking for advice from someone else in a similar situation. Therefore if they are asking about Y2 SAT's then they are looking for someone who has experience of that. YABU mumsnet is an advice website - if it doesn't pertain to you then move onto something that does. BTW I say this as a Scot living in England - when in Rome......BTW unless you also object to posters not adding age when posting about P1 etc children YABVU.

[Bonsoir]

All school systems are inflexible on some dimensions, IMO. It is the nature of the institution.

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

Some of you are very chippy...!

[HibernoCaledonian]

Actually Moln - to make things more complicated in most schools in the Republic of Ireland Post Primary goes

1st year
2nd year
3rd year

5th year
6th year

Transition year is not compulsory and has a wide and varied curriculum. It can include modules such as work experience, first aid and starting a business.

[HibernoCaledonian]

Oops, forgot to make Moln bold.

[mrsjay]

It used to confuse me as well I was but you could always ask people what year folk are usually very nice and tell you some think you have fell out of the sky though I am getting really good at it now, I don't under stand the Keystage thing though but again if you want to contribute to a thread you ask

[silvermantella]

Megrim, no I did not learn anything in my English school. Because it was in Wales. Therefore I do not get irate when people make points based on assumptions (as you just did!) based on the English school system that may not necessarily apply in Wales, for example, schools being mainly taught through the medium/first language of English, or variation in holiday dates.

I have no idea why you got so aggressive. Scotland IS a minority, population percentage wise. Wales is even smaller. Therefore on many topics,

To be honest I agree that it would probably make more sense that schools started from number 1, but they don't. My point was that, once you know, this, it is not a hard concept to get your head around.

And, just quickly. Firstly, a Head Office is not the same as a registered office. Secondly, the registered office address of a company does not have to be where the organisation conducts its actual business or trade. Thirdly, the registered address is important as some aspects of company law are based on common law principles, and Scots law is different to English/Welsh. I admit my use of the 'registered' thing was perhaps a bit of a flimsy argument, but if you wanted to attack me so viciously for it you could at least get your facts straight.

[silvermantella]

sorry, did not read that before I posted! Meant to say in the middle paragraph: On many topics on Mumsnet, majority rules.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I always put that dd is in year 7 when posting about anything school related she turned 12 in October so I wanted posts to be in the context of the huge adjustment into secondary rather than people assuming she was in year 8.