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?

I suspect this thread is really by a Canadian teenager who likes to daydream about moving to Scotland.

The chances of her being able to do her last year at school are pretty small given the very different exam systems.

Many years ago we moved from England to Scotland, and due to the different exam systems [ still within the UK ] my son had to repeat a year so that he could catch up. As you are coming from Canada and your daughter is already 18, I doubt that she will be able to do that.

You need to contact schools in Scotland to find out their policy.

Not only that lots of schools move into the next years timetable in June, so they will effectively have done a month of the 6th year courses already.

I also think Op is being very nieve about Uni fees. The last time I looked at this you needed to be resident for 3 years or you are classed as an international student, regardless of having UK Nationality.

Logically the Op should let the child complete their secondary education in Canada.
But then they would be an adult and probably need to apply for entry in to the UK on their own merit (assuming the child isn't already a Dual National / UK National)

The OP DD is 18 in January. It’s too late for school. I’m in England but I think she is the cohort who has finished this summer. Scotland students enter university at 17.

At that age she's extremely unlikely to be bullied for her accent. On the other hand I would worry that she won't cope with a swap in education system. I would personally wait a year.

You could be right. Or they are being incredibly nieve if they think someone could jump into Highers without having done the Nat 5s before them.

Keeping in mind some subjects are bound to be different. I expect the English texts taught in Canada would be different to Scotland. Same with History.
Science and maths are probably the same. But who would want to move on that basis.

Also would schools even want to enter a student for the Higher exams if they aren't confident of them passing and the risk of them pulling their statistics down.

At 17 the child is beyond compulsory school age do schools have to accept them?

And actually lots of January babies will have completed 6th year this summer and be off to Uni. Only deferred entries will still be in school.

Would they not be better to go straight into college?

What the hell have I just read?! Are you insane? No she can’t move school at this stage in her education she has to finish school where she is which she very nearly has. You need to delay the move or you go and you find her a place to stay with family / friends for a year to complete her education in Canada.

Honestly we were having a “can’t believe my parents did that” conversation with friends about our parents 90s parenting style this is worse than anything they did (one friends parents moved house smack in the middle of her a levels for example but at even that was a move locally)

Lots of weird (and wrong) answers here.

Yes our curriculum starts in June so you’ve already missed a month.
Yes you can do Highers in S6.
No one is going to care about her accent (38 different languages spoken in my school)
Kids generally turn 18 at some point in S6.
Some kids don’t bother with S6 and go to uni after S5, that’s why some are 17 when they go to uni but it’s really not that common.
Yes you’ll get a place in school but you might not get the subjects you want as some classes will be full already.
Perfectly possible for her to succeed in S6 but it will mean working very very hard to catch up.
There are a number of routes to get to uni though. Some have 2+2 courses where you go to college to do the first 2 years (HND) and then Uni for last 2 years to complete an honours degree. This generally has lower entrance requirements as first 2 years are college, and the transfer to uni only happens if you pass the first 2 years.
We had a number of Ukrainian children arrive at our school in August or even September/October 2022. Some were in sixth year. They did Highers. Those with decent English skills and who worked hard passed their Highers and went off to Uni last September. The biggest difference there by the sounds of it is that the Ukrainian children were generally ahead of the Scottish children and the main issue was English language. It sounds like Canadian education might be behind Scotland (though no issues with English)

It doesn’t matter if its better, if the things she's been learning aren't going to be on the final exams, and other things she hasn't learnt are. That's not criticising Canadian education, that's pointing out a potential problem with moving systems during critical years.

The op may need to consider this when deciding where or which year group to enrolle the DD, so it's a valid thing to highlight.

Kids generally turn 18 at some point in S6.

Surely it's just the March-June baby's who turn 18 in S6.

The rest won't turn 18 until after they've left school with the exception of the kids who deferred school entry, mainly Jan & Feb babies. It was harder pre covid to defer Sept-Dec babies. You weren't guaranteed nursery funding without good reason.

