Entering British school system after moving from abroad

[Galmik]

I am looking for some advice from anyone with suggestions or similar experience. We have been living abroad for a long time, and my daughter is currently in 6th grade (born in December 2013). We are planing to move back to UK in a few years (we are citizens). One option is to wait for her to finish "middle school" here (8th grade). I assume that in that case she would start 9th grade in the UK. Alternatively, we can move in two years time, after she finishes 7th grade here. In that case we can perhaps consider having her start from 7th grade in the UK. I think that might make the transfer easier on her, even though she would not be with her cohort. For work related reasons we cannot move before she finishes 7th grade. So I guess my questions is: Should she just start from grade 9 with her cohort, or should we consider moving earlier and have her start from grade 7, effectively loosing a year? How hard would be it to adapt if she starts at grade 9?

Her English is good, even though not native level: she might have a bit difficulty with English subject, but I am sure that other subjects would be fine.

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that since we will not have an address in UK until about 2-3 months before our arrival, we will not be able to apply to middle schools 11 months ahead. We are not considering private schools.

What do you mean by "middle schools" in your last paragraph? In the UK, nearly all state school pupils are in primary school until the end of year 6 and then secondary schools from year 7. Some private schools start in year 9 but it's rare for state schools.

Not having a UK address at the start of the application process will make it tricky for you. She'll need to be a late applicant or an in-year transfer.

In most schools there is quite a lot of movement at the beginning of each year. She's unlikely to be the only new child and hopefully she will adapt well.

Where in the UK are you planning on going? The Scottish system is very different to the “England and Wales” system. (And I suspect the Northern Ireland system is different again but I know nothing about it to comment!)

The council won't accept an application until you have a UK address. As soon as you've moved to the UK, ring up your local council. They will put her in the correct school year, according to her date of birth. They do not place children in lower years to catch up.

The grade / year system is not the same.

Grade 9 is year 10 in England, and the start of GCSEs. Year 7, grade 6, is the start of secondary school.

You need an address in England to apply.

Bare in mind if your using the US grade system then 7th grade does not equal year 7 in England. I think 7th grade is the equivalent of year 8 which is the 2nd year of primary. If I'm right then I definitely would not be moving her in 9th grade which would be year 10 as that's the start of GCSE's so she may find her options limited because other students will have picked in year 9 plus she will have no settling in time before starting the heavy work of exam years

There are a few middle school around.

Where abouts in the UK are you planning on moving to?

My advice as an ex secondary school teacher would be move as soon as possible especially if her currently school isn’t in English. Even if it is she is going to be adjusting to a new home, a new culture and going through puberty. You want her to be settling in school beforw starting GCSEs.

I've assumed England, Scotland and and NI have P classes, I don't know about Wales.

Also in England. Children don't repeat years generally, they will be placed in the relevant year based on birth date.

Are you thinking of England? Scotland has quite a different system in terms of age cut offs. In England, she will be one of the older ones in the year. It would be very unlikely that a state school would put her into the year below. I would think moving for the start of year 8 would be less pressure. It would give time to get a place and settle in before needing to pick GCSE options. It would be OK to move at the start of year 9 too, it just gives her less time to settle before GCSE work.

Where are you moving to? The majority of England transfers to secondary for year 7, so she will be joining an established class regardless. Some areas still have middle schools and move for the start of year 9, so there could be some benefit to starting in year 9 with everyone else.

There is no such thing as the 'UK school system'. You'll need to specify which country you are moving to? They are all very different so advice will vary.

As you haven't specified you'll get a lot of advice that only applies to England, because a lot of posters forget (or don't care) that the UK and England are not the same thing. When you said UK they'll just assume you meant England!

Second year of secondary not primary. Top of middle school in the US.

The school won't let you select a year group. She'll be allocated by age.

True! Where exactly are you moving to, and when?

@boulevardofbrokendreamss sorry typo.
Year 8 second year of secondary school

You need to specify the country you are moving to (Eng, Scot etc.) and it might also be helpful to state which country you are in now, whether she has been in English-medium/international school or not (you say her English is not fully native so I am guessing maybe not), and what year she is currently in in terms of age range. Like, is she in the year where kids are 11 at the beginning and 12 at the end, or 12 at the beginning and 13 at the end? If the grade system resembles the US at your current school, the grades don't align with the years in English schools, and I think not in Scottish schools either.

Just to note that we applied for a Y7 place for DC (in the usual application window) from abroad and were given a place. It is only significant if you are applying to an over subscribed school.

So to explain the system in England, your daughter would currently be in Year 6 (Sep 1 2013-Aug 31 2014 birth cohort). Schools in England are largely separated into primary (Years 1-6) and Secondary (Years 7-11) and Sixth Form (Years 12-13, may be separate or part of a secondary school). A few areas still run a middle school (Years 5-8) system but they're not common- these children would change schools at start of Year 9, but as I said, not v common. The vast majority go to secondary in Year 7.

