Could do with some advice about Scottish education system

[Doonhamer]

currently DS1 is in year 11(16 in march), and doing his gcse in the summer. DS2 is in year 9 (14) at a school in England

This summer could very likely see a move for us to scotland. It will be after Ds1's gcse exams.
Can anyone tell me what year they will be going into and would DS1 have to stay on and do 5th and 6th year (I sort of know the basics of the scottish sytem, justnot all), and what aobut S2, am I correct in thinking he'll be in 3rd year?

Yes, your DS1 would go into 5th year and start studying for Higher exams or he could leave. When is your DS2 going to be 15?

DS2 has just turned 14 about 4 weeks ago, so will he be in 3d year?

Yes, he would currently be one of the youngest in 3rd year, and be due to go into 4th in August. The good news is that as he is a January birthday he would probably be invited to start 3rd year again which would give him a bit longer to get used to the (brand) new Scottish system.

The current S4s in Scotland are the first cohort to go through the new curriculum for excellence, with Nationals replacing the old Standard grades. As your DS1 would be going into S5 after the summer, he would be the first cohort doing the new Higher exams. He would need to choose probably 5 subjects, and if you're looking at Scottish Uni's any offers would be based upon these results. Students can study for additional Highers and Advanced Highers in S6, which are the exams that English Uni's will generally take into consideration for offers of places.

DS2's birthday is before the cut-off of end of February, so could either go into S4, or be deferred and go into S3. I guess your proposed new school would be able to advise you on what would be best for him.

Do you know where you are moving to and which schools you'll be looking at?

Thanks everyone. Megrim - going back to our roots and settling somehwere in south scotland. Got it narrowed dow to 3 possible place. One of the school has got a really dire inspection report from last year - got "weak" on most of it