Wintersong

I have limited experience of English and Maths in the UK, but I would guess that public school in the US would be approximately on par with the UK in these 2 subjects at the end of elementary, possibly somewhat more advanced in English.

Since the US doesn't have a national curriculum, subjects covered can be very variable. I can only speak to what my daughter (going into 5th grade) has covered. As an ex science teacher, I can definitely say that she hasn't done anywhere near as much science as UK students would have covered by this point: the emphasis is very much on English and Maths and there's little time allocated for science at all. Social studies is primarily geography and history of the state we live in plus general US history (presidents, civil rights etc.) but this is likely to be true of any private US school as well.

I think it would be fair to say that any subject knowledge that is lacking is likely to be in the areas of history and geography (since the emphasis is understandably different in the 2 countries) and science. As others have said, it's highly likely that a bright and well-supported kid could relatively easily fill in the gaps. If it's a financial stretch to send him to a private school, I'd say it's probably not worth it (unless your school district is a bad one!)

Wintersong

AS & A2 levels are nowhere near as demanding as the old A levels were (at least in the subjects I was teaching).

sofa272

Thanks, everyone - this is really helpful.

Here in the US, we were about to have him start at a regular public elementary school (i.e. not a charter school or anything). The GreatSchools rating is 10, and it is well regarded locally, so we were basically happy with this choice. If I am being super picky, I would say the school is bigger than I would ideally have chosen, and I think he might well spend time repeating material from his year in TK (although I am sure they would want to deny this).

If we go past 5th Grade, I do have concerns about the middle school, which is not as strong as the elementary and not as well regarded.

The private school is not an IB school but it is academically selective. It pitches itself as a "gifted/talented" school (not a label we're mad keen on, but the school seemed fine). DS got turned down earlier in the year, then they offered us a place this week when someone else pulled out. It has the advantage of being a K to 8 school, so if we were to end up staying longer in the US, we would avoid the "middle school problem".

On the UK side, yes, we are from a county that has grammar schools and the 11+. So if we wanted a clear run at the 11+, it might help to be back in time for the start of Year 5, which is 4 years from now. Though that is midway through a Key Stage. Hmm. Or conceivably if we go private, we could give it another two years, then try for Year 7 entry and common entrance at 13+.

Obviously we can't know what will happen with jobs etc, so long term planning like this is a bit woolly. I think we'd jump at the chance to stay on if we can, so I suppose I'm trying to think through both scenarios - the one where we go back in 4-6 years and the one where we stay on.

Wintersong

We toyed with the idea of private school during 2nd grade, as our daughter was really treading water the entire year and made little to no academic progress. In the end we decided against it as it would have meant curtailing extra curricular activities and vacations in order to afford it. We decided that an enriched home life was probably more valuable in the long run. I'm glad we didn't - 2nd grade was a low point for a lot of reasons (changes in the curriculum combined with every single one of the 2nd grade teachers experiencing serious personal problems during the year, which impacted on all the 2nd grade classes), but 3rd and 4th grade have been really great.

Since then I've come to realise that, in the case of my eldest, what's most important to her development is security in terms of her close friends. Our long term plans have changed - we have the same issue here, with well-regarded elementary schools and a not-so-great middle school and had originally intended to move somewhere else before she started there. However, we now realise that our socially awkward girl will do much better in a mediocre school where she feels secure than she would if we were to put her through the stress of moving schools to one which is better on paper. We can always supplement her education at home, but forcing her to leave her friendship group would be catastrophic for her.

So... my point is that it's also important to take into account your son's personality - if he doesn't make friends easily, it may be best to have him in a local school where he's geographically close to the kids he's at school with and can take part in extra-curricular activities with the same group of friends.

christmasoompa

I agree with PF, in the UK it's much more academic at primary than when I was at school. My daughter (age 11, just finished last year of primary school) has covered stuff that I did at GCSE level already. Even just the basics are much harder now i.e. children being taught 'joined up' writing from age 4, and most having mastered it by age 6, and the spellings my son gets at age 9 are crazy! Although it's worked, there isn't a single word that he'll spell wrong now when he's writing a piece of English or a project on a topic.

