Moving from Edinburgh to Belfast: keeping son in P7 or starting high school?

[Funcrana]

Hi,

I was hoping any Belfast/NI parents could help out with an issue I’m having.

Currently living in Edinburgh with DH and 2 sons 5/10, we are planning on moving to Belfast in the next few months.

Thought it would be a fairly straightforward transfer for my older boy as I thought the Scottish/NI school systems were fairly aligned, but it turns out that due to him having an April birthday he would actually be due to start high school this year as opposed to P7 if we stayed in Scotland.

This leaves me with a bit of a dilemma, my heart says it’s the right thing to keep him in primary for a year, it would allow him to settle without the high school pressure, not skip a full year of education and if I’m honest the NI School system is ahead of the Scottish system in most metrics anyway so I don’t see too much of an issue (e.g he is unlikely to be sitting there bored or repeating work).

Think this should be possible but I wondered how common it is for kids to defer here, in Scotland it’s extremely common for this to happen, there are 5 kids in his class of 30 that should be in the year above.

I know that the legislation wasn’t introduced here until later so wondered how likely it is that he’ll be the only one in his age group older (however slightly) than the rest?

Another thing is sports, he is currently playing at regional/academy level in sport and would be keen to continue that at a school here, he actually plays up an age grade at the moment so would be concerned that he would be dropping a couple of levels to play at school.

Realise this will differ by school but has anyone had any experience of a situation where pupils are able to play sport a year or two above their peer group, or is it completely rigid?

Realise all this could change as being good at sport at 11 doesn’t mean you’ll be in front of the pack at 15, but nonetheless it’s really important to him and we’re already causing him enough upheaval.

Thanks for all your help

I’d probably hold him back a year. Most schools in NI are grammar or secondary with only a few comprehensives, so if you wish to get him into a grammar he’ll need to sit the entrance exams. The kind of sport may also differ by whether the school is Catholic or non denominational (usually mostly Protestant) so just make sure his sport is played.

What do you mean by "a few months"? The post primary school intake for beginning in September closes applications in February and is confirmed in May. If your child has not gone through either the transfer test or the application process for admissions from outside NI, it may be very difficult to obtain a place in a grammar or a high performing non- grammar. I also don't think children in NI are easily able to defer at post primary stage unless the circumstances are exceptional - my eldest is in Y10 and the only examples I know of are where children have migrated due to war and had missed entire years of schooling. I know of no-one that has come through the UK system that has deferred entry to post primary. I may be wrong but I think the law change mainly applies to preschool/P1? You would be best doing some thorough research. As pp mentioned you would also need to investigate what types of school offer your son's sport? E.g grammars tend to focus on rugby (+ very few do boys hockey) while non grammars tend to play more football, tennis would be more common in a grammar. And Catholic schools have greater focus on Gaelic games. If at a high standard, schools generally would bring younger players into the team if they are talented and physically capable.

Unless your partner went alone for a year?

But then the child would be seeking a place in the second year of secondary school which could be even harder as he would be relying on spaces coming up in that year group.