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 know that they are different countries. But it makes little sense that the education systems have never merged into one system.

Why is so much money spent on separate circulums?
Separate exam systems?

Much of it seems like being different because we can be different.

Legal systems I get but not education.

There is no case for changing though. (And I'm assuming you mean Scotland changing to the rUk system, not the other way around!) To whose benefit? Education has always been different in Scotland, and is now devolved to the Scottish Parliament anyway. How much money would be involved in scrapping an entire exam system? Our school years are also not the same (no reception, for example).

Why are separate legal systems ‘understandable’ but separate education systems are not?
We’re a separate country. We even had our own football team in the Euros (briefly) 🤣
The tax rates are different here too.

So you propose that Scotland junks its hundred years old education system because....what exactly?

Any accent other than a Scottish one could provoke a certain amount of teasing maybe, but I'd say that will die down once she's settled in.
It could well be considered to be quite cool and interesting. I'm imagining a lot will mistake her for being American though. But I guess that could happen anywhere!

@Andtheykepton I can imagine children arriving as refugees in their late teens have bigger worries than getting good exam results and into uni.

I'm think language, speaking English as a second language can't be the same as having English as a first language.

I can't imagine anyone would willingly move kids schools never mind education systems in their final years of school.

She's 17 though, not 7. I think almost-adults are past that stage.

@rosebloomed In the hope this makes it through all the posts about accents and English schools …

There are plenty of international students who come to British universities from a lot of different background and with different educational paths. And a good number of them come at short notice. There will be a way.

If your daughter already know what she wants to study at uni, I suggest you make a list of 5-10 likely universities and contact them directly. They can then advise the best route in for your daughter.

I suspect this would not be Scottish 6th year qualifications. As has been said already, Scottish students take their Highers for uni grades in 5th year. And your daughter is already old to be entering 6th year (17 year olds start uni in Scotland this September).

However many universities have different paths in through a foundation year program. The entry route will be different for each uni but is likely to be a combination of your daughter’s current grades, and entry exams for the foundation course. If a Scottish uni they might take her onto foundation this year at 17. If an English uni they might suggest a year of study (eg A levels through an online school, or an international qualification) for her to start on Foundation next Autumn. Both the foundation year and the online study will be expensive.

Apologies I don’t know about Welsh or NI unis.

Oh I agree - if you have a choice then I certainly would wait.

Im just saying that it does happen, more often than many realise, and it can work out ok.

For the refugees we’ve had - you’d be surprised. For many Education is very important and for those from Ukraine in particular many of the children were very focused on being able to go to university so they could hopefully one day return to Ukraine and be able to play a part in rebuilding their country.
Those from Syria were also very keen on Education but their aim is (for the ones I knew at least) to be able to give back to the UK. A fair few want to go into careers like nursing or teaching. The girls in particular who were not allowed to do many things and for whom education was not considered important in Syria are on the whole thriving now that college or university is a possibility

Hang on, if this opportunity has just arisen surely it is going to be some time before you arrive in Scotland - have you considered how long getting the necessary visas will take? Plus all the logistics of moving. So sounds unlikely your daughter would be in Scotland before term starts. And you’ll have to apply for schools and grind through that process- my limited experience in Dngland is councils won’t engage once you have a U.K. address. So you’re going to be eating into that year.

tbh if this is a longer term move I would seriously think about finding a way for her to stay in Canada for her final year.

Scottish schools don’t have the ‘do I get a place’ stupidity that goes on in England.
The vast majority go to their catchment school and I don’t think they can be turned down if they live in catchment. If places are tight and they are late to start the school year they might have to go to next closest or wait a bit for a space.
Theres no ‘ranking’ system. If your that keen to go to a particular school then live in the catchment area.
What goes on in England is insanity tbh.

Very true, but won’t apply to OP’s DD as she will be too old.

Too old for what? If she’s 17 she’s not too old for school. Scottish government are pretty big on positive destinations. Education, training, skills development. Gone are the days of leaving at 16 to go on the dole. The few that leave at 16 generally leave for foundation apprenticeship or similar. It’s considered a real failure if kids leave with nothing to go to.
Again, I work in a ‘challenging’ school but we’ve never turned a pupil away for being 17. We’ve even had pupils that came from overseas and were 19 in the April before they left. Not many for sure, but not unheard of.

The accent is not likely to be an issue at that age. The kids still studying for highers or advanced highers are generally the better behaved ones, it might have been a concern in lower secondary. It's really something that would be low on a list of concerns compared with her academic challenges.

If she turns 18 in Jan 2025 then she would have finished school in Scotland already and be moving to uni this autumn - however many children born in Jan/Feb deferred at start of primary so she will not be the only older one of that age if kept 'back' in S6. School year age groups run March to Feb, with a lot of overlap of children born from Xmas to Feb being in year below.