There's still plenty of art/music/PE/cookery/etc, but Maths and English are now taught at a much higher level than when I was at primary. History, geography and science I'd say is about the same.

I've no knowledge of the US system at all, but if it helps at all my daughter is about the same age as you are thinking you might be coming back to the UK, so if you want any info on what she's been working on or learning about, feel free to message me. Of course, it may all change again in the next 5-6 years, but hey!

Good luck.

christmasoompa

My daughter took the 11+ and she took it at the very start of Year 5, so you'd need to be back much earlier than that if you did want your child to take it. Preparation generally starts at least a year before the exam for it from what I can gather if you are in a grammar school area (we're not - only a couple of grammar schools, so very few children take it unlike somewhere like Bucks or Kent).

Although you can buy books so you could prepare overseas if that helps. There's also plenty of free material online, although my daughter thought it easier than the real tests and the mock tests/books you can get, so just bear that in mind.

But here is an example of the free stuff you can download - https://d1p4wjjwzl8fa7.cloudfront.ne...SampleTest.pdf

The main thing for the 11+ is that your child has a great vocabulary, words such as 'mercurial', 'superlative', 'refute', 'nomadic' and 'incumbent' were ones that came up in my daughter's exam, if your child is a keen reader then that's half the battle.

Another thing to look at is the SATS papers from this year which might give you an idea of the level your child would be at if they were in the UK and in Year 6.

http://satspapers.org/SATs%20papers/...tions_PDFA.pdf

http://www.satspapers.org/SATs%20pap...oning_PDFA.pdf

HTH.

malch

At age 6, this is a non-issue. Very little is expected of incoming kindergarten students; ability to behave/settle to the classroom setting, count to 10 or 20, recognize a few simple words. My kids were expected to count to 100 after 100 days of kindergarten.

Don't worry too much if a few Asian kindergarten students are already onto trig and calculus :-)

As for private versus public schools, it depends on exactly where you will be living. CA has some very good schools. And some very bad ones. If your local public schools fall into the latter category, I would seriously consider going private.

Wintersong

The OP is talking about possibly moving back in 5-6 years, at the beginning of secondary school.

morpeth

I guess absent a directly comparable study one can only go by personal experience, of which I have with children who had been in different states, and experienced of expats I know who have had children in US and UK/EU school systems.

Some parts of country public schools and even majority of private schools have gone down considerably. I know one Midwest state where 30% of students entering a top 10 ranked public university need remedial English and math classes.

As far as northern California I would have a hard time recommending any public or private school in the area I lived ( one of top areas on the SF peninsula), and a very highly considered ( and expensive) school for "gifted" children which frankly though they did have a lot of potentially good students, they hardly received a broad education beyond what was ideologically considered appropriate. For example many families pay exhorbitant prices to live in Palo Alto to be in that public school system, I was hardly impressed with the product of those schools.

Most Expats I knew from Europe, Asia or South America when they came their children were usually ahead of American students, and when they returned were behind, though this might not be a representative sample- students who had been in Mexican private schools for example were far ahead of American students.

I studied in an overseas high school where I received a US high school diploma, and passed my A levels, at that time the A level classes, and the students in them , were far more advanced than American students.

Yet I must say most British Expats I met in Bay Area seemed to feel their children in US primary and middle schools didn't have much problem going to UK school when they returned.

Ozzidoc

Where in California are you?

julymermaid

Hello

We are a young family with a five year old little boy who will be moving to Thousand Oaks, CA in October. My son is already in Reception at a private school in UK and is considered gifted with an ability to pick up languages etc very quickly and advanced reading skills etc. As such finding the right school to keep him challenged is our top priority. I noticed you seemed to have an insight into some private schools that are teaching mandarin and french ... would you be able to share the names of these schools? And in your opinion, would you be able to recommend similar schools (we are open to private schools) in and around the Thousand Oaks area? This is our absolute op priority and any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks !

Cherrysoda

Our district does a lot of dual language immersion programs so check if TO offer the same thing. Your son will start kinder again here as they start school a year later)

julymermaid

Thanks CS. Would you have any names to recommend? Or is that not permitted in the forum? (sorry - a newbie!)

Cherrysoda

Not in TO-I just don't know the area. Try greatschools.com- you ar elooking for schools with a 10 rating on there)