Scotland to England, England to Scotland - Exam years advice?

[soontobeslendergirl]

My sister moved from Scotland to England 3 years ago. When they left my niece had just finished P7 and was about to start High School. Because of when her birthday fell, she ended up in year 7 in England and started High School as the eldest in her year. So, this year she would be going into year 10 (she is about to turn 15).

My BIL has been made redundant and has been looking for a new job, so far unsuccesfully. He has had a few interviews back up in Scotland and my sister has asked me about the new exam structure here as we have now moved to the Curriculum for Excellence while she has been down south.

As I see it, my niece would move into 4th year in Scotland so this would be her exam year but she technically wont necessarily have covered any of the correct material. :(

I don't know what year she would be sitting her first exams in England.

This is not going to be a good time to move for her is it? Even if he is succesful, it will take them time to sell up and buy somewhere here and make the move and in the meantime the "important" school year in Scotland will be ticking away - they would be doing prelims in January/Feb. In Scotland, the current 4th year are the first people who will be doing the new exams.

Her younger brother should be fine as he is about to go into year 7, and would slot back into P7 in Scotland so apart from the disapointment of another year of primary school, his education shouldn't be too disrupted.

Would your sister's family be likely to move back to the same area and schools they lived before?

If so, maybe she could phone the 'old' High school or at least the High School she would have attended had your niece stayed and ask to speak to the Head of Year for some guidance on her specific subjects.

It's not ideal but it doesn't need to be disastrous. I would be reasonably upbeat in front of your niece. Moving in S4 is after all is far better than moving in S5. Keep to the positives so she doesn't lose confidence.

Thanks, yes, the preference would be to move back to the same area if they could afford to as it's in Edinburgh. The kids still have friends there and it's nearby for family - the other job option is nearer to me which I would like but probably not necessarily the best for them. Good idea re the High school, but we are probably counting our chickens as he hasn't been offered a job yet. They have said though that they don't really want to move to a completely new place in England. They either want to stay where they are, or move back here so that's where he has focussed his search. The job that is nearer to me would technically be commutable from the area they used to live but it would be better value house wise and more convenient from a transport pov to live closer to the job - good schools are available at both locations.

She's a bright girl and was a bit unhappy at having to do an extra year at school because of the move. Her birthday is the cut of day in England.

Obviously there will be a few month of indecision which will be unsettling but fingers crossed it resolves quickly. You and your sister are quite wise to be looking at the systems in parallel. You are not 'counting chickens' simply 'hedging your bets' and those in a similar position would be doing the same! I think all you can do for now is speak to people and gather information.

Not sure what S4 text books are in print but if they are available maybe I'd consider buying the English and Maths ones! They can always be flogged on eBay later.

Good idea re the books busy, but with this being first year of CofE not sure how much resource is available - my boys are younger (S1 and s2) so not quite at that point yet :)

One thing to be aware of is that the eldest wouldn't be eligible for free uni here, as she would have to be "ordinarily resident" for three years. Unless they moved quickly!

Thanks for the info Hugless.

Agent, I hadn't thought about that, it seems unfair given that she was born in Scotland to Scottish parents and was living here until she was 12 and that her entire family is Scottish and living in Scotland :(

I don't necessarily think that the free uni fees will be around for much longer anyway - 5 years till we would be looking for it for our kids and sure it wont be available then. :(

If it reassures you/your dsis, when I was 13 (going in to S2) we moved to NZ. I jumped forward half a year 'cos of the difference in the school year and had to catch up.

