Has anyone ever moved their DC to a different school and it not worked out?

We moved DD1 at the beginning of year 10- best thing we ever did and really wished we had done it sooner.

I think just go and look around the school with him and see how he feels then

It is a very big thing and a bit scary at that age to have to start again, and it very hard for him to actually make that decision.
Maybe he is worried things might be bad at the new school and he would rather just get on with what he knows rather than start again IYSWIM

in my experience with my dd it was honestly the best thing we could have done. She was not part of the "popular" crowd because she was more interested in the academic side, rather than make up and boys and she was constantly teased about being a "geek" to the point where her work was suffering and even though there were clubs she wanted to join after school, she ended up giving them up because she wasn't enjoying being called names etc.

At that time, I didn't want to move her, I wanted the school to give her some support and tried and tried to make this happen but they were not at all interested as there was no physical violence but it got to a point when she used to be so upset in the morning and didn't want to go to school.

It took an entire year to make the decision to move but she has been so happy ever since.

Posted too soon sorry

Her school is now 14 miles away but it's a small price to pay for her to be settled and doing well.
She is going into year 10 September and is used to the traveling now.

Dd moved at the start of year 8, tbh I wish I did it sooner.

She is very happy now.

dd moved at the start of year 10 and it worked out well except the new school went bankrupt at the start of year 11 and she ended up back at the old one. Not ideal, but it's actually been fine.

I moved my DS last September as he was really unhappy - it was the best thing we ever did. My only regret is that we didn't do it sooner. I think we spent too long trying to make it work, with 'people dynamics' it either works or it doesn't........
Whilst angsting about whether to move him or not I read many threads on here and didn't see one where it hadn't worked.
Good luck to you both.

Yes my DH was a bit like that, but DS started mentioning about a move in yr 8 and was still keen in yr 9, he did have friends but not really solid ones and he doesn't go out much.

I think he just struggled to hold his own and the big class sizes didn't really work for him, he was typical 'lost middle' I've never thought he would be top of the class, but I felt the teachers didn't really know him, not their fault, as it is a very good school and DS2 is happy there.

We have just moved DS (yr 9) to a school with a really long travel commitment, he will have to stay for the next 2 years to do his GCSEs, we made that clear to him when we agreed to the move that there would be no more changes.

Just make sure he really wants to move and that you think the new school will solve some ( ideally most) of the reasons he hasn't settled.

It's a funny time to move, but if teenagers don't fit in it's very hard for them. My DS was a small fish in a big pond and it wasn't doing his self esteem any good.

Now he's in a much smaller pond with less pressure I'm hoping he will settle, but it's a bit of a gamble.

What are your sons reasons for wanting a move?