mzp

Our daughter starts school in Aug in Scotland. we'll never be ready to go by then...
so.. if we wait until April/may june she'll go to Senior Kindergarten in Canada.
my question is - how different are the 2? P1 in scotland and SK in canada?
should I wait until she's finished P1 before making the move as she'll then go to school in Sept.

just looking for the best time to move - if there is such a thing?!?!

Judy in Calgary

The UK school system is about a year ahead of the Canadian one. (With that having been said, there isn't really a "Canadian" system; there are provincial systems. Still, the provincial systems are sufficiently similar that we can refer to them, loosely, as the Canadian system.)

Anyway, as I was saying, the UK system is about a year ahead of the Canadian one.

I can assure you that, from an academic point of view, your daughter will have no difficulty in switching to the Canadian school system. Specially at that early stage.

I would not worry about the timing of the move if I were you.

If you haven't already found them, you may find it helpful to read the series of Wiki articles on Canadian Schooling.
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lauder99

Hi there

We are heading to Calgary this summer and we really want to get there before start of term 2 September. Our daughter is currently getting through P1 HERE IN Scotland. We have no worries about her academic skills but we are a little concerned about her breaking into an existing group so we would really like to start her in Grade 1 with her peer group.

Our timescale is working in with this rather than being driven by it, If we were there earlier we would keep her out of Kindergarten to give her some family time. Unfortunately our kids have been in full time childcare since they were 5 months, which is one of the main reasons for our move.

All else being equal I would get there as soon as I comfortably could but everyone is different.

Cheers
Tom

Judy in Calgary

The point about breaking into an existing group is well taken. However, if the original poster cannot get to Canada in time for the start of the academic year in September, which seems to be the case, it would be better (in my opinion) for the child to get some schooling under her belt in May / June, if possible. The reason is that this would enable her to become acquainted with some other children before the July - August summer vacation starts. This, in turn, would make it easier for her to have some local playmates through July and August.

The BE forum has seen an instance in which an older child (16, if I remember correctly), was not allowed into school in May or thereabouts, because the school said it was too close to the end of the school year for him to be able to pick up on the curriculum, etc. However, I don't believe they would prevent a young child from joining for the last couple of months of school.

Postscript. By saying this, mzp, I don't want to give you a new thing to worry about. It would be nice if your daughter could meet other kids at school before the summer vacation, but it's not a make or break issue.

I return to my original point that, at your daughter's age, the timing of the move is not that big of a deal.
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lauder99

Totally agree Judy. Its not that big a deal for us to worry about exactly when we get there but we have set a target, just to have a target really. I accept its an arbitary one.

Our daughter is the youngest in her year group and therefore the whole school here and it has knocked her confidence and social skills a little. She is strong academically but we really would like to give her the best chance to integrate.

Cheers
Tom

JAJ

Incidentally, the education system in Scotland is quite different (and has always been different) from the education system in England and Wales.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Scotland

There are also differences in Northern Ireland.

vickysteve

Our son had no trouble getting settled at school in saskatoon SK he thinks it is better then the schools in the uk, He was in year 9 in the uk so that put him in grade 8 in canada and he loves it. The school is more activity based here and there are lots of after school activities he is always doing something at the school.