Two years later, we emigrated back again and I went "back" 6 months into my original year. Somehow I still had to catch-up - mainly because the curriculum the two school systems followed (eg "general" science in NZ and Physics, Chemistry and Biology over here) was different. Fortunately especially as my parents forgot to pack my specially prepared school report we chose to go back to my old school (db and I had a revolt and refused to go to yet another new school and it was only the next school "along" although back then you had to request "exemption from zoning" )

We did get about 3 months notice of moving (might have been a little less) - but we only got back to Scotland in mid October, only 6 months before the O Grades and not long at all until the prelims. My dad had managed to get hold of some text books when he came back earlier for an interview and I did some work on them before getting back. I also had to do Latin rather than German, as you can learn Latin in 6 months but not German (with its oral element) I am a good parrot learner

I did more than OK. :)

Technically, the new CFE exams are supposed to be done over a year, allowing the kids to keep a general education for as long as possible - although in practice many schools still seem to getting kids to make their choices at the end of S2 (and I even know of one school that makes then choose at the end of S1! ) (and ds' English class, only S2, is covering the National 5 curriculum --but the teacher is getting a bit over excited at the potential of this particular class and I worry that she is forgetting that the kids still need to learn to love English )

If your niece is bright, she'll cope. Get her to look on it as a challenge: have a look at some of the current Scottish textbooks and get her to try some of the exercises. Even if they don't end up moving back to Scotland, it will only enhance her overall education.

Thanks prettybird, that's really interesting and reassuring. I know in my sons' school they are definitely choosing their National 5s at the end of 3rd year - well I say the end, basically they have brought forward the start of the school year to the end of April to allow them enough school hours in 4th year to do 7 subjects. The BGE is alive and well from the start of 1st year to Easter (and a wee bit) of 3rd year. They do the same subjects all the way through, no choosing, no streaming etc. they are hoping to use the work done in the BGE to assess some for National 4s internally but that is not the focus. They said something about letting students/parents know at the beginning of 3rd year if they felt that a 4 would be achievable within the BGE and what would need to be done to achieve it without compromising the breadth. We shall see :)

Still fingers crossed for these jobs but no news.

Ds apparently "did" a presumably draft National 4 English at the end of last year . He's now having to read Kidnapped.

Like your ds' school, ds' school switches to the following year's timetable at the end of the previous year (although there, it was only at the beginning of June), to allow them to get a running jump at the following year.

Ds is S2 is also still following the BGE - but is set for English and Maths and will make choices at the end of this year. However, the school is letting the S3/S4s do 7 subjects (including all 3 sciences if they want to) which doesn't appear to be the case in some areas .

Have you looked at the school handbook(s) of the school(s) your niece would be likely to go to to see what their approach to CfE is?

I have no idea what my son is doing at school tbh - they don't seem to have any set reading, but then he tells me nothing :(

It's a very academic school based on the exam results, so I presume that they know what they are doing but who knows :)

I think they can also offer all three sciences but we are already thinking that with only 7 subjects to choose from it's going to be a tough choice to see what to drop.

According to his report, No1 son doesn't appear to have any weak areas or subjects he doesn't enjoy. I could really see him doing anything although he is indicating an interest in Engineering, Technical type stuff, Art and Computing. No2 son just gone into 1st year but based on his primary reports he is a similar all rounder, probably even brighter in Maths than No1 son but is obsessed with words/languages too. His only ambition at the moment is to find a Uni with links to Japan and do whatever subjects they have :)

Good idea about the school - If they move back to their old area, I know what school it would be - if they move nearer me then who knows, a few school catchments are pretty close to where the job would be, the worst of those serving the place where the job is but wouldn't recommend living there anyway. There are good schools within close distance. My boys don't go to our catchment school and it is in the oppostite direction to where the job would be so don't know if that would be an option for them.

The only reason I know what book he is reading is because he is complaining about the size of the text! He also had to catch up on the reading homework over the weekend (he misses a period of English and a period of Maths as he is in the School of Rugby). They were studying "A Midsummer's Night Dream" last year and he struggled a bit initially to get "in" to Shakespeare, so I had to help him a bit with that.

I suspect ds will drop Biology - and maybe pick it up again in S6 if he stays on. At the moment, he is thinking in terms of English, Maths, French, Physics, Chemistry, PE, Geography - but I'm sure that will change!

