School year query

[carmel1974]

We're relocating from Newcastle to Glasgow in the summer and we're still trying to get our heads round the different school year groups. We have one daughter, born January 2011 so thirteen years old, currently Yr 8. Would she be entering S2 or S3 in September? Googling seems to throw up different answers.
TIA

So a January 2011 birthday could choose whether to start P1 at 4.5 or 5.5 (so start in August 2015 and be at younger end of year or august 2016 and be older end of year)

So that means your DD can now either go into S3 and be amongst the youngest or S2 and be amongst the oldest.
Going into S3 will means she is picking her subjects now as the Nat 5 courses (GCSE equivalent) start during S3.
Personally I'd go for S2 entry if you can as it gives her a year to settle into the Scottish system before the exam courses start.

It depends.
In Scotland there is a different age cut off, compared to England, for starting school (end of February) and those with January and February birthdays often deferred starting school at age 4½ and started at 5½ instead.

This means there is a broader age range of those starting secondary school too. It would really be yours and the school choice as to what year to go into. The term starts mid August rather than September

S1 or S2. The ‘proper’ year would be S2 but most kids Jan 2011 will have been held back by their parents so will be S1. Not sure if they’ll let you hold her back to S1 though.

@Undertherockpool I'm not sure your calculations are correct. If she didn't get deferred she'd be starting S3 and if she deferred she'd be due to start S2.

My daughter has a September 2011 birthday and is going into S2 after Summer hols. My friend has a Jan 2011 daughter and they chose to hold off starting primary so she will go into S1 after Summer.

I'd think you'd be given the option to register for either year? Sorry, not massively helpful - but it'd likely be S2 rather than S3

So your friend's DD born in Jan 2011 is starting S1 at 13.5? Thats a big age difference for S1

@FreeCheck - apologies she's Jan 2012! That's what I get for not reading the post properly! 🙈

My end 2010 born non deferred born DD goes into s3 in Aug. If you deferred it would be going into s2 this Aug.

Is your daughter ready to start the two year run up to the GCSEs/Nat 5s and on track? If not, defer.

She would be going into S3, but if you have the option I would maybe see if she could go into S2 so that she could get a taste of the different courses that the school offers before having to pick her S3 options. The ones going into S3 this summer have already picked their options and classes will probably have been allocated so she might struggle to get onto courses she really wants and have to make do with less popular choices.

Thanks all, very helpful. It sounds like S2 may be the better option as she doesn't yet know what subject choices she wants. If she was staying in her current school, she wouldn't be choosing until around Christmas time.
Are Nat 5 exams taken at the same stage as GCSE? Is it a 3 year course? GCSE is just two years

Nat 5 course is taken over S3 and S4.
Highers in S5 and more Highers or Advanced Highers (or a mixture of both) in S6.
Remember because the school intake cut off is February in Scotland, rather than August, our children are often 6 months younger when they leave school than their counterparts in England

Also Scottish schools start back mid August, and not September.

Not the case in most schools, Nat 5 only in S4

Nat 5 is a one year course, most commonly sat in S4. I would go for S2

Schools differ in approaches in Scotland and different schools can ask pupils to make options in different years. In ds's school he made some choices in S1 which is unheard of in other schools. He -

Started S1 in August and chose 9 subjects in February of S1 - he moved to S2 timetable for those 9 subjects after easter and studied them through S2/S3.

They had informal exams in the February towards the end of S3 to help pupils decide which 7 subjects they would take into S4 and do at NAT4 or NAT5 level.

They moved to their S4 timetable for the 7 subjects after Easter, and sat formal NAT5 exams in S4 in the following calendar year April/May (top maths set also sat an 8th NAT5, Apps of maths)

He picked 5 subjects for Highers and moved to S5 start of June as soon as NAT5 exams had finished. Highers year is a big step up from NAT5 and a short year so his school starts the courses in earnest in early June to get a few weeks ahead.

Summer break is roughly very late June - mid August.

My dcs school changed the way they did the options between dd and ds. With dd she started with all the subjects and dropped some in S2 and then dropped more in S3 to leave her with 7 subjects to sit in S4.

Ds had to choose his 7 Nat5 options at the end of S2 so they did the work for them over S3 and S4 with the exams at the end of S4.

Given her age she would be a very young S3 and many born in Jan-Feb 2011 will have deferred and be starting S2 this August.

Starting in S2 will be a much gentler transition, give her time to adjust and find her feet before option choices in spring of 2025.

Be aware that moving from England to Scotland results in a very short summer break. If you finish on 19th like a lot of English schools she will only have 3 full weeks.

Another good point made above for S2 start. Most Scottish schools 'bump up' once the exams start - so S2 start their S3 courses in May and get quite a bit done before summer. Not such an issue in S2.

Great points here which is really confirming for me that S2 will be best. Is the choice down to the parents or will schools take their own view on it? Having been to school in England, she started at age 4 but I wouldn't want her funnelled into S3 on the basis that she started school earlier than she might have done in Scotland.

Not related to age, and you may have come across this before, there's a gotcha with the Scottish school system. If you choose a religious school in your catchment, and want to move to a non-denominational school (or vice versa) you have to make a placing request even if you are in catchment for the new school. Placing requests are often refused due to schools being full.

Also, if you are moving to Glasgow and haven't chosen your new home yet, be aware that most of the better secondary schools are in the suburbs in East Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire which are not in the Glasgow council area. You would need to move into catchment to get into the school of your choice.