Is the early change of academic year (secondary) a Scotland-wide thing?

[JemimaPuddleCat]

Or is it localised?
So sick of everything on MN being England-centric. Oh our poor babies doing GCSEs and A-Levels, we must get them back before September!

Our secondary academic year changes tomorrow. I have a child with ASN moving in to 4th year. New subject choices, new stage of the curriculum, no transition. Because of not setting out a new timetable as such, we have no idea if the subjects she is starting will even be possible going forward, or if they might clash with others, etc.

I think it’s Scotland-wide.

Ours changes the week the exams start, so effectively as soon as the senior school go off on exam leave, the lower years move up. I think all schools move up before summer hols, the last ones go up when exams finish at end of May. Mine are no longer in school but I've seen lots about Google classroom and other subject specific stuff for dc in their new Nat 5, higher etc classes.

I have no idea how comprehensive it is but I believe they are trying to get the dc started on the relevant subjects just as they would be.

I presume you've checked school twitter etc? I think updating the website might be harder remotely so might not be up to date.

A friend whose dd is a teacher was saying that her dd had said that even if they could get back for a few weeks before the summer holidays start, it would be helpful as it gives them a chance to start the "new" year (and iron out any timetabling issues) and more importantly to get to know the new cohort and their capabilities. I hadn't thought of the latter.

Our school (East Dunbartonshire) usually moves them up after the exams finish, usually first week in June. Not a new thing. I am in my late 40s and my old school in Edinburgh did the same. I remember the shock of moving from S4 to S5 in June and it being full-on work to get the Higher course completed in time.

Our authority moves up when the exams are finished, usually the start of June is the start of the year. P7 visits and activity days at the secondaries in June too.

Ours is changing next week I think

I am starting to teach to 20/21 timetable tomorrow, well actually keeping the same classes but moving them forward a year . DD4 has to "register" at 10.00 and she is new S6 as of then.

It will be what it it will be. I have no idea who is healthy and in a place where they can access learning, no idea whose parents might be sick, looking after siblings, sharing a laptop...

Equally pupils have no idea about our circumstances. We are being slated for not doing Zoom lessons or videoing ourselves. Safeguarding nightmare and teaching unions advising against this but some parents are slaughtering us on social media.

I can't even delete my accounts as so much is being distributed via social media

My daughter due to move to S5 on 23rd May
with the timetable with her confirmed choices issued the week before

The school are working on getting the timetable out earlier as no work has been sent for her to do during lockdown until the timetable / classes finalised

Ours usually move to new subjects/timetable just after easter in s1 to s4. Ds would have moved to s5 after exams this year, they are working on moving s4->s5 sooner.

P7 visits and activity days at the secondaries in June too.

Yeah my ds is due to start secondary this year, no idea how it will all work out without the June induction . Hoping they'll get some sort of induction at some point.

DD1 was due to move to S5 on the 11th May well the senior school would have been off on exam study leave so the others move up then. As she’s not sitting National 5s now they’ve started higher work already.

DD2 is at a different high school and they are one of the only ones who don’t move up before the holidays so she’ll stay in S3 but she’s already doing N5 work.

DD3 is due to start high school in August she’s missing out on so much and DS is delighted he’s not at school but not delighted he has a mum for a teacher and is getting 1:1 lessons.

Yep Bluegheko also have a son going from P7 to high - and not the one all his primary friends are going to

I have spoken to the deputy heads from his new school and they were hoping for some kind of return in June to allow the inductions to take place

Even if it’s only a day visit would be better than nothing fingers crossed

We were due to turn the timetable first week of June. Senior classes started their new exam subjects last week instead. We decided to try and at least get a head start with N4/N5, Higher and Advanced Higher as who knows what's going to happen this year. Seems to be going ok so far (teacher here, not a parent).

Yes DD will be moving into S3 tomorrow instead of end of may. she has already received invites to new S3 Google classrooms.

We are in Stirling

Hi everyone.
'Good' (you know what I mean) to see others in the same situation. Hadn't really seen it mentioned so wasn't sure how widespread a thing it was.

I also have a p7 (with ASN) moving to her non-feeder school (with no friends) with no transition. Life just likes to keep us on our toes, eh?

It's a worry OP but hopefully it'll work out

I don't work with BGE but I imagine they'll put something in place.

Maybe induction will be part of a phased return, who knows.

Ours usually change at the start of June but there's been some vague chat from the school about it changing this coming week so we'll see what happens. School were talking about Monday being an in-service day, I thought it was a bank holiday, maybe they are planning tomorrow? I don't know.

I thought ours was usually late May - early June so this seems a bit earlier than usual. They are calling it an "Interim Progression in Learning Arrangement" so maybe it's a bit of a transitional period. I know they've put everyone together on Teams whether they are planning Nat 4 or 5, so who knows.

Our primary school have said Friday is a bank holiday so will have no work uploaded for Friday as they'll be spending time with their families too. I'll need to check the holiday calendar to see if that applies to High School too, there's nothing on their social media yet.

Just checked the council dates and yeah we are scheduled for 6th May, and Mon/Tue 25/26th May off, with term ending on 26th June.

From what I can see, the SQA timetable should have ended 4th of June. I think this is when our academic year would normally have changed. The years would have "moving up day" and the P7s would have come in for their 2 day visit.

DD moved from S3 to S4 on 27th April. We're in Highland.

Ooh even earlier then Dame How has she found it? Are any of her subject choices new to her this year?

the SQA timetable should have ended 4th of June

Yep that's when we usually change but fine with me if it's earlier.
My oldest will be starting nat5 classes so that's good, we can stop paying home-school lip service to subjects he's not going to be taking next year and that will make life easier

Our new timetable starts tomorrow (Aberdeenshire). DD is going into S5 and has had no work to do so far as she should have been studying.

She has been doing a bit of work on Bitesize but it will be good for her to have a bit of structure.

we can stop paying home-school lip service to subjects he's not going to be taking next year and that will make life easier

I guess we are fortunate to have been in the position where DC was on a reduced timetable since just after Xmas, so has only been working on the subjects she was doing in S4 at N4/5 level anyway. Though some of her classes have been giving her Nat 5 work recently when the plan is for her to only sit at Nat 4 level in S4. It'll be interesting to see how things change for her.