My husband (Canadian) and I (British) have decided to move to the UK in August 2022 with our two boys. Our oldest will be 11 at that time and in Canada he will have just finished 5th grade. In the UK children his age will be moving on to high school. So, my question is, what happens in this situation? He will not have completed elementary school here, so does this mean he will have to complete it in the UK and go to high school a year later? Which would be fine.

Also, is he eligible to attend a public high school or does he have to attend an international school? The reason I ask is because our neighbors here moved to the UK 2 years ago. Their daughters had just finished 6th grade and should have been moving on to 1st year high school but because in the UK their peers were going into 2nd year seniors, they were not eligible to attend a local high school and are now in an international high school.

Our youngest will be 8 at the time of our move, so I'm assuming because he will have completed a few years in a UK primary school, it will not apply to him.

Thanks!

Interesting. I always thought that the local authority had a duty to place children in their area in a state school, either primary or secondary. Learn something new every day!

I contacted School Admissions in the area we are considering moving to and they said that both of our kids are eligible to attend a public school! This is great news! All we have to do is submit a late application for our oldest to attend high school once we arrive there. Now I'm wondering who gave our neighbours the information about their kids schooling...they have them in a private international school over there paying crazy fees!

If that's really what they were told, I think they were definitely misinformed! As Pollyana rightly said, the local council has a statutory duty to find a school place for each child.

Maybe they just couldn't get the children in to their school of choice, or didn't want them to 'skip' a year?