New school half way through Year 6!!! Aaarrrgh!

[vixta99]

Hi there. I am moving to Surrey from NZ, possibly Woking or Guildford in January. My son will be 11 and in Year 6. I struggle that he will start a new school and need to meet new friends to having to do it all again 8 months later.

Are there schools that have primary/secondary combined and am I going to have problems getting him into a high school. It is so different here in NZ and Australia. I am also a teacher so will be working, but really nervous for my kids starting a new school in a new country. (My daughter is 8 also).

Any advice appreciated.

I think generally the only schools with Yr6 and yr7 will be private schools although there are some exceptions to that but even so normally Yr6 will be relatively small entry numbers (2-4 forms of 30 children in each class) and Yr7 will be 7 or 8 forms of 30 (number of classes can vary greatly though). Some parts of the country do still change school at age 12 rather than age 11 but I think they are rapidly disappearing, certainly the ones I know of have changed that this year.

Will you be working straight away? Just wondering if Home Ed would be possible until the summer which would then only mean settling in school once. Of course that would then mean he wouldn't have a chance to get used to the way things are done in our schools before starting Yr7 but could be less stressful for him.

With regards to school places it could be a problem but equally it could be very easy, I don't think it can be predicted. It is a particular problem with KS1 classes because numbers are capped at 30 but equally I suppose people will try to avoid moving in Yr6 so there may not be places coming up.

I would contact a few schools in the area you will be teaching in and try to get some idea. If you could afford private for a few months then that would make it easier to get a space I am sure. Applications for Yr7 are done in the autumn and places assigned in January I think so you will need to find out Surrey's late application process for his secondary school place as well as how to get both children a place midyear.

It will be different for them but remember children are usually pretty adaptable, they will be able to email and skype friends back in NZ which is much easier than in the olden days when we were kids and within a couple of months they will probably be so busy they will be used to it pretty quickly. If either of them have any hobbies it might be worth trying to line up starting those as soon as you get over here so they can make some friends and be kept occupied in the early days, even if they decide to stop them. If no particular hobbies then perhaps try Brownies for your daughter (I have no idea what 11 year old boys do), sometimes packs are very close to schools and she might be able to meet some classmates socially.

Yes there are secondary schools that have feeder primary schools. They aren't always a guarantee of a place but most children will go.

It also depends on where you will be living. Some counties still have middle schools aka intermediate. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own systems.

You can start by entering potential locations here local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/index.jsp?LGSL=14&LGIL=0

The deadline to apply is the October the year before they start. So if your son is due to start secondary school in Sept 15 you should apply Oct 14.

If you miss that deadline you will be a late application. The local authority must offer you a place and should do so at the nearest school that has a vacancy. This is probably not a school you would want, hence why it has vacancies. The best course is to accept the place, and then look around for secondaries that have vacancies that might suit you better eg easier transport route. Then go in the waiting lists for all the schools you do want. Your position on the waiting list will depend on the school's admissions criteria and not when you put your name down.

I would suggest posting in Secondary School forum they will have more knowledge of the system.

If you moved to Windsor you could put both children into a Middle school together. DS would have 3 years before transferring to Senior in Y9.

When does your daughter turn 9? If she is already 8 and turns 9 after August this year she will go in to year 4. You may be restricted to schools that have spaces in both year 4 and year 6. You can find that out by contacting the local authority and you can try emailing the schools directly before you arrive. They probably won't know until Sept though.

I think it will be fine as most kids make a whole set of new friends at High school even if half their primary move with them !! I would be more concerned about finding 1 school with 2 places if I was you right now as spaces are limited

Thank you very much for your replies. We were looking around the greater London area, possibly Surrey. My daughter is actually 7 at the moment and 8 in September if that helps. :)

My son is very much into sport and rugby and my daughter is more of a production kind of girl, so I am unsure if schools have focus areas with strengths also? Schools in NZ tend to be renowned as being great at sport, or music etc...

They tend to specialise more at secondary - there you might find a school which specialises more in sports - although admission is still generally due to proximity to the school (in state sector) unless in an 11+ area or particularly gifted - there may be a few spaces set aside for sports/drama etc for children further away.

If you can bring the move forward to October then you will have more choice of secondary school.

They may need to go to different primary schools - but around here yr 6 are expected to walk to school independently so it might not be a big problem if they are in different schools.