Moving from Scotland to England daughter age 13

[Ditsydebs]

We are looking to move from Scotland to England but i am concerned about my eldest daughter who will turn 13 this summer. In Scotland she is in her first year at Secondary but in England she would be in her second. Will she have missed too much work to catch up? She is a bright girl and we have moved around a few times in the last four years. Any advice would be appreciated.

I realise the situation is somewhat different, but I home educate and the kids I know don't typically follow the school curriculum very closely at all. Those who go into school during the early secondary years (up to the start of Y10) tend to find it easy to join. They'll be "ahead" and coasting in some areas and will need to get up to speed in other areas but it isn't a big deal.

The main potential problems seem to be foreign languages, where your dd might be moving to a school where others have done a certain language since Y7 which may be different from any language(s) your dd has already done, and moving during the GCSE years (Y10 and Y11) which is quite tricky. But your dd will be going into Y9 this autumn so I'm sure she'll be fine.

If you're concerned, you could order some revision books which cover the English National Curriculum for Y7 and Y8 and whiz through them - some home ed families do that if they are feeling nervous. I think it would reassure you and your dd to see that she already knows much of the content.

If she's 13 during the Summer she will be going to Y9 in September which is the third year of secondary school.
Most schools would carry out assessments to work out how your dd is doing and which groups to place her in for secondary school.
I don't think she will necessarily be behind OP especially when Scottish highers are taken a year earlier than A levels in England.

My niece moved down at age 12 and back at age 15 - her birthday is the cut of date so she left P7 and started in year 7 when she went down, effectively going back a year so found herself ahead, she then returned at age 15 and had to jump forward a year (last January) and has basically had to miss out Nat 5 altogether and go straight into studying for Highers over 2 years instead!

i think going down is probably easier than coming back tbh. she will be moving up a year but I am sure the level will be much the same. Hope it all goes well.

I think that moving into Y9 would be fine. It's before the beginning of GCSE courses, so quite a good time to move in terms of the curriculum.

Some schools start GCSE courses in Y9, which means that the Y8 children are choosing their options in the next few months. If this is the case with the school she moves to, I'm sure they would do their best to accommodate her choices.

Thanks everyone feeling a lot better about the move now.