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!

Yes, her reading helps so many other things, Science etc i’m not worried about
I will do higher level maths with her as I can see it’s too easy for her and she enjoys the challenge

Thank you so much

No idea! but they are doing their letters and she can read in both languages

It sounds like the local system is holding her back rather than her being “behind” as such. ds moved back into year 3 and we were told it was fine as long as he could read well. Maths was a bit problematic for a while but he did fine. Might be worth teaching number bonds and times tables, money, fractions/decimals, time and simple written arithmetic problems if those are not covered in class next year. Also think about British history and geography, if you visit UK include museums and so on. If you move in the summer that would give time to develop some interests to share with new friends. If local school year finishes early (say June?) she might even be able to start before end of year 4 and join in fun end of year activities like sports day or trips rather than just academics,

I would highly, highly recommend applying to be admitted out of year into the year below. Had he begun school in the UK that would have been possible as a summer born child (flexible summer born admissions Facebook group might have advice).

Aside from that it’s not a bad time to come back into the UK system.

On academies - most primary schools are now run by academies. Some use ‘academy’ in the name and some don’t. You can get small academies with a few schools and huge multi academy trusts which have CEOs making mega bucks and with trustwide policies. These Multi academy trusts do vary. But personally as a former teacher I would never send my child to a national chain multi academy trust. This is because the people making the decisions about matters which impact your child will never meet your child and very often the staff you meet in school (including the head) are very disempowered. That is very different from a few small schools which have banded together in an academy to ensure financial viability.

PS please ignore those saying it’s not possible to be educated out of your year- it absolutely is. I have personally taught a child who came from overseas and worked with the LA to get agreement for them to start in the year below (they were summer born according to UK definitions- so actually this was fairly straightforward). My experience will be specific to that LA but it is 100% possible.

More info is buried in the summer born admissions here… it specifically gives the example of moving house as a reason that you might request outside the normal timelines.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-advice-for-admission-authorities/guidance-on-handling-admission-requests-for-summer-born-children

How is she already reading Harry Potter in the local language then?
As others have said if she's reading (and understanding - grab some CGP comprehension books too, or we've recently discovered Anton which has quite a bit of National Curriculum English) Harry Potter she'll be fine with English.

I'm in a very similar position (except we just made the move at the start of the summer term, it was unavoidable). Same worries. We weren't expecting to move back at least until secondary/maybe ever so had fully immersed ourselves in the education system in the country where we lived (which is generally seen as the gold standard so why wouldn't we!).

I contacted the local authority to ask about admissions, I was told barring any SEN and if my child spoke English they would have to go in-year. So I found a tutor to give my child a crash course (2 hours a week over 3.5 months 🙃) in the UK curriculum. It was like watching someone getting out of prison after 20 years learn about life on the outside, my child was fascinated. She gave us (I say is because it was as much for my benefit to learn about what to expect!) homework to do too. But it was made fun, and I've been pleasantly surprised with how seamless the transition has been. My child's school doesn't do sets but at a meeting with the teacher I was told my child is already comfortably in the middle which seemed impossible when we were planning and panicking! Kids are really adaptable.

My advice is to find a good tutor who is used to international transition (I can give you ours if you need a contact, she does online for obvious reasons!) and use the time before you move to get your child prepped on the difference in curriculum and culture (that's the bit I'd underestimated when it was just me prepping my child as my only experience of school in England was my own time there and I've blocked a lot of that out 😅).

From a socialisation point of view does she have any hobbies in your current country that she can continue in uk eg ballet, gymnastics or guiding/scouting.

Children in countries that start formal education much later (like Finland) reach the same attainment level, if not higher, by the time they are teenagers. Children in countries like Japan have much more complex writing systems to learn, so the journey to writing fluency is longer. Reception in England is very gentle and play-based.

Without knowing which country you are in, no one can give you any insights they might have into the transition your daughter will make. However, children arrive here from every country in the world at all sorts of different ages and schools accommodate them in their correct school year without difficulty.

It is unlikely that they will let her go into year 4. Summer born children can defer at reception age, but once they start school it is extremely hard to defer.

I have children I work with you have come in from abroad, and parents have pushed for and been denied deferral, even with supporting reports from an EP stating need.

In our area deferral needs to be agreed by the local authority, and it can take a while

Could you move her to an international school where you are, which may push her a bit harder so ready for year 5 in a year? Tbh Harry potter is generally a year 3-4 age group, so if she can read that at age 7, she is doing well. Generally writing follows reading ability, so it's only really maths you would need to boost.

