moving a 12 year old into an english school from a scottish school

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We may be moving from Scotland to England, possibly the chester area. I have an 11 year old son (who will be 12 in May) who is currently in P7 and about to start Scottish Secondary school in August. From what I understand of the English school system there is no 7th year in primary as the kids have already moved to secondary by then, is this right and does anyone know where in the school system my son is likely to go - will he go in to year 8 after the summer?

Hi
English schools do have 7 primary years, they just call P1 reception, and then start counting so their year 1 is our P2 and year 6 is P7 ! However the year cut off dates are different, August rather than February, so depending when your daughter is born she maybe a year behind. I don't know if she would stay a year behind when she moves or move up a year or if you'd get a choice, but no doubt someone with more info will be along soon.
Good luck with the move !

Thanks, this is really very confusing stuff, lol. He'll be 12 this month (he is one of the oldest in his year). That's what I'm worried about as it seems that if he were to start an english school later this year he'll skip the first year of secondary and go into year 8?? - or I'm I just not getting this. :/

No that's right ,children turning 12 now are currently on year 7 which is first year secondary

There is no problem with missing year 7. The real issues with English schools start if you start later than the start of year 9, and get very serious after the start of year 10. Going into year 8 should be fine. There will be adjustments to make, but lots of kids move fom all kinds of countries into English schools.

Right got this now, thanks. I think I'm more worried about his transition than he is mummytime but your post has reassured me. He's been top of his class all through school so he probably will be able to adjust quite quickly I just don't want to mess up his great progress so far. My DD has just turned 6 and is in P1 just now so I think it'll be just a straight transfer to Y1 (if we were going right now) for her and she has plenty of time to adjust a make new friends before she has to deal with 'big school' I'm more worried about DS.

Yes your daughter would be in year 1 in an English school - but remember we have Reception year which is the same as your P1, so she will also be a year ahead in England. Not that I would imagine it to be too much of a problem at that age!