Why is all the Education stuff on M.Net about the English system and no mention is given to the different systems in Scotland and N.I

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We need info too. I've only lived here a year and thought that M.net would help me understand the education system. None of the Education explanations are helpful as they are all about England. Why is this? Will Scotland and N.I be added soon?

I'm very impressed with everyone elses knowledge and links.

AbbyMumsnet and Justine Mumsnet I can't offer to write the document because I'm one of the "needy" who require the page but is there enough info here from everyone else to put up the info?

here is the basic outline of Northern ireland education system
However this will change over the next few years following decisions made by the new devolved NI Assembly.
An example of this is the 11+ exam is due to be scrapped in 2009.

Wikipedia entry on Education in Scotland

BBC Action Network info

The more I read about the Scottish system, the more pleased I am that we moved away from the English system in time for ds starting pre school [narrow escape emoticon]

Here's a basic summary put together by a Scottish secondary school on their own website.

Lockerbie Academy

Hi all - jut to let you know that I'm working on this at the moment and, hopefully, will have something up on the site by the end of tomorrow at the latest.

Super

Fantastic, AbbyMN. Just let us know if you want feedback on it- there may be bits we've forgotten that aren't on the websites, I guess. Thanks

Thank you. We'll all be watching you this time

Right, have been a busy bee today and gone off and found a load of info - so here's the added Scottish stuff taken from various govt websites etc. Have a butchers and let me know what you think. Actually, you've got a lot more on secondary education - as that seems to be where the biggest differences are.

Would help if I included a link
www.mumsnet.com/bigissues/education.html

That's very good!

yOu probably want to include something about Catholic schools. They're publicly funded in SCotland. Dont' know much about them, but there are plenty of Mnetters who do - Aimsmum for example.

Well done and thanks Abby.

Many thanks Abby.

Could I suggest a small change - where you mention the 5-14 curriculum, parents might assume this is as prescriptive as the English NC, so maybe a little addition:

"Key Stages" are not used in Scotland - instead they follow the "5-14 curriculum", a set of guidelines which schools implement in a variety of ways.

Can I make a suggestion for the Home Ed side of things?
In Scotland we have different rules for taking children out of school to Home Ed. For instance in England, you just tell the school that you want to Home Ed and to remove the child's name from the school role.
In Scotland we have to apply for permission from the Local Council, which could take weeks or months, and if you don't do it all properly then you can have a big mess on your hands!
You can link to www.schoolhouse.org.uk/ who offer brilliant support and advice, and the legal side of things too!

The only other amendement I would be inclined to make is to this:

"Children in Scotland must start primary school in the August term after their fifth birthday. However, education authorities can make arrangements for children to start in the August when they are four, if they will turn five by the end of February."

In my experience, and everyone I know of in Edinburgh, the emphasis is the other way round. The basic assumption is that if your child is 5 before Februrary they will start the previous August, but you are welcome to keep them back for another year. Lots of people with children who have birthdays from December onwards do this (although by no means all), but it's certainly not common to keep children with August/September birthdays back. I'm not suggesting changing it unless other people have this experience, but certainly here there are no "arrangements" to be made unless to keep the child off school for another year.

i agree Tamum

both my dds are October, i wouldnt consider waiting til the next August (when theyd be 5 yrs 10 months)

i always thought it was if youre 5th birthday was between feb and feb. to put it simply

youre? your

Yes, I would have said that was the default, wouldn't you? Ds is November and he started when he was 4, but there was another boy in his class whose birthday was December and started when he was 5. I just thought that you had to fill in a form to keep them back a year, but otherwise register them as normal.

anything about gaelic education? i've been looking but it all seems very governmental to me...

i'm going to have to think about all that, tamum... dd is a december baby so would still be four. is there a major disadvantae in going early, do you think?

aitch my dd started p1 in august this year at 4 (she is oct) and she is exactly the same age as her friends

some are not 5 til feb and you can see they are slightly younger but you mre notice the ones who are older. there is one girl who is 5 in feb and there is one who ws 5 last feb

i suppose it depends on your child but a dec child i would send at 4 if it was me

the only disadvantage i have come across is dd wsnt allowed to start rainbows the same time as her friends - they are strict about the child being 5

she has to wait til after xmas and there may not be a place

although that has nothing to do with school, its peer stuff iyswim

Aitch, I honestly think it's completely child-dependent. It's more common for boys to be kept back IME, but you really have to judge your particular child at the time. I know one person who sent her dd (January birthday) when she was 4; after a term she still hadn't settled so her mum took her back out again and she tried again the next year and took to it like a duck to water. I wouldn't have thought that was ideal, as there's always the danger a child might think aha I just have to play up and I don't have to go any more, but in this case it worked. When I was trying to decide about ds I rang the school and they said "Can he dress himself?" yes "Can he write his name" yes "Can he count up to 10" errr, yes "Oh well he's ready then". I don't think I would recommend this as a rule of thumb, but it certainly left me feeling that he would be OK.

lol at 'err, yes'... i think the reason i am wondering is that i'm sure i saw on here a big thing about older kids in classes doiing better academically and i wouldn't want dd to think she was a duffer just because she was younger, iykwim?