Returning back to the UK from Sweden. School start age difference...

[spindi]

Hi,

We may be returning from Sweden to the UK and have a bit of an issue when education is concerned. Our son is 6 and this will mean that he shall only be starting school in Sweden this year. So if we move back he will be two years behind his peers. Has anyone else on the forum here been in a similar situation or would they have any advice on the best thing to do when we come back?

We are fortunate enough to be able to send him to a private school and the only other option I can think of (that I'm not too keen on - just because I would not be familiar with their curriculum) would be sending him to an IB school.

Thanks!

He might not be really 2 years behind - there's more to early years curriculums than just when the 'at school' label comes in. Has he been in any form of kindergarten or pre-school?

He has been to what they call dagis in Sweden or 'daycare'. They do some activities together indoors but the main goals are being outside (even at -15C in the winter!) and making friends with peers. So it's more of a health and social education. He's a fluent Swedish speaker now if that counts for anything :)

perhaps send him to the Norwegian school in Wimbledon? or there might be a Swedish equivalent?

Have you contacted the Swedish church in London or the embassy? They might be able to advise you.

Well, one of the reasons for returning would be that we want to get away from the Swedish way of teaching to something that is more familiar to my partner and I. They tend to teach everyone to the lowest average level rather than let an individual excel in something that they are good at / interested in.

There's even a word for it...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom

Then again the Swedish school...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swedish_School_in_London

...is rated on Ofsted as outstanding...

www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/102948

I wouldn't worry too much about the level when returning. I'm in norway so same starting age as sweden i think, and dd1 has no problems with online maths stuff (conquermaths, bbc bitesize) for her uk year. Her writing isn't as good but it is certainly well within the realms of what you'd find in an average class according to my teacher mother.

One advantage of startibg later is you can go faster, as 6 year olds are more mature than 4 year olds

Some Swedish friends moved to Englad with their three children. When they arrived the children started school in the September, youngest went into reception, next Y4 and eldest into Y5. The children had no English when they arrived and the elder 2 had been on the Swedish state system, the youngest in child care.
The children all did really well here, switching systems didn't seem to hinder them at all and they became almost fluent English speakers withing 2 terms.
They returned to Sweden a couple of years later. Due to the different system and school start age they all appeared to 're do' a year, youngest had just done Y1 but went into Swedish first year and so on, the eldest had an 'extra' year of primary type education back in Sweden as she would have moved up to secondary here.
The children had no bother switching back, for the youngest it was the first experience of school in Sweden, wasn't a problem her going 'back' to being first year if school as although she had learned to read and write English she hadn't done much on these skills in Swedish.
I know it is the other way round for you but I really wouldn't worry, he would really be 2 years behind, the part time year before full time school in Sweden is very reception like from what my friends said just a little less reading and writing but your son will pick it all up really quickly, teachers are used to this type of things. By the end of his first term I would put money on it being hard to be able to pick out much difference with his Englush peers.

Wouldn't be two years behind even!

I guess I should stop worrying about it and just go for it. Thank you for your replies they have been really helpful :)

We moved from between different countries and I have known lots of other expat families who have done the same. I think that as long as there are no particular educational issues then it really doesn't matter much at such a young age.

There may be a few hiccups but I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

Hi there. I know this is an old thread but I wanted to ask how it went when you moved? As I am in exactly the same situation with moving from sweden to uk with kids age 6. @spindi