Moving to Scotland with an 8 year old

[FlaviaX]

We're moving to the Edinburgh area in January with DD who will be almost 8, and im not sure how that will work. We move towards the end of January, so the srcond term will have already started and we cant move any earlier. From what I understand you have to have a local address to apply for a school, but I'd really rather she missed as little school as possible, and im worried that will take a while. Is it possible to secure a place for her to start as soon as we move? Or would we have to look at private schools for that? Also, her birthday is in February, so im slightly confused as to what year she would go into?

Sorry, she'll be almost 9 when we move, shes 8 now.

I don't know either, but some advice here...
www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20256/school_places/1374/join_a_school_after_the_start_of_session

Age wise if she's a February birthday she'll be one of the youngest in her class - the standard intakes for Scotland run from 1st March to 28th/29th Feb although some people defer if their children are younger. By my reckoning if she's turning 9 then she will be in primary 5

From my experience of moving within Edinburgh, they won't 'hold' a place for you, but they'll be really open about the likelihood of a place being available - especially if you aren't moving at the start of the school year. And there's loads of movement in year groups with people moving in and out - loads more than I remember from my own time at primary school.

Once you are at the point of exchanging contracts schools will be happy to have conversations, although you can't officially apply before you are here.

Thank you all! Do you happen to know how common it is for the younger children to be deferred? She's currently in an American based school, so i think deferring might be better for her, but i also dont want her to feel really odd if she's the oldest by a lot.

Deferring is pretty common in Edinburgh schools so the chances are, if you defer, although she will be one of the oldest, there will be a few others of a similar age. In my dcs classes, there are about 3/4 Jan/feb deferred birthdays. But check with school too, they can also advise.

It's fairly normal in our school too

It is really common for kids with Jan/Feb birthdays to be deferred. If you think your DD would benefit from it then go for it.

My Feb 2008 DD will be going into P4. There are loads of kids older than her in her class and only one who didn't defer.The one who didn't is 16 months younger than the oldest member of the year group!

When we moved to Edinburgh we contacted a few schools in advance to see if they had places for out of catchment children. Some schools were more helpful than others (Balgreen Primary I salute you, Craiglockhart, take a hike), but sometimes they are waiting for another family to decide before they can offer a place to you. We shortlisted it down to two by the time we arrived and he could have started almost right away, even without a permanent address. DS school tends to have places so is popular with incoming families and I can think of a few who were in temporary accommodation when the kids started. Provided the class isn't full I wouldn't think you'd have to wait, got the impression DS could start the day after we decided and signed the permissions etc.

Just try not to get caught up in obsessing about the few oversubscribed schools.

The council will tell you where will have places well in advance both catchment and out of... I had this issue as we were to move after the final registration date and the school was fantastic and flagged the place up with the council as places were running low (I knew my address but couldn't move in provide proof for another 2 months)
Deferring is fairly common here, it's free choice for January and February birthdays so nothing to do with ability so she definitely wouldn't be alone, I think there are 3 or 4 deferred children in my daughters p2 class.. Of course I don't know all the children so they may be more! My eldest is one of the youngest and I really notice the difference between her and some of the oldest ... I definitely plan to defer my dd2 who has a February birthday!
Do you have an idea of area? Some schools are terribly over subscribed and would be harder to place mid year such as davidsons mains that struggles to even accommodate all catchment children.