Moving from Germany to London

[Ankon]

We are considering a move from Germany to London before the school year starts in September. My children will be 6 and 4. In Germany kids don't go to school until they are 6. They go to Kindergarten where the emphasis is mainly on play, socialisation and learning aout the world.
I am worried that my 6 year old will be far behind his classmates ( I guess he will go into 2nd grade?). His math skills are fine but literacy skills are not up to KS1 standard.

Has anyone had any experience with this kind of move? Are schools generally supportive? Would he have to stay back?
By the way, language is no issue- they both are native English speakers.
Thanks for any help.

First we don't call them grade, that's American. It sounds as if your eldest would go into year 2, and the youngest into reception.
In England children are not held back (except fo severe special needs, maybe). Schools are pretty used to children coming in from other school systems, often with very little English, so if they can speak English I don't think there will be much of a problem.
I hope you find it an easy move, and manage to get you kids into a school you like, which is close to you and together.

if you already know where you are moving to, you could already call the school department of your council.
when does your 4y old turn five? in england the magic day is 31 august, if he/she turns 5 by then he/she will start reception (vorschulklasse) in september.

Lots of English kids are not up to much at age 6 in terms of formal English. I an sure your DS will catch up fairly quickly. The school should give him any extra help he needs to catch up. And it is very unlikely he would be kept down a year - that is very rare in the UK.

Much of the first year or two or UK primary is supposed to be play based so it shouldn't really be too much different from what he has done already.

You say that you are moving to London but not where.

Two urls you should look at

www.dslondon.org.uk/

www.germansaturdayschools.co.uk/

Thanks everyone for your help. I feel a lot better now as I had previously spoken to some people and they were sure my son would have to stay down a year. We have no idea where we are moving to if we go but we are hoping to be within a 20-30 minute commute to the city for my husbands work. The option has just come up and we are considering all the pros and cons.
My daughter will turn 4 on August 25th so I guess that means she doesn't have to go to reception?? Or can she if we want her to?
Thanks also for the links nlondondad!

that birthday means she would start reception in september (and woukd be one of the younger ones in class. but she will be fine, reception is a bit like kindergarten in germany with lots of play.

you could keep her at home until later, but she would still be moved into the class that started reception in sept.

HI,

I am German and my DD started school shortly after her 4th birthday (July baby). She was born here though.

If you pn me, I am happy to help if you have any questions.

I would just like to point out there is a bit of a shortage of good primary places in London and you will have missed the application date for your youngest this year entry.
Don't worry, you will get a school place but you may find the journey a bit fraught. There has been a birth rate boom the last two school year entries.
Come back to mumsnet for advice when the time is right.
This lot are excellent advisors.

You may find that if you move to an area where the schools are oversubscribed that you might not be able to get both your dc into the same school.

If your youngest turns 4yo on August 25th, then she will be expected to go to Reception in September. If your older child will be 6yo before August 31st, then they will join Year 2 in September. If they will turn 7yo before August 31st, then they will join Year 3 in September. It all depends on birth date.

And there is no guarantee of being able to get them into the same school, either - especially as both might well be infant classes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2), and therefore covered by the Infant Class Size (ICS) regulations that limit the class to 30 pupils maximum.

Where is your DH going to be working in London? You might want to live outside London - there are some nice towns with good primary schools within easy commutable distance of London where there will be fewer non-native English speaking children.

We moved to Hertfordshire from Switzerland when my dc's were 5 and 3. We had missed all application deadlines, so I contacted all the primary schools close to where we were moving until I found one that would admit dc1 into Y1 and dc2 into their nursery. My dc's are bilingual German/English, so the language was not an issue. Dc1 had only been to Kindergarten, though. I started teaching him phonics with the jolly phonics teacher pack for approx. 2 months before we moved (not very successful...). Our school was very helpful and within 1.5 years dc1 worked his way up from bottom of the class to the very top. Dc2 never had any issues.
Feel free to PM me with any questions. I vividly remember sitting in Switzerland with a map of London thinking "where shall we move?!"...