Year 10 move to new school with AQA Exam board - ideas please

[BillyJoel]

We have to move back to UK asap and my dd is studying AQA GCSE's. I am struggling to find a school that is doing all AQA exam boards. The only way i can find out is to go to county league tables and then to individual school websites then trawl through the curriculum to try and spot the exam boards. I have done this for about 30 schools and it takes ages. Is there a quicker way?

Or do you know any such secondary schools? We are free to move anywhere and the decision will be the one that is least disruptive to dd's education. We can't afford private but could top up with private tuition. We should be moving in the next two weeks to a month.

Help!

[TeenAndTween]

My DD is in y10. Some subjects will be more affected by board changes than others.

eg English - could be critical, especially if controlled assessments have already been done, though I don't know whether these can be 'transferred' between schools or not.

Maths - I would not expect to be much affected

Science - there will likely be a lot of common core but by changing she may have missed odd bits - should be rectifiable at this stage by going through revision guide and asking the teacher.

History - will be affected not so much by board than by syllabus the school has picked - eg American West & Medicine Through Time OR 20th Century.

Languages - I get the impression there is quite a lot of overlap in the topics covered (and therefore specific vocab). Obviously general grammar and common words would be the same.

Geography - no idea, DD dropped it like a stone.


What might be more of an issue is whether your chosen school blocks options in the same way, and therefore whether your DD can continue with all her subjects, or whether some now clash. She may need to be willing to drop one option, which then of course frees up time to catch up missed topics if she has had to change syllabus.

Additionally of course schools aren't obliged to teach in the same order, so even sticking to AQA she might cover some things twice and miss other bits out.

tbh I would be very tempted to pick an area with loads of good secondaries (eg Hampshire - Winchester/Romsey/Chandler Ford area) and locate there. Then find the best fit / most accommodating school with a space).

[BillyJoel]

Thaks for that. Dd is doing geog, business, art and dt for options. No languages or history. No controlled assessments yet ...i don't think. I need to get a list of topics covered so far, i think. Very funny that you should mention the places you have - that is part of where I have been looking. The exam results do seem tobe quite good in these areas.

[Minime85]

in English she will almost certainly have done controlled assessment already and school she will be coming into certainly will have. in English there are some cross over in texts and the main eng exam is non fiction but controlled assessments very different for example between aqa and welsh board. but teachers will do their best I'm sure to help your dd get to same place but I'd expect a lot of catch up over Whitsun and summer hols. good luck

[Awakeagain]

I wonder whether a local college may offer one or more of her subjects if she isn't able to continue at school, maybe 1 eve a week spent on extra?

[BillyJoel]

Local college my be a good bridging move. I am . A bit worried that she will have to drop . A couple of GCSE's for it to work out. I am going to contact AQA local rep for hampshire and see if she is able to tell me which schools do mainly AQA.

[GirlsTimesThree]

We moved to the north of England when our daughter was at the end of year 10. Most of her subjects were OCR at her old school, but mostly AQA at the new one. I don't know how true it is, but we were told that northern schools are more likely to use AQA because they took over from the northern exam board (or something very similar sounding :-)).
Have you looked at schools up here to see if that's the case? As I say, it was just what the head of academics told us before we started, so may not be quite right, but maybe worth a look?

[sinningsaint]

Not sure what you are going to decide on in the end OP but if she does need to catch up or a bit of extra help with science I would hugely recommend the videos on [http://www.my-gcsescience.com/ here]. My DD is sitting her exams in a few weeks and says this has been the most useful thing her teachers have shown them .

[sinningsaint]

Woops too much this is the link.

[BillyJoel]

Thanks for all the advice. Have made a few phone calls to councils & schools and have an appointment with a good school that seem very keen to help dd with the transition and have some exam overlaps and also have a place for both my dds. This is all good. Probably still need a plan b just in case but we are v pleased so far. Cheers for the good advice.

[Tissuemapissue]

I'm sure that schools will have experienced students moving in the middle of their GCSEs before. The exam boards will also know that this happens. The schools wouldl iaise with the board to discuss their policies and procedures and what can be carried across.