Moving to Scotland from Northern Ireland
Like Northern Ireland, Scotland has seven years of primary school, but the birthday cut-off and secondary transfer are different.
Which class would my child be in?
Guidance only: the school and council make the final placement decision. Cut-offs: Scotland 1 March, England and Wales 1 September, Northern Ireland 2 July.
What's different
- Northern Ireland's cut-off is 2 July and children start P1 at about 4; in Scotland the cut-off is 1 March and children start P1 at about 4½ to 5½.
- There is no transfer test: children move from P7 to their catchment secondary school (S1), or another school through a placing request.
- The school year starts in mid-August.
Exams and university
- National 5s (S4) are broadly comparable to GCSEs; Highers (S5) and Advanced Highers (S6) take the place of AS and A levels.
- Most Scottish honours degrees take four years.
Getting a school place
- Find your catchment school for the exact address you will live at (it may not be the nearest school).
- Contact the council's education department, or the school, to enrol. Councils usually ask for proof of address and your child's birth certificate or passport; some only enrol once you are living there.
- For a different school, make a placing request to the council. For an August start, councils usually take these between December and February.
- If a placing request is refused, you can appeal, usually within 28 days.
General guidance, not an admissions decision or a formal comparison of qualifications. Moving from somewhere else? England · Wales · Ireland · United States · another country