Canadian 15 year old coming back to UK

[suzieQuattro70]

Hi some advice please
My friends daughter (and her family) are returning to the UK from Canada soon.
Can their 15 year old daughter join year 11 and take her GCSE's?
Or will she have to join year 10 to complete the two year course?
The family emigrated to Canada in 2008 and have dual citizenship for UK and canada

[SlinkyTink]

That's a really awkward time to return. What is she studying in Canada? If she is doing IB then it would be simpler.
Will she be privately educated? That might help.

We returned to the U.K. when the eldest two kids were just starting year 10 and year 12. The one returning in year 10 still missed things as the school had started bits of the GCSEs in year 9. The eldest did IB.

Are they returning now so that their DD will be eligible for home student status for University purposes. If so they might be better to stay in Canada for a year and then return to the U.K. for Alevels then for their DD to take a gap year.

[Needmoresleep]

Are they moving to a big city. One option would be to pay for the Yr 11 child to go to a private college and do GCSEs in a year. Really hard work, but you are then free to apply to state sixth forms.

[TheHobbitMum]

Could be tricky as someone else said a lot of schools do GCSEs early, my 14 & 15yr olds in yr 10 have done 3 so far and doing another after Easter. It'll be hard joining yr 11, I'd be thinking yr 10 would be an easier transition. Depends on what the teen has been learning so far I think

[TheJunctionBaby]

We moved back from Canada in time for our son to start year 9 for this very reason. It's a very tricky time. Hope you figure it out!

[LIZS]

She might be able to in private sector but many schools start gcse options in y9 so she may have more limited choice of subjects. Alternatively some fe colleges offer a 14-16 program where being out of year may be less evident.

[Needmoresleep]

LIZS, I was not suggesting private schools, but somewhere like this:

www.ashbournecollege.co.uk/gcse-courses-london/one-year-gcse-january-start/

We know someone who swapped from a very different education in a different language and came out with a bunch of A*s, and ready to start A levels at a more traditional school along with his peers. But you need to be close to tutorial colleges, able to invest a year's fees, and willing to work very hard.

[LIZS]

I meant some independent schools may entertain putting her a year below. There are some HK Chinese students at dc school doing this.

[mummytime]

If they just "plonk" her in the local state school it will have to "sort something out". This might not be ideal, and with recent funding cuts could be even trickier. However in one of my DC's year at school they got a new pupil at the start of year 11, and they arranged a special timetable to get them 5 GCSEs by the end of the year. But I doubt the school will be pleased to do this, and it will be a big risk with the new GCSEs.

[UKsounding]

It is also unclear to me (and I live in Canada and have been looking into this), how out of step the Canadian and U.K. Curricula are. My DD is younger but my sense is that Canadian math may be very far behind, science is probably behind, French possibly ahead depending on where in Canada, and history, geography etc. on a different page.

[relaxo]

The schools round here start GCSEs in y9. Is there no way to wait until y12 or come back earlier?