School in Scotland: from P1 to S6, enrolling with the council and the school that goes with your address

In Scotland your child goes to an ordinary state school, just like Scottish children, and it costs you nothing. What is different from the Netherlands:

• The school year starts in mid-August.
• Children start in P1 (Primary 1), aged roughly between four and a half and five and a half.
• You enrol your child with the council, the local authority, not with the school of your choice.
• Your address decides the school. Every primary school has a catchment area, its own area it serves, and is linked to a secondary school.

So if you are still looking for a home, look at the school first. A house just outside the area of the school you want means a request with an uncertain outcome.

What does the Scottish system look like?

The curriculum is called Curriculum for Excellence and runs from 3 to 18. It has two parts: a broad general education up to and including S3, and then the senior phase from S4 to S6, in which pupils take exams.

Year	Age, roughly	Curriculum level
Childcare (ELC) and P1	3 to 5	Early level
P2 to P4	5 to 8	First level
P5 to P7	8 to 11	Second level
S1 to S3	11 to 14	Third and Fourth level
S4 to S6	15 to 18	Senior phase, with exams

The curriculum is a guide: children move through the levels at their own pace. In the senior phase a pupil chooses subjects at National 4, National 5 or Higher, depending on what they have mastered by the end of S3. A Higher takes one or two years.

School age runs from 5 to 16. A pupil who turns 16 may leave on a fixed date: the end of May or in December, depending on the birthday.

When does a child start P1?

The council sets the start date, and in practice that is a day in August. Which year your child starts depends on the birthday. Clackmannanshire Council explains it like this:

• Birthday between 1 March and the first school day in August: your child starts in the August of the year they turn five.
• Birthday after that first school day and up to the end of February: your child starts in the August before they turn five. You may then also choose to defer.

Deferral is a right of every parent of a child who is not yet five at the August start. Since August 2023 such a child automatically gets an extra year of funded childcare (early learning and childcare) as well. You apply for deferral to the council where you live. At Clackmannanshire the form must be in by 31 January; check the deadline with your council. Once the deferred year has started, you cannot reverse it.