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Secondary education

Has anyone moved school at start of year 11 and how difficult is it for teaching staff to get a new pupil at this stage?

33 replies

Mumofrage · 17/08/2018 18:19

If you moved your child was it very difficult for your child to adjust.

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noblegiraffe · 17/08/2018 18:29

Crikey, I would avoid this if at all possible. I once had a student start at Christmas of Y10 and they found it very difficult to catch up with topics they had missed from the GCSE courses due to differences in syllabus and even where the syllabus was the same, because content had been taught in a different order. Moving in Y11 would definitely affect GCSE grades and schools might even be reluctant to accept them.

Socially they were fine but they already knew a good group of pupils from an extra curricular activity so slotted in easily.

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Haveasay · 17/08/2018 18:31

It would be very difficult to move at the beginning of year 11 as, presumably, they would be halfway through exam courses. It would be very difficult to find another school that is teaching same range of subjects with same exam board and has covered same aspects of the course and is able to timetable the same mix of subjects. I would suggest most schools would not take a new pupil into yr11.
it is also a difficult time if the student is considering uni as applications need to be made in the autumn term and teaching staff will be asked to write references, which will be difficult if they don't know the student.

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Mumofrage · 17/08/2018 18:52

Uni won't be an issue. Due to SEN and issues with another pupil they have currently bombed their mocks.
Tbh we will be very very lucky if Dc scrape their C grades due to issues and influence of another pupil.

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Clairetree1 · 17/08/2018 18:55

very very unlikely that the new school will be following the same courses from the same exam board covering the topics in the same order and fitting the same options into the timetable.

However badly you think your DC is doing now, you will stuff them up even further by moving them

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PotteringAlong · 17/08/2018 18:58

C grades don’t exist any more.

Honestly, as a teacher, I’d say don’t. Do everything in your power to make it not happen. I’d try my upmost if I got a pupil New into year 11 (and it’s happened before but when short course was still an option and that’s what they did) but with the best will in the world I cannot teach the half of the course they’ve missed to them after school when they’re in that position with 13 other subjects.

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Mumofrage · 17/08/2018 19:01

Sorry I meant level 4s.
Would it be as big of an issue if by some remote chance the school we moved to matched the exam boards in most areas?

Obviously I haven't come to a decision but the current position is awful.

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PotteringAlong · 17/08/2018 19:04

Even if they match the exam boards, there’s no prescribed order of teaching so there is no guarantee that they will have the same subjects left to teach. Your child might still end up having extra stuff to cover because the school they’ve moved to do it in year 10.

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80sMum · 17/08/2018 19:06

Yes, me! When I was 15 my dad's job relocated from London to Wiltshire and we moved house at the beginning of September a couple of days after the start of the autumn term.

For me, it was a nightmare of trying to catch up with a year's worth of work in a few weeks, as all the syllabuses were different and I hadn't done any of the courses that I was going to be taking O-level in the following June!

I never fully recovered academically. I don't recommend it, if it can be avoided.

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IAmTheWifeOfMaoTseTung · 17/08/2018 19:06

They won’t necessarily be studying things in the same order though will they?. History and Eng Lit GCSEs in particular consist of completely separate chunks that presumably can be taught in any order, so even if you move to a school doing the same board you could end up doing Stalin and Shakespeare twice but not covering Vietnam or poetry at all.

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Mumofrage · 17/08/2018 19:06

Thank you that's helpful

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BrieAndChilli · 17/08/2018 19:07

I moved schools at the start of year 11. It was awful, the new school didn’t do several of my GCSE subjects, I went from double science to doing each one as a seperate subject. I had to make new friends and build relationships with teachers from scratch.

I should say that I went from state school to private boarding school so also had that to contend with and the reason for being sent there was breakdown in the relationship with my narcissistic mother,
I developed an eating disorder and bombed my GCSE’s (for Bs and Ca instead of the predicted As at my old school.

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IHaveBrilloHair · 17/08/2018 19:08

I'm in Scotland but I moved my Dd for S5 which is the equivalent, best thing I've ever done.

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JenFromTheGlen · 17/08/2018 19:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheFifthKey · 17/08/2018 19:11

Retaking GCSEs isn’t as simple as “you can retake them!” - actually you can usually retake English, maths and maybe science but certainly not the full spread - if OP’s DC failed them all they would probably have to go and do a level 2 course such as a BTEC at college. Which isn’t the end of the world but it also isn’t retaking GCSEs.

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Clairetree1 · 17/08/2018 19:12

You can retake gcse exams

really? how exactly?

some colleges do a EBacc year, but you have no choice what you take English and maths, and you are allocated a science, a humanity and a language, whether you have done them before or not.

A very difficult situation to be in, and one to be avoided if at all possible.

And that is assuming the OP lives within striking distance of a school even offering an EBacc resit year

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IAmTheWifeOfMaoTseTung · 17/08/2018 19:12

I wish we could be more encouraging OP, because you’re clearly in a hell of a situation, but my DM sent me to boarding school in a different continent because her experience of moving schools midway through O and A levels was so dreadful.

Have you begged the existing school for help coming up with creative solutions? Perhaps flexischooling? Is there anyone there who you’d trust to look on it as a challenge? Do you have any money for tutoring?

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Rainbowtrees · 17/08/2018 19:13

Is retaking year 10 an option? Or perhaps looking for a college that takes 14-16 year olds as that would give more options.

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1busybee · 17/08/2018 19:13

Could you and would you consider moving them back to the beginning of year 10 again if you were moving them. Then they could restart gcse from the beginning in new environment. Alternatively might be worth looking at one of those one year intensive colleges so they start from beginning but complete whole syllabus at same setting.

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noblegiraffe · 17/08/2018 19:19

It’s not a year at school, it’s 9 months, or about 7.5 months once you remove holidays.

Have you explored all possible options for sorting the issues at the current school?

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PotteringAlong · 17/08/2018 19:23

Could you move her but move her down a year so she can repeat year 10?

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Clairetree1 · 17/08/2018 19:28

Could you move her but move her down a year so she can repeat year 10?

not in a UK state school.

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geogteach · 17/08/2018 19:33

In my experience it won't be an option . I work for a local authority tutoring service, no local school will take year 11 (whatever the reason for needing a school). Best case scenario is resit year 10 (but student would need to demonstrate being highly
Motivated) , may be possible to join a 14-16 course at college but spaces are
Limited and it is not a GCSE course or stay with me (5 hours a week) and hopefully get eng and maths functional
Skills and apply for a place at college post 16. My professional opinion would be stick with current school if at all possible.

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IAmTheWifeOfMaoTseTung · 17/08/2018 19:35

Not completely impossible with a statement of SEN (I forget the new terminology) but you’d have a hell of a fight on your hands.

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Girlslikeme · 17/08/2018 19:39

It’s really hard. I am an English teacher and your dc might have studied different books from the ones my class have studied. How would they catch up?

The course content is so wide and like pps have said, different schools and teachers cover things in a different order.

Also ime trying to get a straight answer from pupils about what they have/haven’t done at a previous school is impossible. Ideally the old and new teachers would liaise but in reality that does not happen.

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Girlslikeme · 17/08/2018 19:44

Your dc would count on the new school’s published exam results and I wouldn’t imagine many schools would be keen on that, especially the more academic ones.

Another thing to consider, are there spaces in year 11 in the new school? I know in my area year 11 is full in the most popular schools.

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