We are moving back to London from USA, what do I do about schools??

[LittleMissTickles]

I am so excited to be coming back, have been wanting to all year, BUT DD1 (was 5 in August) has only just started 'big school' here and will now have to go into YR1.

She is on waiting lists for primary schools around our house in SW20, but I have two big concerns. Firstly, apparently we cannot properly apply until December for a January spot, and of course I am worried that she won't get a place anywhere near our house....

Secondly, it seems from what I have been reading on MN that the expectations are much higher academically in YR1 than in Kindergarten here - eg subtraction sums, counting in 2's, 5's and 10's etc. She is so shy, and the adjustment will be a huge challenge already, now I am very concerned that she is going to feel terrible for being behind at school too. Any suggestions on what I can do to help with getting school place, and with preparation for going into YR1?

Thank you!!

The terminology here is

1. Nursery

1. Reception Class

1. Year 1

Reception is age 4 to 5.

Sounds as if your child could be a case for reception....

Hey Tickles, your daughter age wise would go into Yr 1 - but you can ask for her to go into reception (if their are places). We have a few DC in my DS class who were 5 in the August and have stayed in recepetion for another year (for whatever reasons). Don't worry - talk to the school.

xx

Don't worry about the academic standard. She will soon catch up on anything that she has missed.

She is the age for Y1. Does the school have a place for her now? Are they being strict about the 2 week window between offering the place and your taking it up?

we moved back to London from US when ds1 was just about to go into reception - initially there was no place for him at any of the local schools, but this was because we moved back in August - initially he went to the Steiner kindergaten for a few months which was a disastrous mistake but by the time we pulled him out, there were plenty of places in the local primaries - there's a lot of movement in London schools so even if there's no spaces at the start of the school year, things often ease off pretty quickly - dd's highly oversubscribed reception class last year had lost 1 child by the end of the first term and was 4 children down by the end of the reception year

I wouldn't worry too much about the jump in academic standards either - the latest thinking from the dept of education (or whatever its current incarnation is called) is that the transition from reception to Y1 should be much smoother and the Y1 curriculum has (or should have) been changed to become much more play-based

as far as holding her back a year, you might well not have the option, certainly our local authority (Wandsworth) will not educated children out of their year group and even if you did manage to get her into reception now she'd have to jump straight from y5 into y7 for secondary which would be much much harder

I agree with squeaky and mimsmum- the academic thing isn't an issue unless it makes her feel it is, and a good school won't. They'll help her to catch up quickly. If it's quite a large school there'll be classroom assistants whose job is to help children like her.
Like mimsmum, our children moved from Steiner to primary school, (at different ages),- the seven year old couldn't read and could barely write when she arrived; within a few weeks she was reading and very well.
A year and a hlf down the line and she's above average in her peer group.
I'm sure she'll be fine.

Thank you so much for the responses. My computer has been playing up, and as I had no immediate responses I assumed no one would post on it - so my day is made!

The local council will not allow us to put her in Reception, so it will be Y1. I have no idea what to do with her if she does not get allocated a place in a local school, but I realise that I should probably just stop thinking about it and think more about going to see The Lion King with them and riding on big red busses! Thanks again!

Thanks Pamina, I am going to CAT you, just need to ask DH how to do that
I am encouraged that you say they are not all doing advanced maths already. She reads well, but her maths is not particularly good yet.

Pamina, I just CAT(ed?) you.