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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

changing schools during primary years

13 replies

mckenzie · 23/09/2006 22:01

DH and I have just been talking about a potential house move that would probably involve DS moving schools (not now but when he is about 7).

Has anyone changed their child's school around this age and had any issues or problems that we should be aware off please? I'm sure that to a certain extent it just depends on the child but we would like to hear from others too please.

TIA

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elastamum · 23/09/2006 22:12

will watch with interest as we are about to do the same with DS1 (7) and DS2 (5). They seem OK about it all but I worry that they are leaving some very good friends behind at their lovely school

Christie · 23/09/2006 23:26

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Original poster

mckenzie · 24/09/2006 10:16

were your children quite confident and outgoing Christie? DS is struggling with moving just from reception to Year 1 so we're a tad nervous about an even bigger school move.

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admylin · 24/09/2006 10:34

My ds isn't very outgoing and when we moved he had a hard time of it especially since he had to leave his best friend and the whole class liked ds, he was "the fave boy" for the girls and it was heartbreaking to see him have to leave that class and teacher. However, that is what we are here for as parents and I have done my best to make his new life as nice as possible and after 1 year of his new school (just gone into class 3) he is slowly starting to make friends again , but I must add it was his choice not to make friends till now because the new class and his new teacher all like ds alot.
Ds and dd suffered alot with this move because they were happy where we lived and they still hate Berlin - their one wish is to move back to UK or back to where we were before! Sorry not much help I know but as for the school question it has all worked out well in the end but it was hard going.

GreenLumpyTonsils · 24/09/2006 10:39

I went to about 7 different primary schools, all very different, and tbh I did resent and hate being shunted from pillar to post and not having any friends just because my mother wanted to endge her way up the property ladder. I think that's a bit different from moving once during the primary years though. On the bright side, I have good A-levels and a degree (which I am not Wasting By Being A Housewife ) so it can't have disrupted my education too much. (it's greensleeves btw)

pointydog · 24/09/2006 11:18

We moved when dd1 was 6 and she settled very easily at her new school. I moved once when I was 8 and then when I was 9. Yes, there are stresses involved for a few weeks but kids adapt very easily in the primary years. And I wasn't a confident, outgoing kid.

I also moved when I was a teenager in high school and that was a nightmare so do it now and get it over with! Much easier.

I sympathise, greensleeves. Moving just a few times as a child has made me not want to move my own kids about. Mainly because I now don't have a sense of belonging to a place, a home patch. I want my kids to have that.

LIZS · 24/09/2006 11:45

ds moved at 7 from Switzerland , started here at the beginning of year 3. He took about half a term to settle in and find friends but a year on is very happy with few regrets. He isn't the most outgoing of children and hadn't experienced the same degree of academic education or discipline as those he joined (who had mostly come from nursery up together) so we were concerned but he surprised us all !

Lilymaid · 24/09/2006 12:17

We moved twice - when DS1 was end Reception and then when he was end Year 5. It was more difficult for him the second time round (we discovered that he'd pulled out quite a lot of his hair through anxiety before he left his old school) then found that the new school wasn't nearly as good and although he made some friends, he was looked on as an outsider by the other village children. DS2 moved to an unwelcoming Infants School at end of Year 1 and then to a different school (from the one that DS1 had found unfriendly) for Year 3 and was made to feel very welcome.
It is an anxious time for your child but if the new school is welcoming he will probably settle down quite quickly.
We did have a problem about setting etc - despite the old school sending work/reports on, DS1 was put in the middle set so that the new school could assess him though he was moved fairly quickly. DS2 was made to start at the bottom of the reading books (despite being at the end of Year 1) so went from reading ORT Level 5 back to the beginners books with no words!

binker · 24/09/2006 12:24

We moved house and therefore schools when ds was 7,coming up to 8 and it really wasn't a problem for him - he semed to settled fairly quickly and is very happy. I probably found it harder as I was quite involved in his last school and I certainly missed my friends and people I chatted to there..I have now got myself involved with this school and go in to help with reading,school trips etc,so feel more of a part of it. I will say that as ds is a quiet boy and quite a self ontained child, he hasn't made the circle of friends that he had in the previous school - he knew those children from reception and had built up relationships and it was a bit more tricky to step into yr 3 towards the end of the year.

rustybear · 24/09/2006 12:31

Lots of children move schools at 7, betweeen infant & junior schools. I work at a junior school & we always have five or six (out of 55-60)who come from schools other than our linked infant school.There rarely seems to be a problem with them fitting in with the other children
As far as the curriculum goes this would probably also be the best time, as you may find that junior or primary schools in different parts of the country do different topics at different times - it doesn't matter so much if you do Romans twice & miss out Tudors (as my SIL's children did), but it could cause problems if the science topics were done in a different order.

LIZS · 24/09/2006 12:35

To echo rustybear , we timed our move so that ds could join at beginning of Year 3 , when other children were making moves locally so he wasn't the only new one to join his class. dd started Reception at the same time.

Christie · 24/09/2006 13:41

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Original poster

mckenzie · 24/09/2006 16:50

thank you all so much for these responses. I really appreciate it. Interestingly you mention that it would perhaps be best to move at the beginning of year 3 as that would quite fit with our timetable and also give DS a year at the new school before DD would join him as a reception pupil.

Much food for thought and once again, thank you all for taking the time to post.

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