Confused about Scottish school system

[BrummieFrog]

Hi! We're thinking of relocating to Scotland from England. My daughter is currently in Year 6, due to start Secondary school in September in England. She was born in December 2008. Would she be going into P7 or S1 if we lived in Scotland this August? My son's currently in Y2 (born in Jan. 13). Many thanks!

I think your dd would be due to start S1 in August 2020. Your ds could go into P4 or maybe even P3 as children with January/February birthdays could normally defer entry to P1.

I have a jan 13, and they are going into p4 in August.

Dec 2008 birthday would be s1 in August.

Yes, she would be due to go into S1 in August 2020, however there is a bit of flexibility in the system and you may be able to go into P7 if that's what you were hoping for and there was space available. She'd be very much at the younger end of the group even though technically the cut off date is end Feb. A lot of Jan/Feb DC are deferred and some Dec are too.

You legally don't have to attend school until you are 5 so children born anytime after schools go back in August could decide not to start until the following year although that would be unusual for an August to November birthday and you would not necessarily get funded nursery for that year.

As above, your son could equally go into P3 or P4 and would be at the younger end of P4.

S1. My son was born in November 08 and going into s1. You’d maybe be able to get her into p7 if you’d prefer, but she’s already had 7 years primary education I guess so I don’t know x

Yes my DD is a November 08 baby and starting S1 in August. However unlike the English system, December birthdays are at the younger end of the year group.

I'd recommend that you don't put them down a year. In my experience English schools cover more ground in primary, so your children will probably be ahead.

Thank you. It sounds more like the French system (where I'm from). We started off assuming she'd start secondary but then read things saying she could be in p7 so got confused. She's ready for secondary (mentally and academically) so I don't think she'd take staying another year in primary well! It's all a bit sudden (my husband got a job offer in Glasgow) we're in the thinking stage. She was due to gp to a very good, not too big, girl school. Now she's coming to terms with the fact things might be very different. Schools would be a factor in choosing where to live too. Thank you all for your help!

You'd not be putting then down a year. What would be happening is that they'd be going from being at the older end of the class to being amongst the youngest. In your daughter's case this would mean going straight into high school at 11 and a half which would be younger than average here.

Classes of children are academically diverse. The best people to speak to would be the schools themselves who I am sure will have more experience of children transitioning than most of us do.

I think being younger impacts more at the other end of high school once it gets to exams, learning to drive, going to uni, going out etc.as she's be finished 6th year at 17.5.

She's actually technically going ahead a year as Y7 = P7 (last year of primary). We only have 6 years at secondary, so she'd finish school in the May after she turns 17 (in fact, she could go to a Scottish Uni after S5 when she'd only be 16 ).

But if you say that she's emotionally and academically ready for secondary, she's just going from being at the older half of the year to being very much one of the youngest (as many January and February birthdays are deferred).

Where are you thinking of moving to in Glasgow? I'll put in my usual a recommendation for Shawlands Academy. Shawlands itself is a vibrant, multi-cultural area and the housing there (high Shawlands, Newlands, Strathbungo and parts of Pollokshields) is much better value (lovely stone Victorian villas and terraced townhouses) than the West End and Bearsden/Milngavie, Newton Mearns/Giffnock.

That's good to know, thank you. No idea where yet, so recommendations are welcome!

Just be aware that children going to secondary may already be applying for places & you cannot do this until you have moved in to catchment.

Some of the "better" schools eg East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire etc may already be full from current applications & if you move later in the year she might not get in - it's a huge risk in some areas, with locals not getting in to over-subscribed schools.

English primary schools go from Reception to Y6.
Scottish primary schools go from P1 to P7.
That's the same number of years. And yes, almost without exception all English children start school in Reception.

Year 7 is first year of secondary in England so Y6 is more like Primary 7 as they are both last year of primary school

Reception is the equivalent of pre school year of nursery. So, in Scotland, 7 years primary and 6 years high school. England, 6 years primary and 7 years high school (or 5 plus two in college).

The difference in age cut-offs make direct comparisons difficult. The point is that English Reception is technically optional - and is more akin to pre-school/nursery in Scotland. P1 is a cross between Reception and Y1

GCSEs, sat in Y11, are comparable to Nat 5s, sat in the "Y11" of Scottish schooling (P7 + S4). Highers are sat a year later in S5 (rough equivalent of AS Levels which I know are no longer a thing ) and AHs (the equivalent of A Levels and actually worth more, grade for grade, than A Levels in the UCAS tariff schedule ) in S6.

Both systems have 13 years of "formal" education - just England has 6 at primary and 7 at secondary and Scotland has 7 at primary and 6 at secondary.

@MakeMineALargeProsecco Thanks, this is the scary bit. Not much we can do about it though, we'll move to a catchment hoping she gets in the neatest school and if not then will hope a place becomes available later. Am I right in thinking the LEA will find her a school though?

Thanks everyone. I think I get it. I was mainly unsure about the date of birth but it all makes sense now.

Yes, they'll find her a place in another school. For example in East Renfrewshire if all the Clarkston & Mearns schools (which are very good) are full, then it could be Barrhead which is not so good).

To add to @MakeMineALargeProseccos example, if you live in the catchment for Mearns Castle and it’s full so they give your child a place in Barrhead, they will

1. Send your child by taxi

1. Offer her a place in Mearns Castle as soon as one comes up. I think you would be second top priority after looked after children ( not sure about this ).

Such a place is likely to come up in the first few weeks of term, as people take up place for their children, change their minds and don’t tell the school. It always takes them a few weeks to chase these people up and confirm things.

So although it’s disruptive at the time, it doesn’t mean she has to go to a non catchment school for the next 6 years.

@BrummieFrog - when we moved to Scotland, ds3 who was an April baby, was in Year 6, due to go to secondary school in September (we moved at the beginning of April). He went into P6 for the last term of the academic year. He found that P7 repeated quite a lot of what he’d done in Yr6, and found that a bit demotivating, but other than that, it worked well.

I was worried that he would suffer from having only 6 years in senior school, instead of 7, but he didn’t. He got good results, was happy, and got an unconditional offer from his first choice of university.

I’m happy to try to answer any more questions you have - and if you are moving to the Paisley area, I’d be happy to meet up if that would help.

Any one else feels that Scottish private schools teaching too little comparing to London private schools ? For example : French starts from nursery in London while Scotland starts P3/p4 .

Just worry too little too late .

My DC both did French in state schools at P1 level. Private isn't always better.

@GlassOfProsecco

Thank you —I will leave French to his school then . Scotland only starts from p3/4 . And we move to London in the end . So I worry French will be too little too late .

I personally prefer German as we 99% go holiday to Germanic place including Nordic.

So basically I don’t know what to do at this so called linguistically sensitive age time window .