Moving from England to Inverness with Year 12 & 11 this August 2025

[CrazyWisdom]

Hello lovely people all over the Great Scottish Lands

I got a job in Inverness, which will be starting this April. We have 3 kids currently 16,15 & 7 (Yr 11,10 & 3 in England respectively). The eldest is aiming for Medical School, next is between Medical & Engineering. Both are doing well in schools (Grammar Schools both)

We are getting insane about the best option for our kids and when the best time is to move them and get the family together. We are seeking your kind brainstorming and advice.

Options are: taking into consideration their age will fit with the Scottish system, as they are already one year older than their Scottish peers

1. Move them this July/August 2025: Eldest will have to start Highers, and next will go to S4.
2. Concerns:
3. Slightly a shock to DD in the most important year in her aspiration to compete for Medical school entry. Additionally, her peers would have already started their Highers after they finished S4, and it may be difficult for her to catch up and achieve the required A.s.
4. DS will have finished 1st year of GCSE (but didn't complete it), and he has to catch up with S4 subjects, especially if his peers in Scotland have started the subjects during S3.
5. Wait for a year, and move them in July/August 2026. Eldest has done the first year of A-level and got her Mock exam results, which theoretically can apply to Universities with these grades to get a conditional offer, awaiting final results for A-level. DS will complete his GCSE and start his Highers in Scotland.
6. Concerns:
7. DD either to go down a year to restart her Highers in Scotland or completes her A-level from home with online courses (with huge financial impact), which might not be the most helpful to achieve her aspiration to complete the high grades required.
8. DS will have missed the few weeks of Highers subjects that are being taught to his peers the last few weeks in S4 before they break for the school holidays.
9. Wait 2 years: The worst option for the family psychologically and financially. It would also affect their eligibility for SAAS fund application.

.
We are struggling to decide, as each option has its drawbacks that we have to accept. We need some help with picking the option that would cause the least harm to the kids.

Thank you in advance and waiting eagerly for your kind opinions

You cannot do this to your eldest children. Just no. Leave the family in Preston and take the job but live in Inverness during the week. The airport is easy to use for weekends. Move after the eldest 2 have finished secondary schooling.

There's an overnight sleeper train from Imverness to London (and back) which stops at Preston - cabins will be more expensive than flying but an airline style seat would be fine for that distance, and cheaper than flights.

This is a good point, medicine is a regulated course - the numbers of Scottish students are controlled by the government. So it’s harder to get in as a Scottish domiciled student.

Are you aware @CrazyWisdom that your DD doesn’t just need 5As at Higher? She needs ( probably ) BB at Advanced Higher in Chemistry and Biology / Human Biology in S6. They may also require a third AH.

AH are harder than A levels, that’s about the same as AA at A level.

She also needs to sit her UCAT in the year she applies ( so between S5 and S6) and score ( probably ) in the top 50%. That’s the top half of everyone who is applying for dentistry / medicine , so they are all pretty smart. About 10-20% of them will be graduates with a relevant degree, like bio medical sciences, so it’s a tough group to do well in. It’s not as easy as , say, scoring in the top half of GCSE maths candidates.

I say “ probably “ on the AH grades because it depends on her offer. And “probbaly “ to UCAT because each uni uses it differently. So that’s a guide, not 100% accurate.

There are Gateway to Medicine courses available at FE colleges in Scotland designed for people who have the ability but not had access to the right qualifications. They are relatively new. I'd check if UHI does one .

She will have time off, she will be off from about 25 June to 18 August.

It’s not 4 full weeks of teaching, it’s more like 3 weeks . Some of it is sorting of timetable issues but yes there’s some teaching.

Have you checked her GCSE timetable to see her exams dates ? She may well finish by the end of May. Just because the exam diet runs to mid June doesn’t mean that she will have an exam that late.

BTW I’m just trying to answer your questions and provide more info.

I don’t think it’s a great idea for all the reasons that Pp have mentioned. I think you need to prioritise your teenaged kids education over your own career plans . It’s only for a few years until they leave school.

It sounds like your wife has already put her own life and career plans on hold for your children and maybe it’s your turn to do the same.

I think it's often the more 'traditional' universities who do this - I've certainly never seen UHI offer this! Dundee or Aberdeen, or even Glasgow or Edinburgh, would potentially be the closest to Inverness for this.

GCSE physics /combined science physics papers are Monday 16th June so she's not moving before then. A few other less popular exams and contingency day will be after that. Many Scottish posters are presuming exams finish in May.

None of the further explanations outweighs the overwhelming negatives of this move for your children at this critical time in their schooling. Please really consider the advice on this thread and make sure the older DC fully understand what it entails and possible impact on their results and plans.

I think the gateway to medicine course are part of widening acess and are only for students from under represented backgrounds. So not the Ops DD ( from what he’s said ).

Here’s the course at Aberdeen

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/smmsn/undergraduate/g2m/

Theres one at St Andrews with similar entry requirements .

I’ve moved my children twice from Scotland to England and back, when they were toddlers and age 8-10. I would not move in this situation. At all

mine had a period of adjustment into year 6! Let alone a level

your wife can get a job surely and stay with them there for a few years and you get a cheap bnb to stay in inverness

The worker commutes on a weekly basis so the kids get consistent education and to stay with their friends. Negotiate some WFH if possible - weekly lodger - use the trains

In the holidays the family can travel north if the accommodation works

I would not move them at this period in their lives either. Definitely not.

