What year would my Dd be in in the U.K.

[Putalittlebirdhouseinyoursoul]

She turned 5 in July, if we returned to the U.K., would she be in reception class or Year 1?

Year 1

Year 1

Year 1. Though you would be able to apply for her to be put into reception given her summer birthday.

Oh and that's England btw - Scotland has different cut offs.

So If we managed to make it back for next September, she’d go into Year 2?? Or could we ask for Year 1?
We’re in a European country where formal learning hasn’t even started yet, I fear she’d be behind

No can't ask for her to be a year behind her peers. It'd be year 2.

She would normally be Yr2 next September. The general view is theyvare better with their chronological age with extra support to catch up.

You could potentially argue that Yr1 is better as you could have applied for a deferral if she hasldcstarted in Reception.

Primary 1 in Scotland

You can ask the question but it will also be whether they have a space in that year group

Given the context I would imagine a school would be happy to put her into year 1 if they had a space.

She would be year 2 because we start school insanely early here but her compulsory school age year would be year 1 and you can ask for her to go into that year. You might need to get some advice on it from people who've done it (there are Facebook groups) as schools can be remarkably twatty about it. Search Facebook for groups for summer born children.

Primary 1 in Scotland

Would being an older Year 1 be better or a very young (and no previous formal education) Year 2?

You can certainly ask for her to go into year one. Some schools are keener on this than others. There is a Facebook group called delayed entry for summerborns or something like that, you could ask on there.

In Scotland ATM she could be in primary one or nursery, if they are not 5 by the August parents can defer here so she could start primary 1 next August if you moved here.

It depends..is she clever, can she read and write, is she emotionally and socially good for her age? If yes to all, she will probably be ok in year 2 but if in doubt probably better in year 1. There are lots of advantages to being the oldest in terms of confidence and academic success.

I’d def keep her a year back. I used to work with this year groups and from experience, now is a good time to do it as she doesn’t know it any other way.

What language/s does your child speak?

English

Can she read/write/do basic maths?

As a summer child and one that is out of step with the UK education system you may be able to ask the head and LEA to let her into year 1

@Dramatic Brilliant with numbers, reads short words but not reading books etc yet and can write short words, but doesn’t love to

Usually you'd have to have a lot of evidence to hold a child back a year.
Classes in the UK in primary have a no more than 30 in a class rule. So you might find you can't get her in because there isn't space. You could contact schools now to see how full they are.
Also be aware that most school admin staff do not work (and are not paid to work) in summer holidays so in England noone will answer calls/emails between circa 20th July and 2nd ish Sept.

Personally I'd try for year one. It's not just the level of attainment, y2 is much more table based, less to no learning through play and higher concentration levels are expected. This increases further in key stage 2. Y1 would be less of a shock.

A child in a similar situation has recently joined my grandchild's year 2 class, age wise he should be in year 3, so it is definitely worth a discussion with the school.