Best year to join Scottish schooling?

[PeruDad]

We are currently living in Peru. We plan to return to Scotland so that our two children (currently 12 and 9) can go to university there. However Peruvian qualifications are not recognised for UK university entry. So one possibility is to move to Scotland and join the state school system so that they gain Scottish qualifications. So the question is: In what year would it be best to join? Is it feasible to join in S5 and just do highers/advanced highers. Or is that too late? Is there anything else we should consider before we attempt this?

(More info in case it is relevant: They are academically reasonably strong, and native English speakers. We're willing to work hard at home to get them up to speed as necessary. Their current school follows something similar to the IB system (although not IB), i.e. not dictatorial teaching, more discussion-based or self-directed research within broad project areas, although with specific focussed teaching in key areas. Non-elite private schooling here in Peru is very common and affordable; there are probably more private schools than state schools. However I don't think UK private schooling is feasible for us.)

I would recommend joining in S3 when they start the first set of exam courses (nat 5s). They would find it quite difficult to skip straight into highers, and certainly would not able to enter for advanced highers at all.

Most schools will start these courses in the June before the official entry to S3 (August) so I would aim for that. At this point most children are age 13 but it depends what point in the year their birthday is.

You could potentially delay until S5, but I do think they'd find it quite challenging with no previous experience of the Scottish education system or foundations of learning from nat 5s, which is essential for many courses at higher.

Agree with PP. S3 is best year to start. It could be S5 but not ideal for 1st experience of Scottish secondary curriculum being the Highers, which is the university entrance qualification

You need 3 years minimum scottish residency in order to get funding as well OP

Thanks for the advice! We need to think all this through.

S2/s3 at the latest I’d say. Ideally obvs

DS joined in S4, just in time to meet the 3 year residency requirement before uni. (And it really was just in time, with a last minute scramble to get flights out of NZ for humans and dog during COVID times). It worked well for him but I think any later would have been difficult. The two school systems would have to be very similar to be able to comfortably move at Higher level. It wouldn't have been possible for us anyway, because we needed uni funding.

i had no idea Nat 5s were started in S3. Ds had no issues academically starting in S4 (straight As S4-S6). The only slight concern I had (which turned out not to be a problem at all) was that ds was a bit older than the rest of his year. The NZ school year runs Feb-Dec, so he had to effectively drop back half a year. It didn't bother him though.

I agree S3. Though if children very, very able you could wait till S4. That would be the absolute latest for residency unless planning a year out. (S4,S5 and S6 would be your 3 qualifying years).

Most Uni look at higher results as main entry consideration (S5) and many will want some passes at Nat 5 (S4) for things like English and maths.

My daughter is 13 and in S2. So you don't have too long if you decide to move for S3 for your eldest.

The entry by birth year runs 1st March to 28/29 Feb. Meaning the oldest children were born in March and the youngest born the February after that.

i had no idea Nat 5s were started in S3

In secondary schools the kids move up into the next year on 1st June, so 1 month before the summer holidays.
So the latest date the Nat 5 course starts is 1st June but many schools start sooner, often after the Easter holidays. That's why people are suggesting S3 as the best entry point.

Some schools treat Nat 5s as a 2 year course and start in 3rd year (well, in June before the summer holidays) other schools do them as a 1 year and start in 4th year (again June). I think the original intention was that they were a 1 year thing but there are different approaches. Not exactly a level playing field though.

AKAIK Nat 5s have always been a 2 year course. Replacing the 2 years of standard grade. Obviously different for very able pupils or crashing a Nat 5 in S6.

S1-S3 is BGE or Broad General Education. At my local school pupils make choices for S3 and choose about 12 subjects, for those 12 subjects they do the 1st year of Nat 5. Pupils choose again for S4 choosing 7 or 8 Nat 5s they will be examined on.

It's a 2 year course it just happens that the 2 years are split over BGE and the senior phase.

Is this common in other schools in Scotland?

In S5 you can do a Higher over 1 year, though some take 2 years. Some pupils will sit more Nat 5s

In S6 you can do a combination of Nat 5s, Highers, and Advanced Highers

Some pupils are able to attend college in S4,S5 or S6.

Having attended many many talks at school about the introduction of Nat 5s etc as my DC were in the first groups to be sitting them, I can assure you that the original plan was bge 1-3 and Nat 4/5 courses in 1 year.

Both my DC did the courses in 1 year, however there was lots of controversy at the time and lots of fudging of courses in some schools to continue in the vein of standard grades and do them over 2 years.

I'm not sure if that is now the "standard" but it certainly wasn't at the beginning. My DC no longer at school.

There were lots of threads on here about how and what different schools or councils were doing and also about the amount of Nat 5s that schools were offering.

I think technically there are only enough hours in the year to offer 6 but schools would steal a bit from the end of the bge to allow for 7.

I think what you are saying is that the are getting around the issue by getting them to start a lot of Nat 5s in 3rd year which still satisfies the BGE requirements whereas previously dropping to 6 or 7 subjects at the same stage would not satisfy that. As I say, that is possibly how most schools do it now but it wasn't the original plan or how it was introduced for most at the time.

My son is in S3. He is doing 8 subjects with a view to sitting 8 Nat 5s in May/June.

You’ll need to have evidence of having lived in Scotland for three years prior to applying for student funding if you’re relying on that to fund your kids university. S3 for the eldest would be the obvious choice in regards to starting to study towards exams. That’s about age13-14. That would also give you the necessary 3 years for the funding.

No later than the start of s3 but sooner would be better so they can try courses/subjects before choosing them.

Also remember the cut off for ages is Feb/March (although lots of jan/febs now defer) so be careful you are going into the right year.

You can now defer up to mid August if you want at primary. As in every child that isn't 5 at school start. But that's a very new policy and I don't know if they would let you do that at secondary. It's worth checking out though if it gives you a bit more flexibility.