The other thing I thought of is that you will ideally need to be in the UK by latest start of July, with evidence of address with your name on, as schools close for summer mid July, and then usually won't be able to confirm a place until open again in September.

I completely understand why you’d want her in a lower year group but I don’t think you’ll have a chance at 9, unless you explore private schools.

We wanted to defer my summer born and it was a massive battle that would have continued across his schooling so in the end we gave up.

There are online groups for deferred entry and academy’s seem to be particularly against it. You can only ask the schools directly but I’d not expect a yes from them.

There is usually a large range of abillity in mainstream schools
They should be giving her work at her level.
There is no point in giving a child work they cant do.

If anything it actually sounds like she would thrive in the UK system where she could be stretched in her learning rather than where she currently is where she seems to be doing work far below her actual academic level.

This is the case in every school year - its spans a whole year of birthdays so there will always be some children who are nearly a year older than the youngest children

If your DD was permitted to go into year 4 she would be over a full year older than children in that class who had only turned 8 in August - how is that fair on those children

@Dontliketheheathelp - it may help if you could share which country you are coming from - or at least which general part of the world - and/or what the other language is. It’s unlikely to be particularly identifying. But overall it sounds like your daughter will be fine and indeed may well benefit from being stretched.

Regardless of how you may feel it is legally an option and has been shown to be beneficial for the children even up to GCSE level. So @Dontliketheheathelp would be wise to take advantage of it.
I have a September born child who is at a statistical advantage. There are always some children at an age advantage. Personally I’d like it to be mine!

I agree, I was about to type very similar but @VIII has written it for me.

You've described a bright, confident child who appears to learn easily. She shouldn't have any problems in an English school, as posters have pointed out she'll likely thrive in an environment where she'll be provided with work suited to her actual capability. Her current school is holding her back if they're only teaching letters and numbers when she can read Harry Potter in 2 languages and you've taught her maths up to the end of year 2 level. Get her up to year 4 level maths before she starts school in England and she'll do great.

It is legally an option at reception intake, after that it's very difficult to get children deferred. Children within a year group span a wide variety of abilities (my year 5 daughter has children in her class with reading ages spanning year 1 to year 7) and this in itself wouldn't be a reason to defer.

I meant to say, I do agree re the September thing, having a September child and a summer born. In exams they should do some adjustment to counteract this advantage- some, like the 11+ already do, to make it fairer for the summer born children

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been discussed @Dontliketheheathelp but something to be aware of if you do find a primary school who will accept an out of year admission, secondary schools might not which could be worse. (I'm assuming England here - I have no knowledge of the system in other UK countries sorry.)
I know two people who found themselves in this kind of position. One was a relative of mine who moved home from another country where the school entry is different and all her children effectively missed a year - they were in the equivalent of year 1 there and in year 2 here and so on. She looked into getting them all admitted into the years below and was told it was unlikely but not impossible but that the local secondaries would be likely to insist on them being in the "right" year, so they would either have to go from Year 5 to year 7 or (less likely) Year 6 to Year 8, both of which she felt would be even worse than missing part of a lower year. They went into the correct years for their birth dates and all did fine in the end by the way. The other was a friend of my DD's who was in the opposite situation - she was accelerated a year at primary but then secondary wouldn't take her early so she would have had to repeat year 6. Eventually the parents found a private school to take her early I think - we lost touch unfortunately.
I should say that both of these instances were a long time ago (the children are all adults now) and the rules around deferral of starting school have changed since then. So it is possible that secondaries are now more used to children being out of cohort and have been forced to become more flexible. But I would check. You don't want to fight for a solution to the immediate issue only to find that a few years down the line you are facing bigger problems. If you do get the education authority to agree to let your daughter drop down a year I would be sure to get confirmation in writing that this is going to be accepted until she finishes school and you are not going to have to fight the same battle again over secondary places in a couple of years.

If you’re coming from overseas it’s most definitely possible. As I said I’ve organised being educated in the year below for a child I taught. How easy it is does depend on the LA. But it is what I would try in the OP’s shoes.

I wouldn't try even if it was an option she already sounds very capable. Trying to put her back a year seems completely unnecessary

Do you know if Newquay academy primary is a chain? I mean, it looks incredible, but big, there seems to be four Year 3 classes, is this normal?

Thank you, I will really push for this