Moving from a school in England to a school in Scotland.

[Mumof3england]

Id love and appreciate some advice on how it would work moving my 13 year old born in March 2010 (currently in Englands year 9) and 11 year old born in August 2012 (currently in Englands year 7).

Im hoping to move by sept 2024!

Regarding my eldest, she is due to chose her GCSE subjects February and would begin them next September when she starts year 10. If the move goes ahead would she be able to do these subjects there and would the curriculum be similar to what she’s doing now? I’m so scared of ruining her future by moving her at this point but it’s a move that needs to happen.

Regarding my 11 year old would he be held back a year with his birthday being mid August?

Not that this makes any difference but they are both currently in the top set for all their subjects.

i have a primary school school child whom im not too worried about as she is just in Englands reception year and will be turning 5 March. It’s my older ones im worrying over.

honestly any advice would be hugely appreciated

thank you in advance

If I'm calculating correctly, your DS would have just turned 12 next summer so would start S1 high school in August 24.

Your daughter is a little more complicated as Scottish cut off is end March. So she could have started school in 2014 at age 4 or more likely to have been deferred and started in 2015 at age 5. The latter works better and would mean she would have started high school here in 2022 and in 2024 would be going into S3 and starting National 5s for those schools who do them over 2 years/preparing to narrow down subjects for those schools who do them in 4th year only.

I'd say timing is pretty reasonable but high school might give options as to which year for your DD suits their curriculum better.

I would treat your youngest as deferred and ask to start her in p1 next August.

We moved from England to Scotland on my 14th birthday. My sister was 11, 12 in the August. I went into S2, choosing my subjects that year to start O Grades the following year. Although my sister had started secondary school in England, she went into P7, which worked really well as she had an established friendship group before going to S1. Obviously, this is a good few years ago but the curriculum was very different. My sister did very well academically. I would probably have done better if we hadn’t moved or if I’d been younger but I did ok and I think our quality of life had been better here. I wouldn’t go back.

I agree with @BigBoysDontCry and would defer your youngest.

You're fortunate with the dates of your dcs' birthdays as they should transfer reasonably straightforwardly.

Your dd1 would be going into S3, the equivalent year to Y10, ie two years before she sits her Nat 5s (the equivalent of GCSEs). The curriculum will inevitably be a bit different but she has plenty of time to get to grips with the course content. Some (most) schools start the formal Nat 5 choices in S3 and some (fewer) start in S4 (and do fewer but in theory allow more to be picked up in S5/S6 or do crash Highers).

There also isn't the same pressure to get "good" results to get accepted into the "best" 6th form colleges (if you're in an area that does that) as the Scottish schools go all the way through.

Your ds would be going into S1 with all the other 12 year olds (which would be good for him making friends) - only he would now be in the mid range of the age group rather than one of the youngest. He'd stay 2 years "below" his big sister.

It can get confusing because there are 7 years at a Scottish primary, followed by 6 at secondary, compared to 6 (formal) years at English primary, followed by 6 at English secondary (or 4 + 2 at 6th form), further completed by the 6 month difference in cut-off dates (plus the well-used ability to defer for January & February birthdays and to a lesser extent, November & December an technically possible, September and October ). Plus it depends on whether you consider Reception as a formal/compulsory year of schooling

Your youngest will start school in P1 perfectly normally in August and will be one of the oldest in the year (barring any kids who were deferred).

You mention coming up in September 2024. You'd be much better getting here for the start of the new school year in mid August. Although your kids might not thank you as they'd get a very truncated summer break

Your daughter is a little more complicated as Scottish cut off is end March.

This is wrong; the cut off between year groups is the end of February.

Children born between mid-august and end of February having the choice to defer if they want to. It used to be that councils would only fund an extra year of nursery for those born in January and February, but recent changes mean anyone born from the school start date in august to end February can get an extra year of nursery. This means more autumn children are now deferring (Though they can still leave school at 16 so deferred children can potentially leave before exams). But a March born child will still likely be near the older end of the class.

Yeah, I realised that just now. I must have been more tired than I thought. :)