Please tell me about UK schools

[Dontliketheheathelp]

We’re British, have lived abroad for a few years and due to return next summer-2027
Dc will have just turned 9 at that stage (late summer birthday)
What year will my Dc go into, would there be opportunity to go into the year below, due to being very young for her year and having started school later where we are and therefore behind others?
Also, what is the difference between a normal Primary school and an academy?
When would we need to apply for the school and what are the criteria for hoping to get into the one we hope for-is it due to being in the catchment area?

Any info greatly appreciated!

Which county are you in please?

Would you be able to get a tutor in the summer holidays?

West Sussex

We did a big move in the U.K. I would suggest phoning the schools you are interested in now to get an idea of if they have space, whether you can go on the waiting list for the time you want, what their process is etc and also whether your children could go in a year early. They may even be able to tell you academic expectations to reassure you. The only children I know who have done that have been developmentally delayed, it’s not that usual.

She did do this in the country we are in, as did many others, it’s worked out brilliantly

Yes. But that was a few years ago, maybe things have changed. It just felt like another source of stress though

She won't be put out of year unless you find a willing private school. In a state school in the UK she will need to go into year 5.

I would spend the next year helping her to catch up as much as possible with a 1-1 tutor if you're definitely going to move next year, before the gap widens even further.

She won’t be ‘Young for her age’. She will be precisely the age she is. As others have said, there may very well be plenty of other children in the same class who only turn 9 in the summer too.
If she were to go into Year 4, she would be the oldest child by a long way.

No I realise this is too young for her, but to be older in Year 4 and find the work challenging compared to what she is used to, compared to going into Year 5 and potentially being completely lost in all areas is worrying

Do you genuinely mean that she’s doing the English Y1 curriculum this year? Or that she is doing your country's Y1 curriculum, which may well be very different and closer to the English one for her chronological age?

In the U.K. year groups are pretty strictly by age.

there are a few exceptions where children (usually disabled children) are held back a year or start late (and this is becoming slightly more common).

what this means is that each year group contains a wide spread of ability. A year 5 group will have some children who are struggling with basic reading and writing and may have extra support in the classroom (eg a TA scribing for them if they cannot write at all). A large group of children will be at or around age expectations and they’ll access the normal lessons.

a few children will be way ahead of she expectations and the teacher will have harder work for them.

differentiation - the teacher taking one basic lesson eg on addition - and making it so that all children can understand the concept on an appropriate level is very important in English classrooms.

so for example the children who are struggling might be recapping number bonds to ten or twenty. The bulk of the class may be looking at column addition with numbers into hundreds and thousands.

the children who are way ahead may be working with adding decimals.

so the teacher will be expected to make sure your child has work at a level appropriate for her.

A ‘long way’? If the OP’a child is a late summer baby, I’m assuming August. The difference could be a matter of days between her and the next oldest child born, potentially, on 1st September.

I would work on basis she’s going into yr5 and aim to do some work at home with her you’ve got 12 months.
You’ll also be needing to think about secondary school. Check as some primaries are feeder schools or check your house will be catchment. I know we went to some open evenings September yr5 as we needed to apply by Oct yr6.

She’s Year 1 now and learning the alphabet of our country and numbers to 100-essentially fairly parallel to Year 1 work in England from what I can see. She will stay another year, so doing Year 2 work, then the following September-2027 we would be in a school in England. She would be ready to learn at Year 3 level but would then be thrust into Year 5 work, it doesn’t sound fair fir her and I can imagine will impact her confidence, whereas at the moment her confidence in work is high because she understands it and can do it well

Young for her age educationally! There are many different aspects to consider, not just her age, it isn’t that clear cut

I did this, moved back to the UK when my youngest was nine and the oldest twelve. The oldest was fine as she went straight into secondary school where everything was different anyway so she didn’t feel so out of it all.

But my youngest went in to year four and she found it very difficult. She was really,really far behind and of course she hadn’t been before so it was a shock. She was in the bottom groups when there were groups and behaviour was poor which didn’t help. It was a really difficult time to be honest as she had already left everything she knew behind and to top it all she struggled at school. The school were really great and she did get support but it took a long time for her to catch up.

If she's genuinely only just learning the alphabet and numbers to 100 at 9 then you really will need a tutor to work with her. She will be miles behind and I'm honestly surprised she's not picked these things up before now just through every day activities. Numbers and the alphabet are not really something you actively teach.

The countries, but from what I can see it seems to run parallel to Year 1 in England? Alphabet, phonics, numbers to 100 etc

Your DD will have to go into Y5 in England, you cannot put her in a lower year group. There will be plenty of other children who are even younger than your DD. But it sounds like you’ll need a tutor for her if she’s only being taught the basics now.

I understand but I don’t want her to be in a struggling group, just because she started school later. I think it will really affect her confidence

@Dontliketheheathelpthat would be more like reception level in England

@Dontliketheheathelp I have just remembered a colleague I had about 25 years ago.
She had moved back to England from Germany and her daughter was about 9.
Obviously there was the big change from being taught in German to English but in subjects like maths her daughter was actually ahead. This was because in Germany it really was more "formal" teaching from the age of 6/7 compared to English schools.
Germany was desks in rows, one teacher at the front of the class.
England at the same age was still a lot of group work, sitting on the carpet, teacher plus teaching assistants etc.
Very different styles of teaching.
Obviously this was 25 years ago and I don't know the country you are coming from but your daughter might not be behind at all.
The important subjects are English and Maths.
English will be a challenge if she's not been taught in English but I would recommend looking at the maths curriculum to see how it compares.
Edit: I have just read some other posts that appeared as I typed.
You possibly might have to get a tutor to help her catch up.

She’s 7!

When I was coming back home I did think about looking for a school with a year three/four class to make the transition easier but I was hard pressed to get any school place at all in my area but that might be an option for you.

Exactly! As opposed to possibly almost a year younger than many others in class with the additional differences