Would a school be willing to take on a child at 17 into S6 who would be one of the oldest in the year? And who's already missed the June start?

seriously?!

@Needanewname42
Any child born from Jan to June could turn 18 in S6.
Some Jan/Feb kids start school at 4, some go at 5. It’s probably more common to wait til 5 now.

OPs daughter won’t be the only one turning 18 in Jan/Feb

We’ve taken kids at 17 into S6 probably every year for the last 6 or so years and most years before that.
Not all will want/be capable of Highers.

@Andtheykepton
Where are the majority kids moving from if they are starting S6?

I'm surprised that it's so common for children to move in the last years of school.

I can only think of one child who joined school in S5. They were an army child who moved in with the grandparents to do Highers in S5, to avoid moving school mid year.

This

I moved with my DC from Canada and there was no issue with their accent. In fact it made them popular! And like the pp opened lots of doors for them.

She wont get bullied as an 18yo for her accent.
Ignore any posters talking about "year 11" or "a levels". These are not part of the Scottish system so you can assume their advice is unreliable.

Contact the international office at a couple of Unis. They will advise you on what your daughter needs to do to top up on what she has already studied. She may be better going to a Further Education college than a school.

Good luck.

Pretty shocked you're worried about her accent and haven't looked at all at the actual important thing of education?!

Most sensible post on this thread.

OP you might want to consider posting on Scotsnet. That will weed out all the incorrect English A Level type answers.

If she's over compulsory school age, which she is, schools may not accept her. I work in education in Edinburgh and this has been an issue for several young people I'm aware of.
The residence issue for university is also a biggie - to avoid being treated like an international student and paying fees, you need to have been resident in Scotland for three years - this applies to college too!

I agree that @Andtheykepton has given the most sensible and comprehensive answer here. I really struggle to see what the people talking about the English (Welsh and NI) system think they are adding to the thread, other than confusion.
I would recommend getting in touch with admissions at one of the big Edinburgh private schools for a chat about options. They are used to having expat pupils at all stages and if necessary will be more open to having flexibility about what year your DD joins. Even if you don’t want to go private this will give you an idea of the educational landscape. Watsons, Heriots, St George’s and Mary Erskine will all have an experience with Canadian in comers, I’m sure.

@Needanewname42

I teach in a ‘challenging’ inner city school.

That means that the council houses in the area are the least popular with locals.
This in turn means that if a family arrives in the city needing accommodation - most of the available places are in this area.
We have previously had a significant number of migrant families - mostly Eastern European. Less so since Brexit.

We have had Syrian refugee families.
Afghanistani refugee families.
Ukranian refugee families.

We also have many children whose parents come to either work or study at the university. Again, the available housing is in this area.
They don’t always arrive in time for the courses to start. Many are Asian, currently we have a fair few that started last year who came from Nigeria or Ghana.

In my school the general rule is that if a child arrives before the October holidays we’ll do our best to aim for exams. After October we will try for alternatives such as NPA (no exam) courses.

If the arrive after Christmas we’ll do what we can but no promises - this might involve focussing on only 1 or 2 subjects or trying just to get an English or Maths qualification.

This sort of thing generally doesn’t happen in the ‘best’ schools - simply because the available social housing is in the poorest areas so that’s where the vast majority of migrants and even locals who unexpectedly move areas end up.

@Waitformetoarrive

What are A-levels?

Have you not bothered to research education in the* uk?*

Why would someone moving to Scotland need to research A Levels?

Could the person who doesn’t have the new job stay with her in Canada to finish the last year of school and then she could go to uni here.
it wouldn’t make any difference for funding as she’s be considered an overseas student anyway, so wouldn’t be eligible for loans/home student fees.

Being fair other posters probably threw her by saying A levels.

And actually while I get the whole it's historic reasons etc in the 21st century why does the UK continue to have separate education systems and exams.

Because @Needanewname42 Scotland and England are separate countries with different education, legal systems, etc.