Unless you move back literally now, you will miss the main allocation of Year 7 places and have to apply for any available places at the start of Year 8 or Year 9., when you move back. Depending on the area, this may or may not be problematic. It's a problem if there is great variability between secondary schools in your area, so that the good ones are all full and waitlisted and the bad ones have spaces. It's not a problem if there's only one or two schools and they are on a par and have spaces. You will have missed the allocation for the academically selective schools (grammars- not all areas have them, but some do) and it's unlikely places will come up in Year 8/9.

The other thing to consider is GCSE's. Most children choose the subjects they will study for GCSE (school leaver exams taken at end of Year 11) by easter of Year 9 and start the courses in Year 10. However, a few schools start the GCSE curriculum in Year 9 to give more time to cover everything in detail. You would probably not want to start those schools at beginning of Year 9, especially with non native fluency in English.

I'd therefore suggest coming back for the beginning of Year 8

HTH

If the OP moves to Scotland - with a Dec birthday they will likely be able to opt for the year below.

There are some middle schools in UK - google tells me 107 - but they are very much in the minority.

Reception is age 4-5
Year 1 - 5-6

Y7 - 11-12

Most do Infant/Junior or more commonly Primary school - Y1-Y6 and then in Y6 you apply often by Nov (depends on area) for secondary school places.

You'd be looking at In year transfer outside of normal application process and can only go where there are places - so less popular schools or areas with fewer kids.

In England and Wales it a cut off date of 1 st September for school age range - and it very rare to be outside school year and would be a special case. December she'd be one of the older kids.

Don't know about Scots system it's completely different - but Wales and England you'd want to be in place Y9 -Y 9 - is 13-14 I think - as some schools do start GCSE by end of year and it often when option choices are offered - ie you pick the non compulsory GCSE subjects. I have heard soem schools do this as early as Y8 but don't know how common that is. N.I do GCSE as well - but don't know about their system at all.

Wales - there are exams and course work/pieces done in exam conditions throughout the two year courses - in England it's exams at end of two year courses.

You need to get in touch with local authority education department as soon as you have a UK address.

Will they? That's good if she's moving there. I heard they didn't do it in Edinburgh, but it could have been that particular school.

We did In-year transfer to Wales from England - and the Welsh LEA did give us some information as we waited for house sale to finally go though - at least which primary schools had places.

Though we didn't actually apply till house sale went though - meant we could get in touch with schools straight away and look round and our kids were settled within few days of getting here.

If your DD was born in December 2013, then in England and Wales, she would br in Year 6.

That is - in the bast majority of England and Wales - the final year of Primary school. Parents will be choosing and making applications to secondary schools for next September over the coming few months.

It is worth pointing out that, as an ‘in year application’ (ie not for the usual start point, which would be September 2025) you will be chasing a ‘spare’ place and may in some areas have no chance of a place at the ‘better regarded’ schools (which will be full) so you will be allocated a place wherever has a space.

Arriving in time to start in September 2026 (Year 8) should be fine, with the above proviso about availability. Arriving to start September 2027 (Year 9) may be problematic in a few schools where choices of GCSE subjects may already be starting. September 2028 or later should be avoided if you can, as you will run into difficulties of subject choice and availability for all schools at that point.

A very small and decreasing number of areas do have residual middle schools (Year 5-Year 7 or Year 6 - Year 8, depending on area, though they are largely being phased out). If you are specifically moving to one of them, then it might be possible to ‘start with the cohort’ as they move up from middle school. However, you would probably still be an ‘in year applicant’ as you would be unlikely to be applying ‘in time’ (during the previous year) as you would not have a local address.

Apologies, massive cross post. It is worth saying that even in areas that still nominally have middle schools, there is a gradual
move away from them eg by high schools opening classes from Year 7 and first /middle schools merging to form primaries. And it would really restrict where you could live if you fixate on ‘middle school’ as a decidet.

I don’t think the OP means “middle school” in the British sense.

If she is going by the US system, “middle school” in the US is just another word for “junior high school.” It is for kids between 7th grade (12-13) to…. I think 9th grade (14-15).

If she is not at all familiar with British schools and is thinking in US terms, she basically is just looking for a secondary school.

As an ex secondary teacher, my advice would be to move as soon as you can. As your daughter is not fully fluent in English, the sooner she can be immersed in the language, the better her ability to focus on school work. I’ve worked with children who have English as a second language and although they do soon become fluent in spoken English, it takes longer to be successful academically - playground teenage language is very simplistic compared to the more formal language used in education. This is especially noticeable if you are speaking your own language at home.

If you are unable to move here soon then consider getting your daughter an English language tutor who could teach her the age appropriate academic skills using spoken English.

I have no idea what all the grades are that you talk about. You say you're British, but then talk like you're not. Anyway, the natural times to move school in the UK are at age 7 (Y3), age 11 (Y7), age 13 (Y9) and age 16 (Y12). As your DD hasn't been in the British education system, she may not slot easily into her correct age group here in the UK. Depending on where you are she may be a bit ahead or a bit behind, but either way, the sooner you get her moved over before she starts GCSEs, the better.

British school kids pick their GCSE subjects midway through Y9 (age 13-14), so you should move her, at the latest, to start school in the September of Y9 (when she will be 13 years old). If you can move her a year or two before that, so much the better.