How badly would my daughter get bullied for having a different accent?

[rosebloomed]

we are moving from Canada and my daughter will be doing her final year of secondary school in Scotland. She told me her British friend told her she’ll most likely get bullied because of her Canadian accent. How true is this? Should we be worried? Would she have a hard time fitting in and making friends?

It all just depends on what pupils are in her class.

I have a friend who’s niece and nephew have just moved to Scotland from England and the nephew has had no problem at school whatsoever but her niece has had a few incidents of bullying happen to her. All sorted now that it was nipped in the bud quickly.

I doubt it. Not sure how easy it will be to cope with last year only though.

Bullies will go for the person who they perceive to the be weakest or one who will give them a reaction. They'll bully about anything - accent, appearance, possessions - anything at all. It's just bad luck to encounter someone like this.

I disagree completely. My DD moved from US to Scotland in 3rd year of high school, and was treated like someone exotic! It opened doors for her, in fact.

Biggest issue was that she had to work hard to get caught up, despite being a top student through her previous school years.

Good luck!

She wont be bullied for her accent at all. She will be bullied if she runs up against a bully, and they might mention her accent, but that wont be the reason.

Shouldn't be an issue at all -especially in 6th year. All the neds will have left. (not that it would be an issue at any year. I remember a South African girl joined our class in 3rd year and everyone was falling over themselves to be friends with her!)

DD2 went to school in Canada and had to do loads of catching up to get to the same levels here. Moved back to Scotland for Year 5.

If someone's going to be a bully, then they'll find anything to bully about.
So just depends on the people there I guess, and any bully would see her as a target

But in general no there's no reason to think she'll get bullied from her accent

Would it be very hard for her to catch up on the school work for her last year? How different is the curriculum from Canada?

Someone from Canada will likely be seen as fairly exotic so hopefully bullying shouldn't be an issue. 6th year in Scotland can be fairly relaxed as children will have done Highers for university entry in 5th year. Some children don't even stay for 6th year. Depending on what your daughter wants to do and her level of knowledge, she can pick a mix of highers and advanced highers. Will she be applying to university in UK? Have you already been in touch with the school she is going to? They will be able to help guide subject choices.

We aren’t sure what school to put her in yet, but we are looking for schools in Edinburgh. In Canada we only have exams and good grades to get into university, there are no highers. Will she have to do them in 6th year or be held back a year? She definitely will apply for university in the UK. My husband and I are a bit confused as to how the school system works though.

She’s no more likely to get bullied for being Canadian than she is for being tall, short, fat, thin, poor, rich, having a monobrow, having the wrong shoes, liking Taylor Swift, not liking Taylor Swift, wearing makeup, not wearing makeup, being smart, being dumb…I could go on forever. The only real reason she would be bullied would be because a bully would want to bully her. Bullying is about the perpetrator, not the victim. There is no reason to worry that being Canadian would disadvantage her particularly.

It's quite different and probably better - my Canadian family are certainly confident, clever, rounded young adults so I wouldn't criticise Canadian education. (for example I think school curricula here should include Civics - which I think is about being a good citizen?)

It's on subjects like maths and sciences where they seem to be a year or so behind and that might be because they go to school for longer. Also French was compulsory but it was Quebecois French rather than the French taught here.

Is be more worried about your daughter understanding us Scot's 😂

I don’t think she would be bullied for her accent any more than anything else.

how will she manage to do the last year of school? To be fair I don’t know much about the Scottish system as I’m in Wales but would she have missed quite a lot and find the exams hard?

When does she turn 18? All the DC here will be half way through A-levels.

Are sciences and math mandatory there? She wants to study either linguistics or business in uni. Do you think she’d be held back a year?

She turns 18 in January. What are A-levels?

She’s a very smart and driven girl, so I think (hope) she can catch up to her peers.

Are you on Facebook? Join the group WIWIKAU (what I wish I knew about university) Lots of international and U.K. parents who give good advice about joining uk university from abroad.

A levels are exams taken in England, Wales and N Ireland. In Scotland they don't do A levels so don't worry. If she's 17 she may have to drop down a year as her peers would have done exams for uni already.

Assume you know you'll be paying internal fees for uni?

Definitely Google that and see if it works.

A levels are sat in most of UK at 18, Highers are taken in Scotland, some (mainly private) offer IB, colleges and some schools offer BTEC or other level 3 awards. These are typical entry qualifications for uni in UK but there will be other routes for internationally educated students. Years 12/13 or S11/12 courses are usually taken at age 16-18 although some in Scotland move to uni at 17.

It's a bit astonishing that you're moving to Scotland without having researched the educational system and whether the move is appropriate for your DD.

I honestly don't know how your daughter can come into the last year of a A level courses without having studied the first year. It really is terrible timing for a move. Is it work related?

ETA that I forgot to factor in the different system in Scotland. That might be even more tricky to arrive to say 18.
What do you know about it?

We don't hold children back a year in the UK.