Relocating from International School overseas, jump a year?

[pinkbuddhagirl]

This is my first post, so apologies if I am going over old ground. I have 2 children, born 2007 and 2009. Both are attending an international school in Portugal, learning two curriculums side by side, split between english and portuguese. So in a way, its sort of like a bilingual school, rather than a true international school.

The school starting age follows the european setting, so both kids started a year later than the kids in the UK.

I want to move back to London and I have been told that they can only apply for a school place according to their birth dates, and that this may mean that they need to jump 1 academic year.

They are fluent in english, in case you're wondering.

Does anyone have any experience of this? My daughter is currently completing "primary 2" which I believe to be the equivalent of year 4 in the UK. So if I want a secondary school place, for a child born in 2007, i believe i would need to apply for this in or around October 2015. Is that right?

Can anyone confirm this or give me your views experience on this transition?

If i need to make this transition, maybe its better(for my older child) to do it before year 7 when they go off to high school? Thoughts?

I think there might be a gap in both their learning and they would need to spend a year catching up with things, but i would love to know for sure, if others have done this.

Many thanks for your attention and i really appreciate any help.

The secondary applications for autumn 03 and spring/summer 04 have just closed for a start September 15. So if your DC was born Jan to Aug 07 the applications will be 2017.
So those born sept 06 to aug 07 are currently in year 3 and those born sept 07 to aug 08 in year 2, sept 08 to aug 09 in year 1 and sept 09 to aug 10 in reception.
Hope that helps.

My son has moved from a bilingual programme in an international school this autumn to a private UK school and has also had to jump a year, going from year 4 to 6.

I was also worried about whether or not the missing year would make a difference.

It turns out he is at least around a year ahead in maths and way ahead in reading.

I think his grammer is not as good but it is swings and roundabouts.

I hope this helps.

I can't advise from a postiiton of experience of moving children from one system to another, but I don't think children in state schools in the UK are necessarily a year ahead of children from other countries. Also, because children progress according to age not ability, there will be a huge ability range within each school year.

Which ever year they join in the curriculum will have been different and you would expect allowances to be made for that as they find their level.

I know at least 15 children who have started state education aged 7 or 8 after play based learning up to that age. The children have excelled

Just to add DS only started school at 6.5. And finished most days at 1pm.

it isnt really like jumping a year, just because they started formal schooling a year later. it doesnt have a lifelong effect iyswim?

It isn't so much jumping a year as placing them within the UK system at the right point . If you dc are born September onwards they may even stay in the "same" year. Within primary it makes little difference tbh but you are probably right to consider doing it before your elder child enters year 5(aged 9/10), so she has 2 years to adjust. The earliest you would need to apply for secondary (state, non selective) schools is October 2017 for entry September 2018 but if she was born between September and December 2007 it is a year later. For selective or private schools you may need to register earlier to take assessments though.

When you move them, you will most likely find that they are ahead in some ways even if they are "behind" in others. They will catch up, if they do turn out to be missing anything. It is important to be with the right age group.

We had this type of situation (several international moves) and moved to the UK when our kids were in senior school. We found that it didn't seem to cause too many problems. It's not that unusual a situation and as long as everyone keeps an eye on the kids it should be ok.

Generally I think it's best to keep kids with their year group.