Effects on the child of changing primary schools

[eagleyedc]

Hello everyone,

Can anyone offer me any advice or share their experience of moving a child from one primary school to another. Basically I would like to be settled in a job before my son goes to school but that may not be possible. So I may need to move to another area and therefore he will have to change school. So I need to know how moving from one primary school to another effects a child. Is there a certain age when it's worse than others etc...

My children have all moved primary once or twice.

It's always been fine.

In many aspects of schooling, parents worry and fret about it much more than children do. I worked in primary schools twenty-five years, and children seldom had problems moving to new schools; teachers handle these sort of things much more sensitively these days.

Moved dd at the beginning of year 5 she is year 6 now. No problems what so ever.

My DS moved schools between Y2 (end of KS1) and Y3 (beginning of KS3). He's been absolutely fine.

I meant KS1 and KS2, of course, sorry!

Children move schools all the time, sometimes at the drop of a hat! The VAST majority manage fine.

The research suggest that mobility has a significant impact on pupils. The national attainment data for schools RAISEonline recognises the vulnerability of pupils who change schools in y5 and Y6 when looking at KS2 performance

www.suffolk.gov.uk/assets/suffolk.gov.uk/Education%20and%20Careers/Children%20and%20Young%20People/Schools%20&%20Support%20in%20Education/School%20Organisation%20Review%20(SOR)/Background%20and%20Archive/PDP%20Annex%203%20Annex21.pdf

I changed school in reception, again In year 2 and again in year 9 (2 times) never had any problems, think it's a little easier if younger as they tend to make friends quicker

Mine moved between reception and year 1 and she's very happy. Wasn't a problem at all.

Agree that for the vast majority its fine. Depends to a point on the child and how its handled by parents and the school. Would agree (anecdotally) that the younger they are, the easier it is.

Just go round the new school when its time. Take advantage of settling in time. And get to know parents at pick up so you can get new friends back to play (don't forget you will be a stranger asking if little johnny can come back and play with little Freddie). Just bear in mind that the first friends might not be keepers.

Thanks for all your replies ladies, that is very helpful.

I moved schools a couple of times as a child, and in some ways it was fine, I made new friends, and did well at school. I must admit though I really hated having to start again each time, and it took a few months to feel settled. I don't think it is the end of the world if a child has to move schools, but it is not something I would choose for DS unless there was no way to avoid it.

At my DC school there is quite a lot of churn. One of my DC has had 4new starters since Sept - all the new kids are happy and settled

It makes a difference when you change schools. Research shows that it is much better to move schools at the end of the school year so that the child begins the new school at the beginning of the new school year. Mid-year moves do have a significant educational impact, setting back progress by up to six months, whereas the impact was minimised by moves at the beginning of the school year.

Double-posting to add: there is a difference between social and educational impact. Children are often happy and settled fairly quickly (since schools put enormous effort into helping a new child to settle in), but the data shows that there are significant impacts on academic progress. Children may catch up over time, but this depends on many factors - timing of the move, family circumstances, amount of disruption in class caused by numerous new children arriving (in my children's school one child enters or leaves the school every week, many of them with no English at all). It's more complicated than 'I moved school and I was fine'.