Are Scottish P1 and English Reception equivalent?

[Smithagain]

We are visiting my parents in Edinburgh over Easter. They have suggested that our kids take part in something that is open to children in P1 to P7.

DD2 is in Reception in England. She won't be 5 until August. So I think I'm right in saying that if we lived in Scotland she wouldn't be at full time school yet. Is that right?

I'd also be interested in any info about how similar P1 is to Reception in England. i.e. if they say she can join in, will she be with children who are at a similar stage in their education, or is P1 more equivalent to Year 1 in England?

You're right that she wouldn't yet be in school, though she'd probably have five half-days at state nursery. Can't say if P1 = Y1, though it sounds like it.

Yes, as she would start P1 this August. Tom is 4 in April and won't start P1 till next August.

Obviously I can't help with the 2nd Q! I'm English and moved to Scotalnd when Tom was 3 months old.

Tom does 5 afternoons at nursery.

Will your DD be starting infant school in sept? Then I would say P1 and reception are not the same. Toms pal who is 5 in November starts P1 in August, so will nly have has 1.5 years at nursery whereas Tom gets 2.

Very confusing.

DP moved to Scotland when he was 7, so started in P3. He said he found the work they were doing very hard as he'd only been at infant school in England.

My DDs started P1 in Sept. DD1 was 5 the following Dec. DD2 was 5 at the end of Sept.

Yr 1 in England and Scotland are more comparable.

(I am in Scotland and my sis is in England. We have similar aged children. We both thought that reception seemed very play based.)

Thanks all, that's really helpful. She is already in full time school, but it sounds as if there isn't really an equivalent of Reception in Scotland. So if she went to this thing, she'd be the youngest by six months, as well as not knowing anyone! I think we'll give it a miss.

(My mum is in complete denial that there is any difference between the school years in England and Scotland, which makes these conversations a little confusing IRL!)

IME there is actually more like half a year's difference. I don't think that P1 and Reception are exactly the same, but I think Yr 1 is slightly more advanced than P1.

The main difference/difficulty is that the cut-off dates are different. In England it's 1 Sept and in Scotland it's 1 March. This means that if you are in Scotland and your child is born between 1 Sep and 28 Feb, they start school (in P1) at the same time that they would start school in Reception. If they are born between 1 Mar and 31 Aug, they will be starting school a year later than they would in England. ie going into P1 when their contemporaries south of the border are going into Yr 1. This is a bit generalised, of course, as many parents in Scotland decide to hold their Jan/Feb babies back a year, so that they start school at 5.5 instead of 4.5.

Thanks needanother... That was more or less what I thought, but it's useful to have the dates for next time my mum tries to persuade me that P1 and Reception are "just the same".

And not for the first time, it seems to me that the Scottish system is much more sensible!