Moving to England from Scotland.... Twice

[Astley]

A friend of mine started off with her son in Scotland, he was at nursery. They then moved to England and he was too old for reception so went into year 1, thus missing reception completely.

After year one they moved back to Scotland and he went into P2. After he finishes P2 they are moving again to England and he will be going into year 3.

I've said to her that surely that means he will have missed all of reception and all of year.2 and he is currently in P2 which is the same as English Year 1 right?

She seems totally unconcerned by this, but if it were my DS I'd be pretty concerned that missing 2 wholes years of a primary education and going into a class where he will be one of the younger ones but with 2 years less education than them will be pretty horrific for him.

With a May birthday is there any chance he could go down a year in England and go into year 2?

What do you think she should do about it?

I'm in a similar situation and I flummoxed.

ds effectively missed out one of the F/KS1 years and it was a problem short term but sorted it self out. There is such a range of abilities in primary classrooms that I doubt he'd be at any real disadvantage and no, LAs probably wouldn't consider holding him back.

P1 isn't really equivalent to reception ime. Remember that kids go to nursery from 3 - 5.5 sometimes in Scotland . Afaik some of that is like reception?

The youngest child to start school here is 4y6m, the oldest 5y9m - all of whom would be in p1.

Ds is in p2 now and if he was in England he'd be in year one. However, me nephew who will be in 7 in April is in class 2 in England but would still only be in p2 in Scotland.

I don't know if that makes any sense?

Ultimately though he's not your child.

Personally I would have asked for him to be assessed to go into P3 when he came back here as by coming back to P2 after doing year 1 he has effectively done the same year twice. And he only misses the a scottish cut off by 5 weeks.

I just think the current situation is getting ridiculous. I don't really understand the need to constantly move though as they were given the chance to stay in Scotland for 2 years but said no.

And yes I know it's judgey!

I just feel a bit for the child.

In what way is going into P2 doing the same year twice - they don't do the same work?

I think it is important children are with their peer group/age group, but both schools my dc have gone to have different groups for reading/ maths ability so as long as they continue to go up levels it doesn't really matter which year they are in?

Talking to the school and making sure information is shared about what stage a child is ay is important.

Couldn't face moving like that myself, but think it is their choice.

But he won't have missed two whole years of education, he will have been in school from he time he was 5 onwards, which any child in either English or Scottish systems could have done.

P2 is not identical to Year 1, and any half-decent teacher will have assessed a child when he joined the class and made sure he was in the right groups for his current levels. Each year he will have learned new things, and finished with a year's worth of skills and knowledge more than he had at the start.

The curriculums in both countries are flexible enough to deal with this, as are teachers, and indeed children. You are fretting (and judging) where there is no need.

But surely a child in year 3 will have done 3 full years of school when they start year 3 and he will only have done 2 full years and they will have been the Scottish and English equivalent of almost the exact same school year, P2 and year 1.

But yes, not my place to judge

I don't think there is much to choose between Reception and what he would have been doing in nursery in Scotland in his preschool year, both are a preparation for starting school.

And there really isn't the same thing as "the exact same school year" - even if a child was put back a year and did Y1 a second time, they would be learning things for a year that they didn't already know. School doesn't open the top of their head and pour in a set of "this is Yr 1 information" and then stop - education is about far more than acquiring a predetermined set of information, so he would be learning and developing even f there was an overlap in what they cover.

Even if the curriculum was identical (which it isn't) he'd join P2 and be in higher groups than he would have been if he had started P2 a year earlier, so he would still be covering new material and being pushed to work to his abilities.

P2 and year 1 are in no way exact equivalents, what a strange thing to think.

As has been pointed out above, he's done pre-school which is similar to reception too.

I'm not going to say that moving a child several times at this age is a non-issue, but these things have a way of sorting themselves out and you'd have to hope that the school he's going to will ensure he gets what he needs.

Personally I think it's a shame he's leaving the Scottish curriculum for the English one again but it's not my business and honestly, it doesn't sound as if it's really yours either.