Moving to NI P7

[Mumonthemove10]

Hello, I’m wondering if there’s anyone out there who moved their children to school in NI in P7. We’re still mulling over a move back home to Belfast and this feels like the last feasible time before my eldest starts high school. They wouldn’t be entering the 11+ and to be honest, I anticipate that they are massively behind academically compared to the kids in p7 in NI. They are currently being taught in a Gaelic school but the language is just a bit too different for them to go into an Irish language primary.
Any thoughts? I’m mostly worried that the academic differences will be a real blow to their self confidence. But my parents are getting older and I miss them. Staying away to get through another 14 years of school for my youngest here feels like such a long time.

Irish speaking primaries are few & far between. Friends dc are at one but they don't do the transfer test. I'd be looking for what secondary you'd like for them & work from there for a feeder school.

Ds was covid year of cancelled transfer test but it's almost all they did in P6 & P7 so that may be worth considering. I moved back here before dc started primary & love living back here. Easy beach days & less people is almost all I need! Good luck

Assume you're in Scotland if DC in a Gaelic medium school?

Watch out for catchments if you're looking to move to Belfast; it's really worthwhile going through each school admission criteria as they are a law unto themselves. Some have streams of admission for those who didn't take the transfer test, some prioritise transfer test above everything else, some have exemptions for those coming from outside NI - it's a minefield.

Also - my DC in an English school are comfortably keeping up, if not actively ahead of their NI cousins, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Yes we’re in Scotland. We probably would have moved sooner but covid really put a dent in our finances and now we’re back on an even keel it seems like now or never really. We’d be looking around south belfast, Rosetta/stranmillis way and over towards ballyhackamore. I’ve been looking at the integrated primaries as that seems like the best fit for our not-very-religious mixed family

Look at Stranmillis primary it's not officially integrated but in reality it is pretty mixed (lots of "mixed marriages"!)

Depending on your child’s age (as I know the school ages/cut offs are slightly different in Scotland) could your child go into P6 rather than P7? Even if it is technically repeating a year.

I moved back home when my dc was in p5 from England. My dc was behind as the standard here was much higher. We did get a tutor to help them catch up. They did sit the transfer test but didn't need to (all their friends were). there is criteria called special provision - where children who have spent more than half their education outside of NI don't need to sit transfer or in my dc case (as they did) the grammar school consider their application before others and their score is weighted. In south Belfast there are some great non grammar and integrated schools you might want to consider- Malone college and Lagan college (more east Belfast).

When would you be planning to move?

Hi, thanks for the replies. Still going round and round in circles here. We would be looking to move at the end of August, I’ve just been so unhappy with the kids schooling here and the choices I’ve made. Perhaps an unfair comparison as NI has a very different education structure. I just can’t believe I’m about to send another child to a school that I couldn’t in good conscience recommend.
I’ve lots of family members who went to Lagan college and it seems great. Pretty oversubscribed but that’s the chance you take I guess.
Decision making and adulting is really hard sometimes!!

You would need to act now to get places though. Schools will be closing for summer soon.

@Mumonthemove10 have a look at Forge Integrated Primary School. It's great. It's a feeder school for Lagan College too. It's near Rosetta so handy for both South and East.
I'd recommend emailing them to find out where you would stand, even if you were to move part way through the school year. Lagan College has a grammar stream & takes a percentage of children who've sat the transfer test but the majority of their intake haven't, so it wouldn't be a requirement.
Lockview Integrated Primary is supposed to be a great wee school too.

I've heard lots of good things about Lagan College, especially with respect to the quality of maths and science teaching (a traditional weakness schools near me). Best wishes with the move!

Lagan college is popular, however a member of staff is currently in court charged on 12 counts of sexual assault against students. I wouldn't send my child there until I knew the outcome of the investigation and how the school dealt with safeguarding.