Expat Community > England

EllBJ
Joined June
Posts: 0

Education - reception?

5 months ago

Hello, I'm El, we are being posted to the UK along with my husband and 5 year old (5 in October). Arrangements aren't in any way finalized yet but from what I gather, we'll be relocating in Jan/Feb 2025. B

I have a few questions about education. My son is currently in preschool in Australia (I understand the UK equivalent is Reception), it's the year before formal schooling, which is not mandatory. Next year, he'd have started prep (I think the equivalent in UK is Year 1).

Unlike in Australia where the school year is Feb-Dec, I'm aware that we're rocking up midway through the UK academic school year. Would schools just allow a kid to enrol into Reception midway through? My concern is that we can't really hold him back and have him start Reception in September 25 as he would be turning 6 and so, at minimum 1-2 years older than Reception kids. But if he starts at Year 1, he'd be a whole year behind, academically (right?)

It's a bit of a headache. I don't even know how to go about working out which school to ask as we haven't worked out where we'll live yet and won't for awhile.

El

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