Relocating to Aberdeen--Primary Schools

[Kfer84]

Hi Mums! I will be moving to Cults, Aberdeen shortly and working to enroll my 5 year old in kindergarten. We are coming from the US and are leaning towards the International School as the assignment is temporary in nature (5 years). I also have a 3.5 yo and looking for a preschool/mothers day out program part time for him.

Any feedback on the international school? We will be located in the cults primary catchment area. Still not sure what that means as far as zoned school assignment.

Also as a side note, my 5 yo does struggle a bit with classroom environment when he is bored or uninterested in the activity. Not sure how public schools handle.

From experience getting kids into nursery (kindergarten\preschool) we simply found our local one and asked within, I was a first time mum of twins, my son has several disabilities, so it wasn't something I was sure on. We found out that nursery was something that could be started at 3yo and through Scotland schooling they get a set amount of hours of preschool paid for. Most have a very set day to get them used to school, same things at the same time each day. Depending on your 5yo birthday they would be ready to enter primary 1, but if they haven't been to a preschool before or you feel they need to have an extra year to get used to a more structured day you may need to get them defered a year, which means they stay on at preschool an extra year. This would be something that they tend not to do unless they have extensive difficulties with schooling and most of the time an educational phyc would assess them before this is considered. It would be best for you to go to your local doctors office and ask for advise via a health visitor or simply go into the nursery\preschool you would like them to attend and ask! Sorry if this isn't much help I am not sure on the international schooling so I am not very sure how moving from the states would translate, I know we have different high school and collage systems but as for this age I just don't know! Hope you manage to get stuff sorted and welcome to Scotland! Hope you find it as nice as the states, our family are planning to move to USA in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to respond and welcoming us to Scotland. I am excited to arrive in the next few weeks!

I will look into some of the local preschools as well. It all depends on our company's willingness to pay the tab :).

Hi there will you be an expat? The International school is fab. I don't have kids there but know many who do and it's got amazing grounds.
Also if you are expats you will be amongst many expats and international folks, whereas a local school will consist of primarily local families who have known each other for years.

Their numbers are also currently low so your child wouldn't be in big classes. Nursery spaces in the UK are not full-time if you do government nursery so that's something to be aware of.
I don't know if your 3.5yrs will have space at the American School either so that's work a look so you have them both together (depending on your company paying the tab like you said)!

Depending on your youngest bday he may be eligible for cults nursery so you need to enquire with them, and nursery places are part time until noon or from noon so that may work. Good luck!