I've just checked my memory.
Gateway to medicine courses are like a foundation year for medicine to widen access, they are available at Scottish medical schools if you are eligible due to various factors, most of which probably don't apply to you apart from possibly attending certain High Schools (Inverness High School is one). You don't have to have straight As at Higher and they accept Applied Science qualifications from FE colleges like Inverness college too. I am rusty on this so please check for yourself but Inverness is a good location due to UHI/Inverness college.
School obviously preferable for social reasons.
Good to know about college as a back up.
I'd invest in Higher study guides and check out online Higher courses so that she can start early.

The negatives that you express in your last post are actual quite small compared to the explosive disruption of their lives if you move them now.

As I said before, I work with families moving countries and helping them to adjust. If you came to me for advice, it would be - don't.
If you need to for work, then Dad goes Mon-Fri and the rest of the family stays put.

yes it is harder, yes you will have less imput, yes your wife will be holding the fort mon-fri and dealing with teen issues, but you will be there at the weekends, and they will be much less angry than they would be if their have been moved away from all that they know into an education system that they cannot succeed in due to poor timing.

This is similar to a family moving to the US, where the education system is a similar language but completely different curriculum. I am not sure that you grasp just how different it is.

My dad had to work away mon-fri during my teen years. It was fine, it worked. It wasn't ideal, and it put a strain on them, but it worked. It worked much better than me moving schools mid GCSE or mid A level

I would suggest you either fly up Monday morning and back Friday or get overnight sleeper on Sunday evening and try and get train about 4pm on Friday evening back home, you can often get cheapish lodging for 4-5 nights a week, your family can come up for part of. Holidays but remember the teenagers won't have friends there so unlikely to want to spend all holidays there. By moving them after taken GCSEs you are majorly messing up there education my DH suggested we move our DD to England I vetoed it. The two systems are too different the whole family can move once eldest 2 finished A levels.
You have to remember if you move them just now and they don't get grades they will blame you and possibly resent you for a long long time. This move is not in their best interests in any way shape or form

I found the following for entry requirements at Aberdeen Medical School. website

"S5

• Normally AAAAB from five full academic courses to be taken at one sitting; from Highers and/or Advanced Highers. We require five programmes of study, to demonstrate breadth and volume, in order to cope with the academic demands and rigour of Medical School.

S6

• The Admissions Committee will not normally consider applications to Medical School directly from Year 5.

Candidates who have achieved the Entrance Requirements, i.e. five full academic courses @ AAAAB or better in S5, may choose to continue their studies in S6 and are free to choose a programme of study which is of particular interest to them, noting: that we expect candidates to engage fully with a S6 programme of study. Higher Biology will prove useful."

Does that mean if she didn't achieve the AAAAB grades in S5, she can take it in S6?

If anyone can explain better, it would be much appreciated, please

Caveat to what follows: I know a limited amount about Scottish qualifications – what I do know is that they are significantly different from English GCSEs and more to the point here, A levels.

@CrazyWisdom please consider what ppl here are mostly suggesting – allow your DC to finish GCSEs in your younger one’s case, and A levels for the older one in England.

The parent working in Inverness can work away Mon-Fri – many many people do this as a matter of course, on a long-term basis. Yes it might not be ideal for the development of family life, but it’s much better IMHO than the academic chaos any other plan will cause, especially for someone planning to study medicine.

For those (some anyway) suggesting that the DD’s GCSEs will be done by the end of May, sorry, no, GCSEs never finish until mid-June unless you are not taking anything like a full set. There are always some exams after half term, usually including maths and science, so well into June. In fact, the contingency day is 23 June IIRC this year.

No it doesn't mean this. I'm reasonably versed in Scottish Uni admissions as I've had two recently going through the system.

It means the minimum to be considered (unless you are widening participation) is AAAAB at higher in S5. In S6 they expect you to continue your studies and take exams in whichever subjects you are studying (no dropping out midway through the year which some do if they have unconditional offers). Some students take advanced highers in S5 which is what they mean when they speak about highers/advanced highers in S5.

Higher biology could be taken in S6 if, for example, time tabling constraints do not allow this in S5.

Big caveat is that even with the grades, the offer will still be difficult to achieve. My son applied to St Andrews with 6 As at higher and 1 at advanced higher all from S5, and 4 As in advanced higher predicted in S6 and didn't receive an offer, albeit not for medicine.

Dad goes to Scotland to live on his own. Mum DD, DS and younger DC stay in Preston. After DD finishes her A levels she goes up to Scotland with Dad. Once DS has completed his A levels, the rest of the family moves up to Scotland with Dad.

Ah I misread. @OP you are the father. Are you the only one of the family who has been to Inverness then? 😬

Honestly I'm pretty 100% sure your kids will hate being uprooted and taken to Inverness.

It feels like you are putting your interest ahead of your DC's educational opportunities. If you moved DD and she didn't get the grades she needs because she missed over a month in Scotland education, misses her friends too, would she ever forgive you?

God, this is awful for your kids.

And yes 💯 do not move your kids at those ages. Terrible idea.

Dad goes you don't. Really bad time
To move.