To want to reiterate that 'yes' it's August and 'yes' Scottish schools are back

[MammyV]

Honestly on every post on here which mentions a child being in school at the moment, someone, at least one poster states 'are you abroad or something' or 'why are your kids in school it's only august?'
Please please understand that most Scottish schools commence back after summer from around the 15th August, we are not abroad, we are in the Uk (at the moment anyway) and I am fully aware of the English/Welsh holidays as its blasted a cross the BBC enough, just irritates me with some of the comments
(Will get off my Scottish high horse now)
Thanks xxx

mov1ng is that standard, that if you apply from England you go into second year?

It was when I applied (with v good a levels -happened to anyone applying from our grammar school) but that was a long time ago now.

That's interesting. A lot of N Ireland teens go to university in Scotland but I've never known any to go into second year, even with all As (or A*s these days) at A level. I wonder why it's different?

This thread is throwing up lots of bits of info that I had no idea about, it's very interesting to read about the different systems.

It was 20 years ago. (Now I feel old). I think A levels used to be more specialised than highers, and more like 1st year uni in Scotland. A lot has changed since though (even at a grammar school most people did 3 A levels then.)

Relative to the "high school" discussion, we Americans got "high school" from the Scots. The first school to be called high school was the Royal High School in Edinburgh. The first school in the US to be called high school was modeled on it, and the term spread.

In fact, education in the US in the early years was significantly influenced by Scottish practice due in part to the presence of Scottish schoolmasters in colonial times. Significant similarities continue to the present day in addition to the term high school: the emphasis on breadth, going to the nearest school in your catchment, the ability to study more than one course in the first year or so of university, four-year university, etc.

We are of the same era! 20 years ago for me as well (although I didn't go to Scotland) but yes, we were the same, 'top grammar school' type place but it was still 3 A levels as standard, it was almost unheard of to do four

I was offered the chance to go straight into second year at Uni from a Scottish high school as I had good passes in my Highers and then had gone on to do more advanced exams too. I didn't, went into First Year and in the subjects I had studied in my last year at school I didn't learn much new in my first year at Uni. (I had a horrendous first year though, found it very difficult to cope with so was glad the academic side was easier).

I did 5 subjects in my first year - two of which I eventually carried on with to joint Honours in a Business & Mod Lands combo, but also did French, History and Business Administration. It does give you a lot more flexibility, a girl I knew who intended doing the same mix as me ended up on a Psychology and Italian degree as she'd done them both in first year Uni and enjoyed them. DH, who did an engineering degree, also had the chance to do things like economics and a modern language in first year.

I actually did 5 years at Uni - 3 years to Ordinary level, then a year abroad, then my Honours year. Although on my year abroad I wasn't studying, I was working. Sort of.

A quick google suggests with good grades you can do "direct entry" to second year at Edinburgh and St Andrews at least at the moment and there's student room discussions as to whether to do normal route or 3 year route so I guess it's still around

Thanks Seneca That's interesting to know.

I went to Queens university in Belfast and we also did the 'wide range of subjects in your first year' thing and you could choose anything as long as it was within the faculty you had been accepted to. But, weirdly, it wasn't actually made very clear to us at the application stage and you had to apply for a specific degree at application stage. So, for example, you could apply for psychology and maybe it needed ABB to get in (bearing in mind this was 20 years ago when those were considered high grades) and choose social anthropology as your back up which only needed BBC. But once you got there, you could study the other one anyway and switch to it if you enjoyed it, as long as the course wasn't already full with people who had it has their first choice. I'm probably not actually explaining this very well, but I know in my head what I mean. The bottom line is that most of us ended up with a degree that was entirely different to the thing that we had been accepted to study.

Most Scottish universities will offer accelerated entry as far as I know. Typically it isn't terribly popular with students

Loving this thread!

I've got a question for the Scottish MNers - I have friends who moved from England to Scotland when they were pre-teens and then back again in their late teens. She started university in England at 18 after having already had a gap year - she turned 17 during S6, and was 17 1/2 when she finished (December birthday).

He (January birthday) did S5 in Scotland, during which he turned 16, and then started Y12 in England the following September, at a little over 16 1/2, which although puts him in the "right" year group for his age, felt to him like going backwards because he only had one year of school left in Scotland, but now had two in England.

So, were either of them in the "wrong" year when they were in Scotland?

No neither of them. Both would have been among the youngest for their year in Scotland though, and the January birthday one could have been deferred so would have been 17 during his S5 year.

Quite often when young people move later into their education they are put in groups which may not correspond to their actual age. We had a girl move to our school from Northern Ireland after sitting her GCSEs there, she moved straight into our year and moved onto doing her Highers the following year rather than into the "right" group for her age which would have meant in effect repeating GCSEs/Standard Grades. It seems that Scottish schools are quite a lot more flexible over this age thing. We also had children move into our Primary School from a different European country and who spoke very little English, they were put in the year below their actual age group to allow them the chance to improve their English.

Anyone with good enough grades (a level or Highers) can apply to enter at level 2, but it's in no way forced on people. The vast majority of people do the 4 years. Level 2 entry is being pushed more up here in an attempt to attract more English students (so they don't have a 4th year of living costs-they only pay fees for 3 years anyway). The system is so much more flexible. The first two years just require a pass (40% percent in old money. Most universities no longer mark out of 100%). It allows them to experiment & some fall in love with a subject they'd never considered studying before.

Neither me or OH went to university so with our daughters doing it we are a bit 'eyes in headlights'

I do remember though her calling some Scottish Universities and they said a straight out no as she was from England, but I know others from England attending Scottish Universities . Might be the course or just different rules of the universities

That expression is wrong, is it rabbit caught in the headlights?!

Senca thanks for the history lesson that was intersting

I find that bizarre purple and I genuinely would pursue that as it is clear discrimination.

All Scottish universities have a-level grades entry requirements and English students make up a fair percentage of any in take.

Your daughter should try again maybe by email. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

It was the Conservataire of Scotland or Glasgow, she can't quite remember now. It was a drama school in Scotland, so maybe that is why they can have different rules . She was just asking about grade boundaries and was abruptly told they don't take anyone from England and they hung up!

She is all sorted now for one, about 30/40 min train ride away, staying in halls

purple, I don't understand why they would do that, other than it being something like nursing? We have caps on Scottish admissions, but no cap on English students. Many uni's here will take any English student with a pulse.

The scottish conservortoire direct to the london school it says so on the prospectus but they do sound very abrupt and I cant see them actually refusing an audition considering you pay for it

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - was previously the Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

I'm in Massachusetts. My children were out of school the middle of June. The schools are returning back after Labor Day, Sept.6. My youngest has been attending day camp at the YMCA, which has reasonable prices and does lots of activities.

Purplekittyknitting, my dd's music teacher went to the Royal conservatoire of Glasgow and he's from Yorkshire.

I always thought Reception was the equivalent of P1 then year 1 is p2.

The four secondary schools in my city are City name Grammar/High School/ Academy and ST XXX Academy.

For the American schools, how long to do you get for lunch? I'm guessing it's not an hour as the 1.30pm lunch would only have half an hour of school left before they finish.

Definitely not an hour, based on the schools I am familiar with. 30 minutes would be considered luxurious; some schools give children no more than 15 minutes for lunch.