Help!

[wellhelloyou]

Hi

I posted elsewhere however just discovered 'Scotsnet'.

Wondering if you lovely people can help shed a light.

We are from the UK however live abroad (for nearly two years) however we are looking to move back to Scotland later this year.

Our wee one is five this November so it's my understanding they would have started school this August if we were living in Scotland.

We are looking to arrive back to Scotland, most likely, between end August to October this year. However, I'm really confused about schooling.

The main complications are

1. we don't know where we'll be living (as this will be dictated by where we find employment) and then finding a rental that is commutable. Therefore I have no idea even which area we'll be in to look at which schools to approach.

1. as we would be arriving back into the country after most children of this age are already at school and then we will have a short period (hopefully) where we settled and find work/rental will the late arriving into a first school year have a big impact on our child? In the country we're in our wee one wouldn't start school until January 2020. They do attend day care (nursery) four days so are social however they are an only child so there are a few issues we're working through making and keeping friendship groups.

1. what would happen if we find a job and rental but all the schools in the area are full/won't all allow us to make an application for our wee one to attend?

I am just a bit of a worry-pot and wan't to try to make this as smooth as possible for our wee one. We don't have many family who have been through the school system with kids recently and I've tried to read information/contacted Scotland Education Board but I'm none the wiser.

I had considered applying to place our wee one into next year's intake however they are really ready and keen for reading and writing. We don't push it but they love to write letters down, spell words and their counting is great. They're doing great at daycare and we've been told they're kind, clever and confident.

I suppose I'm probably worrying too much but when it comes to your children you just do don't you. When you add a bit international move into the mix it just feels perhaps a lot for a wee four year old. I myself moved primary schools three times before age 7 (due to us moving houses three times) and so it can't have too much impact at that age perhaps but I did have four other siblings who were at the same schools etc. so that definitely helped.

Can anyone help with a bit of advice (perhaps calming words!) and also the actual way you would go about applying? I am worried we will find work, then a rental and then apply to schools but there will be no room. I'm also worried this could be a bigger deal for my wee one than I'm thinking.

Thank you for any help/advice.

School start dates in scotland aren’t set in stone. You can apply to defer your Nov born child. Lots of useful advice on this FB group
www.facebook.com/groups/1680426968699639/?ref=share

thank you @ Kaffiene. We don't really wish to defer - our wee is very keen to write, read and learn numbers etc. We don't push at all but they are very keen for school. Thanks for the FB group I'll take a look. Cheers!

Last time I moved a primary aged child, we just phoned the school, made an appointment to speak to the head, and he started there and then. Schools in Scotland have to provide a place for a children in their catchment, so don't worry about it being full. And welcome back. :)

@HirplesWithHaggis you have MADE MY DAY! Really they 'have' to? What happens if the class is full however? As we won't be arriving until end Aug/Sept at earliest I thought the applications would already be in and if a school class is full we would need to apply to those further afield?

Thank you for the welcome back. I am so excited to be returning.

More info from the Scottish Government here: www.mygov.scot/register-your-child-for-a-school/

So, once you have your jobs and a home, contact the local council and see how they deal with it. But there will be a place, and finding space is an issue for the school, not you.

If the class(es) at your catchment school are full, then the council will give you a place at the next closest school that has vacancies. But I think you would then be (nearly) top of the "waiting" list if someone were to leave (cared for kids and/or specific special needs would be higher).

That happened to a neighbour who lived along the road from us when she moved with older kids and there wasn't space in the catchment school.

They only have to provide a place for catchment children who register for P1 by the relevant deadline. So if you won't be arriving until the school year has started there is a chance, as prettybird has said, that you will be allocated a place nearby but put high up on the waiting list for your catchment school.

There's not much you can do now until you know where you're going to be, as you need proof of residence before you can apply.

My DC's classes seem to have children leaving and joining all the time, and P1 teachers are lovely so I'm sure your wee one will be fine. Good luck with the move!

The legal obligation for LA's in Scotland is to provide you with a school within the Local Authority area, not catchment. However, most will, If your catchment school is full, "redirect" you and put you on a waiting list for a catchment school. Local Authorities have different rules as to priority of those on the waiting list. Some LA's keep reserved places for people moving into the area, but for some schools there are more catchment than places, so no reserve places.

Thank you everyone for the information. I understand now that the Local Authority will have to find a school place, however, that school place could be at any school in the LA. However, that I also can't do anything until we arrive and are settled.

It would be still good to ascertain whether a school has challenges however without being able to see reports on Education Scotland I suppose we'll just need to hope we end up in an area where the school is good. I'm probably overthinking this however with such a big international move and our wee one attending school 'early' (as in Australia they wouldn't attend school until next January) I just want to feel as prepared as possible.

I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond with information.

Thank you!

Do you have any idea where in the country you might end up and maybe people might have some local knowledge? There are inspection reports but a lot might be out of date.

Also to add, it's not always the "best" schools that are full. One year our local with a very mixed demographic which is okay but nothing startling, had a space issue. New pupils were offered a space in any other school of their choice including a reasonably local more affluent school with a good reputation. Locals didn't want the spaces there, they did sort out some temporary accommodation and a more permanent solution but you'd have thought folk would have jumped at the chance.

If you are likely to rent at first until you are settled then I wouldn't overthink school choice - you may end up moving. If it is a larger school there will probably be quite a lot of leavers/joiners and most have a policy of mixing classes around from year to year.
P1-3 under CfE is very fluid and lots of schools, including larger ones, have composite classes to cope with differing maximum class sizes and fluctuating rolls. Starting "late" for Scotland should be fine with plenty scope for catch up. Deferring for Jan/Feb DC is very common but rare for earlier. My November DD could actually have done with starting late due to emotional immaturity, but not deferring as academically ready.

@WaxOnFeckOff no idea at all. We're leaving it really open. I'm a type of role where I could be in almost any organisation so I'm going to be applying scatter gun approach, see where the interviews appear and take it from there. Thanks for the info about school places as well.

@howabout very good points! You're right and I do think I am overthinking it. Of course there will be families coming and going. I think I'm a little stressed with the whole big international move, jobs. not knowing where we're going to live and am focussing on things that probably don't need that much attention. I suppose I'm just wanting to try to gain as much knowledge as possible. Thanks for your input and valuable advice. (oh, what is CfE?)

Many on here have made me feel so much better about things. Thank you everyone!

CfE=curriculum for excellence
Education in the round rather than discrete test driven information is how I would characterise it (they still end up reading, writing and counting just the same though). Lots of info online.

Thanks @howabout learnt a lot this week. When you know what to search for it seems a lot easier!