moving 4 year old from English Reception to Edinburgh primary

[jaeno76]

Hi everyone, I wondered if anyone has any experience of moving their child from the English system to the scottish one and more specifically, how they adjusted to an Edinburgh school? Would be an in-year transfer so I would be at the mercy of the council places that are left which is a little bit scary. Considering independent as an alternative (Heriots) but would rather not pay for primary and also I don't think Heriots would accept an in year transfer. Does anyone have any thoughts to share about Edinburgh primaries and whether it would be a big shock after a small English village reception year?! thanks

When is your child’s birthday? If they aren’t 5 yet then they would probably be just start primary one this year anyway if Scottish born so wouldn’t be coming in half way through the year. Would that be possible for you?

They’d still be eligible for their 30 hours free childcare and many nurseries do school hours now if you needed the child care?

Thanks - he's a July birthday so he'll be 5 this summer. I guess i could defer him, i didnt realise there was funded nursery! I wonder how he'd find it going from the structure of reception (which i think is too much for. 4 year old tbh but he has got used to it!) back to rhe nursery environment. Are all the nurseries state funded in edinburgh? Anyone know any particularly good ones ?

The age cut off is different, it runs beginning of March to end of feb, with children starting school aged 4 1/2 to 5 1/2. Winter children are the ones who defer.

You may struggle to get a council nursery place.

Yes, I don't even think it would be a deferral in Scotland - he's just go next year.

Well, next academic year.

Would he not just start Primary 1 in August?

You can’t just choose a school, you have to live in the catchment for it. I’m not sure if nurseries are the same.

Sorry also meant to say due to age they would start primary school this august.

You need to see which schools have places as you’ve missed the applications.

My third son did reception in England then we moved to Scotland and he restarted the first year of school (P1, there is no reception class), had to go part time again too. It was a pain

I should add, we moved mid year and our youngest went from reception to nursery and he was fine.
No reason why Heriot’s won’t accept mid year if they have a place.

Oh yes, I hadn't thought of that.

He'll still finish secondary school in the same year that he would have otherwise I think (English children go to school for one more year than Scottish children).

It's a P1 place for august you need to apply for. You're son won't go school in Scotland before then as he's too young. It's nursery for 4 year olds here, there is no Reception.
You apply to your catchment school once you have an address but as PP has pointed out you've missed the application date. Some schools hold places for children moving into catchment otherwise the council will advise which schools have P1 places.

Thanks so much for your replies everyone
As we are not yet in edinburgh we will have to wait and then see why primary places are available. Meantime I will suss out nursery provision but I guess he'd only get that if I was deferring him from p1?

Thanks Wecome. Can i ask how you found the transition, more in terms.kf the cultural.shift from england to edinburgh?

I'm a bit sad having to move him from an outstanding english primary where he has a couple of little friends and a good social mix...to seemingly the edinburgh conundrum where lots seem to feel they have to go private due to the state of Edinburgh state schools.

On the other hand english reception seems to structures to me and he might enjoy the more playbased approach in scotland, but just wondering if it will be a struggle socially/culturally.

Having gone through the Edinburgh system years ago with an english accent i found it very tough!

Are you going to buy or rent?

What we did was choose secondary school catchments that we were interested in, then found primary schools with places and then rented somewhere and secured the place.

Similar question to you as above - how did your son cope with the transition?

Part time again - did he have to do p1 part time you mean?

He is aged for his preschool year of nursery now.

He is aged to begin P1 in August 2023.

If you want him to start p1 in August 2024 you can opt to defer and have an additional year in nursery.

Applications for p1 places have just been made so you'd need to contact Edinburgh city council now, explain and ask to apply for your catchment primary school. If you don't want your catchment, you'd have to make a placing request. I'm not sure you can apply until you have proof of address.

Edinburgh is the only place in Scotland where large numbers of parents opt for private education, this is tradition rather than necessarily being a comment on the current state system. Edinburgh is becoming increasingly affluent and some areas, due to the catchment, the schools perform very well.

Mine found the transition fine. He understood what was going on and had fun at nursery.

Our children have found they get the piss taken for their accents, but perhaps it would be something else if it wasn’t the accent.

@mamahibou OPs child is a July birthday so can’t easily defer.

Edinburgh is the only place in Scotland where large numbers of parents opt for private education, this is tradition rather than necessarily being a comment on the current state system.

Agree with this. It's tradition/culture rather than an indication of state provision. The most notable downside is state secondary schools in Edinburgh do not have a particularly good social mix due to 25% being in private sector

Depends on the school a bit though. I’d choose Boroughmuir or James Gillespie’s catchments if I wanted a solidly middle class cohort.

That is depressing about the accent thing! Is that in a private school or state? It seems so crazy in this day and age. Edinburgh is so international in many ways, but then you get this kind of thing 😂

Both private and state. For two out of the three children, but not the third, oddly.

You wont have any choice to defer him, as he is 5 in July he will start P1 in August, he cannot start earlier, or next year instead.
He will go to the school in the catchment area in which you live, you don't get to choose, unless you want him to go to a denominational school or private school. I think all schools have to keep a small number of places available for children who move in year, or after the P1 application cut off date, like you, so don't worry about that.
You may be able to get a funded place in nursery until then (30 hours a week).
Nursery is different to school, he could be offered a place in any local nursery, not necessarily the one closest to you. Alternatively you could use your funded hours in a private nursery if the nursery allows that.
Also a PP mentioned part time schooling in P1, this doesn't happen in any school local to me, they're full time from day 1. Check with your local school obviously, but I don't think it's done anymore.