Moving schools in middle of GCSE's

[alaskacoby]

We are possibly having to move area half way through DD's GCSE's (ie at end of year 10).

She would also be transferring from state to independant school.

Is this possible? or adversely detrimental for her?

Any help most welcome.

[GrungeBlobPrimpants]

Whatever school she's transferring to, I think first thing is to check whether they offer same GCSEs - eg that languages are the same, that eg history covers same period(s) and not completely different etc, and if there isn't a good 'match' how school would tackle it.

I recall a girl joining my class at start of Y11, and she had been studying compeltely different set of works for Eng Lit, diff history modules etc and German which we didn't do at our school which was pretty difficult for her

[crumpet]

Is the exam syllabus the same (same exam board etc)? We moved in the middle of my A levels and I repeated the year as one subject wasn't offered so I had to start another from scratch, and the other 2 subjects were with a different exam board, (so 200 years apart in History for example)

[Lilymaid]

Many if not most schools do different boards for different subjects so it is probably unlikely that your DD will be able to carry on exactly the same course in Y11 as in Y10. Also, the different schools may have covered different topics in Y10 within a course.

[alaskacoby]

Thank you for all your replies so far.

The subjects which have different exam boards are English, History, French and German. Maths have the same exam board but she is currently studying for a Statistics GCSE during Y10 (no maths studied at all) then the GCSE Maths will be condensed into Y11. Therefore, this will also cause problems.

[islandofsodor]

Do you absolutely HAVE to move then. Are there any family/friends your dd could stay with whilst she completes her last year at school.

If you have no choice then I would look into the possibility of her repeating a year and doing her GCSE's a year later as I think she will be disadvantaged.

[MmeBlueberry]

I teach in an independent school and we have 3 or 4 pupils move in per year sometime during Year 10 and even into Year 11. This year, even more so - I think around 10.

We accommodate the new students and are sensitive to their exam courses. There is give-and-take. Sometimes, the student has to take new options, but will be given full support to catch up. Core subjects are fairly easy to transfer, even with different awarding bodies.

It is certainly a non-ideal situation but you have options, including having your DD repeat Year 10.

[alaskacoby]

MmeBlueberry/islandofsodor - thanks for your input.

I know she would be very reluctant to have to choose different options and is enjoying and working hard at the ones she has chosen.

Repeating Y10 is not something which I had considered. What implications would this have further down the line ie; taking the exams at 17, rather than 16 and A levels a year older? Also, would the university's look unfavourably on this?

[neversaydie]

My parents did this to me. It is not just a matter of the academic side - although that was bad enough (I moved country, maths system and exam board) but that you have so much bloody catching up to do that you have no real time for anything else. Including socialising and making friends. Even more fun at boarding school.

It would have made a huge difference if I could have stayed where I was (also a boarding school) and taken my O levels (which dates me) and then moved for A levels.

Some years later, my parents were faced with a similar choice for my younger sister. She stayed with my Grandfather and finished the school year where she was. (Not boarding by that stage).

Would something like that be an option?

[neversaydie]

Incidentally, I did OK at O level, but had so many gaps in my knowledge that my A levels suffered. I found my Chemistry A level notes recently, 30+ years on and couldn't even remember studying most of it, let alone the details.

I got into University without too much difficulty - my tutor looked at my educational history, sniffed, and said that I had done well to pass any exams at all.

People were pretty understanding about the academic challenges I faced, much less so about the social difficulties I suffered. Maybe my reaction to the whole thing was a touch extreme...

[islandofsodor]

I don't think it would affect university entrance, particularly with a good reason such as that.

In essence I repeated the last year of 6th form purely because I had a change of mind about what I wanted to do at university so did an extra A level.

My dh repeated the year due to illness.

[snorkie]

If repeating a year isn't an option, then some people do a reduced load of GCSEs (say 8 instead of 10) to give them extra time to catch up on the other subjects.

Even if the subjects and exam boards match exactly (extremely unlikely), different schools teach the syllabus in a different order, so there will still be catching up to do. And for modular subjects (like science) she will have to retake some modules I would think. It will be a hard year with making new friends and catching up, but still doable if she's reasonably bright and determined.