Moving from English to Scottish Schools (Primary and Senior)

[fullhouselisa]

I am new to mumsnet and I can see there have been a lot of discussions on this subject but I have my own set of woes i feel the need to share...

I have a horrible situation in which we have been planning a family life enhancing move to scotland as my DH (Scottish) is coming to the end of his military career and wants to return to the homeland. BUT it is proving a nightmare for sorting out the education of our 4 girl:

DD1 would suddenly find herself in Standard grade year when she had 2 years to go til gcses; DD2 would be in S2 when she was about to go to yr 9 (3rd yr senior); DD3 has resounding success at 11+ and a grammar school place but would be in P7 (though her friend also moving to scotland would be going to S1 because she has her birthday earlier in the year); finally DD4 was about to go into yr 5 but would jump to P6.

All because 2 fall later than the March birthday cut off. And because they seem to have shorter senior school in Scotland. Or have I worked it out wrong? I can't work out what the year equivalents are - for example with DD3 is she going back a year from Yr7 to P7 or is her friend jumping forward a year from yr7 to s1 because surely one or the other must be true, and this then impacts on all the others...?

Oh my poor head

Well she'd probably get As in her Nationals then too
I don't think S3 would be a good idea at her age. Nationals are a one year course remember.

There is no way they'd put her in S3. Remember our age cut off date is end February, not 1st September so she won't be the younger one in the year in Scotland, she will be around the average age.

So my daughter moving and starting in S4 would not impact her and leave her behind at all ?

I'm not really up on the English system as far as knowing whether GCSEs are easier or harder than National 4/5s, but those exams are meant to be a one year course.

However, individual areas and schools have decided to do different things so you would really need to contact the school that you would be intending to go to and hear what they say.

The standard is supposed to be S1 to S3 = Broad general education, S4 = national 4/5s, S5 = Highers/Nat 5s, S6 = Advanced Highers/Highers

My niece moved up 2 Christmases ago and moved into the last term or so of S4 and that was just at the last stages of Standard Grades, however the school she moved to did the majority of their Standard Grades at the end of S3 so she cam and just started Highers without ever having done her GCSEs or Standard grades.

Thank you that cleared a lot up
Regards

no problem, which area/school are you looking at?

Looking at Aberdeenshire I have family in undy so maybe around insch or Inverurie

From what i can recall from threads about it at the time, I am sure that Aberdeen-shire have a blanket policy covering all their schools on how they were introducing CfE and they were doing maximum of 6 and over one year. I might be misremembering though so it would be worth checking out the website/giving them a call after the holidays to find out for sure. That would definitely be an easier scenario for your circumstances. Some areas/schools have started the National 5s in 3rd year in order to offer more. Ours is starting slightly early and squeezing in 7 but all schools in our council area are doing things slightly diferently.

Hello ladies,
I will be moving to Glasgow with my 13 year old son from France from an English private school. So need a bit of advice.we are going to a state school for finance issues, .does anyone know or has opinions about Hyndland secondary school, or Jordanhill in West center Glasgow ? Thank you

This is a Zombie thread so you might be better starting a new one in the Scotsnet topic.

But in answer to your question, both Hyndland and Jordanhill are good schools. You'd be unlikely to get into Jordanhill (it's an anomaly in the Scottish State system, the only one outwith local authority control) but with your dd being older, you might be lucky and they have a place.

Shawlands on the South Side also has a good reputation. (you'll get more for your money for housing on the South Side).

All the schools mentioned have a good reputation for getting pupils into HE/FE.

Sorry - your ds not your dd.

Also , if your ds is sporty and/or played enjoyed rugby at his private school, you might be interested to know that Shawlands is a "School of Rugby". The S1s and S2s in the rugby class get 4 periods a week of rugby (2 x PE periods and 1 each from Maths and English which the school manages very well)

When is your ds' birthday? Would he be going in to S2 or S3? As a very rough guide, 2004 kids are currently in S1 (there is flexibility for Jan/Feb and even possibly Nov/Dec).