Hi
Need some advice re:schools.
We are hoping to move to Berryville, Virginia in September this year.
My daughter is 11 (turns 12 in March) and my son is 9 (10 in December).
Which school grade will they be in if they start school more or less as soon as we get there?

Also, what age do children leave middle school to go to High school?

Thanks

Jo

It varies, but a good rule of thumb is subtract five.
My son is 9, and will be going into fourth grade after the summer holidays.

It will vary by the state as some schools have cutoff dates of September 1 and others go all the way to December 1 or January (though these are not as common).

These articles might help:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/What_d...kids_in_school

http://www.free-for-kids.com/uk-us-e...-systems.shtml

Thank you both for your helpful replies.
The links are great.

Jo

When we arrived here in Texas in June 2008 my son was 9 - he started school in August in 4th Grade and was 10 in October. This kept him in with the correct age group.

bear in mind that americans ROUTINELY keep their kids back a year when starting Kindergarten if they think the child is too immature/shy/unconfident etc at 5. So in any one Kindergarten class you can find kids who are JUST 5 and kids who are ALMOST 7 and anywhere in between. Therefore it follows there are a broad age range of kids in every grade at school.

So when you chose the grade for you child - take the schools guidance but factor in whether your child is confident and happy in challenging situations (ie new school/system/teacher/classmates/country/home etc) - or less confident and nervous in challenging situations and consider moving up/down one grade to get a good fit. The kid will be behind in some stuff (ie american history) and ahead in others. If you can judge how well they will deal with that academically and socially you can adjust the grade a bit to make it a better fit for them. keeping them back to make an easier move wont be seen as a problem as there will likely be 'older' kids already in that class for the above reason.

Also bear in mind the switches to different schools - ie grade 6 is the start of middle school so an unconfident child might do better starting off in grade 5 at an elementary school so they can find their feet/acclimatise to the new system before being put in the more challenging environment of middle school.

Last thing to consider is: how long are you planning to be in the US? If you are planning a fixed time - then make sure the grade the kid will approx leave the US will fit in with the year they would return to in the UK with minimal hassle.

Thanks for that. Great Info.
My daughter is quite shy but then very bright academically so it might be an idea to see how she goes and adjust grade accordingly. Whereas my son has enough confidence for all of us!!

Thanks again

Jo

My daughter was very bright, but it still worked out really well to have her go into 1st grade having just completed Year 1 in the UK. She was young for her year, and not particularly socially advanced. The teachers differentiated the work so that she was never bored, and it gave her an extra year to catch up on all the stuff that's different about being in a new country.

see also the recent post by Budleigh about his kids experiences starting in the US this spring.

Just read the post by Budleigh and the whole thread is very informative.

Its a massive move we are making and I feel more confident now about the kids' schooling as that was a major concern of mine.

Thanks

My wife who is an American told me that to get the grade just deduct 5 from the childs age. A 6 year old would be 1st grade, a 9 year old would be in the 3rd grade.

This is a really good thread about moving up / down a grade at the younger ages. http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=643985

You'll find emotional and physical development at the younger ages are as important (if not more so) than academic development in the first few years, and some folks who have gone up a year have regretted it later (and vice versa). Worth a read through in total.

We moved over here in February with 3 kids. We are in the state of Connecticut so I don't know if this is different from any other state. The oldest is nearly 17, the middle one is 12 and will be 13 in August and the little one is 10 and will be 11 tomorrow. When we visited the schools, they set them a test and decided where they should be in consultation with myself.

Our middle one was placed in 7th grade with children her own age and has settled in well and her grades have certainly not gone down from back home. If anything, she's improved and I think that is because they could have placed her in 8th grade, where I think she would have struggled to try to fit in, and keep up with all the new work. Instead, she's been given a bit of a breathing space because she had already done some of the work back home.

Same goes for my youngest. She was placed in 5th grade with kids her own age and is doing really well. In fact, she's surprised me, how well she's settled in.

My oldest is a different story. After a long discussion with the school, and their inability to work out where she should be placed in High School, the sent all her education certificates to the school board which took forever. In the end, they decided that she didn't have to go to High School as her education from Scotland meant that she had the equivalent of a High School Diploma. We are now in a dilemna. Do we send her to High School to get more credits here, or does she go straight to College. Something for us to decide with her over the summer.

As a guideline, elementary goes up to the end of 5th grade. Middle school is grades 6 to 8 and High School is grades 9 through 12.

Don't know if any of the above helps you. Good luck.

Another thing to be aware of is that it's quite common for parents to delay the start of their children's education by a year - especially boys. Hence you end up with classes that have children ranging in age over about 18 months.

Another reason not to push your child up a grade if it means they will be the youngest, but instead to keep them somewhat with their age group.

I have been really impressed with the education system here so far.

me too. I could not believe the elementary school has enough electronic keyboards (and they are big decent ones) for each child in the class and all 4th graders are offered the chance to learn something in the strings range.

when i was at school a select few got the chance at one instrument at secondary level (maybe 10% of kids if that) and the choice was VERY limited. Otherwise the music access was the recorder