Secondary Confusion!

[KindnessCrusader]

Hello Scotsnet! You may remember my thread about relocating to Scotland. Well we took the plunge and have bought a house in lovely Melrose! We wont be able to move into it until next summer but we're all so excited!
My Daughter was born March 2008 so when we get up there she would be going into year 10 in England. What year will she be in Scotland? Will she be straight into exam year?

Isn't March 2008 year 9 in England, I've had a few wines but my son is April 2007 and he is going into year 10 so surely she is going into year 9 in English system?

Yes, she will go into year 9 this September, but we aren't going until next September. Sorry, it's confusing!

So she will complete year 9 in England.

Ah sorry I see, no idea about Scottish system but at least I've bumped your thread with my confusion

Hi,

My son was born July 2008 and he is in S1, moving up to S2 in the next few weeks. (His secondary school move up a year before the summer holidays) Your daughter will probably going into S2 after the summer holidays too.

Well I'm glad to have confusion company!

@Teawithnosugar that's super helpful thank you! So I think when we get up there she'll be going into S3. What year do they do their exams?

She would be going in to S3 next summer going by her date of birth, exams/nat 5 usually start in s4

Our intake is usually March - February born so she would be S3 (if my brain is working properly!).

Exams start in S4 :)

Ah sorry I didn't read properly 🙈🙈
She will be going into S3 in August 2022!

@kfh thank you so much! I was beginning to panic that it could be a disastrous move for her (but great for the other three children!) but it sounds like a good year to do it!

Your daughter will start S3 in August 2022, she should have chosen her subjects by then so might be worth speaking to the school in april/may next year so she can be timetabled in.

Exams are in S4 but the exam curriculum starts at beginning of S3

So glad I came here now, feeling much better thank you all! We visited this week and Melrose already feels like home for all of us. It's going to feel like a very long year until we can move 'properly'!

If it’s logistically possible it might be worth looking at starting in June 2022- in most schools they ‘go up’ to the next year 1 month before the summer holidays and start the curriculum then- mine is about to go into S3 and they start next week. Would also give her a chance to make some friends before the summer holidays.
Each region is different about number of subjects - locally (not borders) they do about 10 subjects in s3 but drop to only 6 for the actual nat5s.

My daughter did similar OP, moving from an English system overseas straight to S3 in Scotland. She finished year 8 abroad and had no problem starting s3. Well no problem academically, she made friends slowly but she wasn't the only new start which helped a bit.

Nearer the time you can enquire about other new starters.

We had about 4 weeks in Scotland before school started and most of that was spent trying to network and make connections for the 3 of them. Seems to have worker 😀

@LizzieMacQueen lovely to hear a success story! Thank you!

@northernlightsea that sounds like a good idea if we can work it to arrive in June.

My child is the same age. S1 this year going into S2 so next year would be S3. Exam year is S4 and it’s a two year course so your daughter will be starting at the right time.

They do usually move up to the next year in June before the summer holidays so if you can time your move for then, she’d start all the new classes at the same time as everyone else.

Have most councils now moved to two year Nat5s? When my oldest DC sat them they were one year courses with perhaps a month taken out of the end of S3 to fit them in. So you could move preferably towards the end of S3 and still pick up Nat5s without too many problems.

Most move to "personalisation and choice in S3" but say that pupils can change their mind. I am not convinced how easy it would be in reality.

My son will be in S4 next year and he has just started 7 Nat 5 subjects, having chosen them in March. We are in Stirlingshire and the Nat 5 courses are taught as a one year course. There was some choice in S3 but still very much the BGE with around 13 or 14 subjects.

Yeah, I would say it's a good time to switch, but definitely start in early June if you can. That's when the new school year starts. If she doesn't start until mid-August after the summer hols, she will have missed a month of exam curriculum.
Also, echo what PP said about finding out what her subject choices will be in advance. They will have different ones to her current school, and I'm sure she'd like time to think about it :)

I would speak to the school you are planning to go to as they can be quite different, in ds's school they dropped down to 9 subjects and started S3 timetable straight after the Easter break.