I was fortunate when I was at school - I was able to do 8 "O" grades and 6 "Highers" and so keep half and half Arts and Sciences right up until I went to Uni (and even there, could have done either - the joys of the Scottish education system :) ).

Ha ha - I know last year they were just to bring in any book from home for their English reading period, don't know if they have been given any particular text this term - i'll ask later :)

I did 8 and 5 when I was at school but never did Uni as we couldn't afford it.

I haven't officially seen the options available, but I did notice Computing Science and Graphic Comms amongst them when I was spying on something that the S3s had last year which I guess will appeal. He won't want to do PE.

His Technical teacher says he is very talented in Tech Drawing, his Art teacher says he is talented in Art, His English teacher says his imagination and written work is outstanding, he got a silver award in the National Maths challenge, and had similar postive reports in all subjects. The only negative he ever gets is that he is too quiet.

I sometimes think it is easier for them if they are good in one area especially if that is an area that they like.

Ds is obsessed with rugby and cycling (apparently he'll go pro in "which ever sport offers him a contract first" ), hence his interest in PE. Although he got a good school report of his Tech Drawing, let's just say he doesn't demonstrate a natural talent for it .

Ds can not be accused of being too quiet! I wish we could get him to shut up especially about cycling and rugby

Ha Ha - he sounds great - I hope you have bid for tickets for the commonwealth games....and I look forward to supporting "sonofprettybird" against England in the 6 nations or cheering him around the velodrome in the 2020 Olympics :o

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, unfortunately No1 son feels that he isn't good at anything. I make him read his reports every so often.....after I've rubbed out the tiny bits where he can improve that OH "helpfully" underlined. Just as well he couldn't find the highlighter!!

I get what he was trying to do, I just didn't agree that it was the most helpful thing to do for a child that lacks confidence. I'll cheerfully help him with the marker pen on No2 sons report when we get it if required, laziness being his issue rather than a lack of confidence - and yes, he never shuts up either :o

I will indeed be bidding for Commonwealth tickets. Fortunately the road race, time trial and marathon are free and should good viewing!

Ds was disappointed that Glasgow didn't win the 2018 Youth Olympics. He'll just have to go to Buenos Aires instead. You'll recognise him if he makes it in either sport. He has a surname more suited to rugby than cycling (you'll know what I mean if you ever come across it ).

I'm sure both your dses will be fine - they have parents who care, which is half the battle.

....if his name isn't Tackle then I will be sorely disappointed :o

My OH is a Borders man so totally into his rugby more than football - with a lot of the games being on Alba over the last couple of years, his Gaelic is coming along a treat. He used to play for the village team but after a few concussions decided to call it a day.

The boys have been taken along to and tried every sport imaginable and have very little interest - youngest showed some rugby talent as a very small boy but as soon as he was old enough to go to training his interest and competence vanished, much to OHs disappointment. To his credit he has never forced them into anything, simply given them the chance to try and then silently wept at both the ineptitude and consequent lack of interest :o

We really don't know where they get it from, we were both sporty kids - I was the school Hurdle champion and he had his Rugby. We have people on both sides of the family who have been professional sports people and every boy in the family for generations has at least played on the school football team. I think they might have been switched in the hospital.....No2 son doesn't even look like us :o

It's not Tackle .

Clue

Dunno if it would be of any interest to the family, but one way of ensuring continuity during this time could be home education. A popular choice for Scottish as well as English kids who are home educated is IGCSE.

That might particularly appeal to your niece as you say she is bright and doesn't like having to repeat things. Subject to finding a test centre which offers exams at the desired time of year, she can sit whichever exams she wants at any age and in any order. She could prepare herself for the exams and therefore would be working at her own speed without any need for repetition.

This is the main HE charity in Scotland: schoolhouse.org.uk/
and in England: education-otherwise.net

That's really helpful, thank you Saracen.

I doubt that she would go for it just from the point of view that like a lot of 15 year old girls, bright or otherwise, going to school is a social event as much as anything :)