I don't know anything about the Canadian curriculum, so a lot will depend on her academic levels. She could technically do Highers in S6 but schools will usually want a certain level of achievement in the subject at Nat5/or GCSE coming from England - it sounds like she's not got any qualification yet? Students planning towards university in Scotland will typically do exams in S4 (Nat 5s) S5 Highers and S6 more Highers and/or Advanced Highers. So her peers would already have a lot under their belt. MFL is very much in decline in the UK sadly so take care choosing a school that can provide the necessary language options. They don't all even do French any more. She will likely be well ahead of her peers - is she bilingual?

School starts in about 3 weeks time. However Scottish schools actually move up a year in June and do a full month of their new courses so she is likely to have missed a fair bit of content already.

If you genuinely plan to move her I honestly don't know how you can make it work for S6 in 3 weeks time - schools are closed for summer. Someone already recommended the parent with job offer going ahead and other one staying with her to finish final year in Canada. Awful as being apart might be it honestly sounds like the best plan for the sake of less than a year.

Or a thought... there are more and more online schools here now - mostly for GCSE rather than Scottish curriculum - maybe there is an equivalent Canadian one you could use? If you can make the time zones work. Or some are asynchronous recorded lessons with live tutor support. And then just take her back to sit the exams?

Also - ask to get this moved to Scotsnet area rather than secondary education. The Scottish curriculum is completely different to the English one and talk of GCSEs and A levels is causing you more confusion. Unless you plan to use an English curriculum private school in Edinburgh. Scotsnet will get you clearer information. In England she would be in year 13 next year - the years don't align - they use sept-august age ranges and go to uni slightly older in general. But Scottish undergrad degrees are 4 years not 3.

Both systems have 7 years of primary.even if they are called different names P1-7 or Recept - Yr6

I think England has an extra year in secondary but a year less in degree courses.

How much money is spent on developing different courses for the sake of them being different?
So many students leave school and then go to uni in England or vice versa.

I just don't see a logic in reinventing the wheel. We have the same passports and driving licenses.
And should have the same education.

Reinventing the wheel would be exactly what junking an entire tertiary education system would be 😆

There is no requirement nor appetite for this. I honestly don't know what you're on about.

I live in Edinburgh and there are SO many people of different nationalities here. I'm confident that bullying will not be an issue, particularly in sixth year!

If you have the budget for private school, I'd consider it. There will be more leeway for her age and chosen subjects than in the state sector.
St George's School for Girls would be a good choice for sixth form. My daughter is starting sixth form there in August (they start back a bit later than state school, which would buy you a bit more time, depending on when you're arriving). They've been helpful and flexible with us anyway.
Good luck!

The OP only said 'schools', not whether state or indie - and a quick look at the websites of some of the indies indicates that whereas state achools in Scotland do not offer A levels, some of the independent schools do - one, at least (Fettes College) apparently offers both A levels and the IB. Either that, or the school just notes the dates of when the relevant exams take place on its calendar just as an aid to the randomly curious. Whether or not this would help the OP's DD is another matter.

Yes, the independent schools here are either solely Scottish qualifications, solely English (or with the IB thrown in for good measure), or a mix of the two.
I have no idea of the OP's budget but as so many kids attend private school here, thought I'd throw it in as another option. Fettes would be prohibitively costly, but again, I don't know the OP's situation.

Taking the OPs posts at face value, the whole idea of this is very recent and this thread is part of their research into what is involved.

However - you mention that she was potentially planning to come to the UK for university anyway. How far had she got with researching this? When was she expecting to apply to university, and on what Canadian qualifications would this depend? I think the first step absolutely needs to be figuring out how her university applications could work, which may help illuminate what she should do and how you as a family should navigate the move. Definitely try to avoid putting her into school and then working out what she will need for university applications!

A tip, if she wasn't planning a gap year, UK university applications open ? in September and have to be in by some time in January. There may well be some differences for international students.

You really really need to do some serious research into the Scottish education system (and ignore all the comments about Alevels and year 12/13) but if you can afford to pay for a year or two (and it might be worth bartering this into the job offer conditions) then at least Fettes college in Edinburgh offers International Baccalaureate which might align better to what she’s been doing in Canada.

She’ll be 18 in January. There are Scottish kids that are not allowed to retake 6th year because that’ll turn 18 during the year. Great to hear other schools will take them, but I find it surprising.

I still think (subject to discuss with the universities) that an international foundation year would be better for the kid though.

@Needanewname42

But there is zero desire in Scotland to change to the English system.

Zero.