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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

Moving from South Africa to England - Grade 11 - 17 year Old

29 replies

sagreem · 30/09/2017 12:57

Hello There. We are relocating to England from South Africa &* I have a 17 year old daughter who has completed her Grade 11. In SA she would do her Grade 12 next year & go to Uni. We need some guidance - Will she need to finish another grade/year In high school or do a bridging course before applying to University.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Regards
Sagreem

OP posts:
catslife · 30/09/2017 15:14

Need to add that the UFP programme does have a January intake to cater for international students, if this is applicable for South Africa. You will need to pay fees for this course.

catslife · 30/09/2017 15:08
  1. Does your daughter receive an actual recognised qualification for completing Y11 or not? 2. Is English her first language or not?
If she has an actual qualification and English is her first language then, my advice would be to contact some UK universities and ask them. I would consider Scottish ones as they have "Higher" exams which they sit at 17 years old rather than A levels. The other problem that you will have is that even though you are moving to England, your daughter will still probably have to pay international student fees. If she doesn't have a qualification and English is her second language then she can enrol in a language school to take iELTs and take this qualification alongside A levels. Some colleges do offer alternatives to A levels e.g. The University foundation Programme UFP is a one year programme designed for overseas students wanting to apply to UK unis. (It may not be accepted for some top unis and courses though). See link www.google.co.uk/search?q=UFP+programme&oq=UFP+programme&aqs=chrome..69i57.9074j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Icouldbeknitting · 30/09/2017 13:54

There are two really bad times to move within the english education system and the bad news is that age 17 is one of them. She won't be able to do another year in school because students her age will have already completed one year of a two year course. She won't be able to join half way through A levels (or Btec), the only option there would be to start with the first year, and take the whole two year course.

I don't know enough about the entry requirements for a foundation year at university, some courses that are normally three years long have a lower entry requirement into a foundation year. She would need to look at specific entry requirements. My suspicion is that this would not work as she has not completed her education in South Africa, she is still missing a year.

I am not an expert, hopefully one will come along shortly but I think she will be looking at a two year course before university rather than one year.

Allthebestnamesareused · 30/09/2017 13:51

In the UK A levels or IB takes 2 years to complete in our years12/13 same as grades11/12 in SA).

I would therefore either suggest she completes one further year in SA and applies to uni having completed her education there or if she is to make the move with you I suspect she will have to drop a grade to be able to complete the 2 year course to give her adequate qualifications to get into uni.

When do you plan to move over here? Our school years run from September to July.