Moving from the US to the UK

Amerryscot, at two of our international schools in Eastern Europe MYP was only up to grade 8, so I'm sorry for the mistake. I will definitely try to keep sucking it up for my girls. Thank you for the advice.

Amerryscot no one is doubting that your daughter is not worth the 40,000 you pay annually for her school fees. But if the OP doesn't have access to that kind of money then, well, she doesn't!

MYP goes up to 10th grade US; diploma is 11th and 12th grade.

Many state school sixth forms offer an IB stream so no fees required for those two diploma years, just the Y11 bridge year.

As a fee payer paying 40k per year, I live and breathe that fees are not peanuts - but they are worth it. We got into the independent system when we moved from the US and local state schools inappropriate. Ours was a local transfer, so we don't get any help with fees. We suck it up for the sake of our DCs.

Amerryscot -- It is my understanding that the girl is in grade 10 in the US, meaning:

a) she would not be doing the MYP as it is for middle school students, grade 6-8 (in the American/International private school system)
b) she would have two years left in a private US/IB school and would complete said IB in two years, costing £30,000.
c) I don't know about you but for our family (and the OPs, I believe) £30,000 ain't peanuts -- besides probably wanting to live somewhere near said schools, which is an impossibility for my family and maybe hers as well (no relocation package as stated in the OP)

There is more flexibility in age groupings above age 16. In most schools/6th forms/colleges you can't take AS/A levels or IB without having achieved 5 GCSE at C or above (or equivalent) often including the same topic at A*/A/B ie. in English for English Lit or Science for Chemistry. You may hear mention of the EBacc which is a core range of subjects achieved at this level. Some A levels will teach a subject from scratch (ie. Economics) but even then it is some advantage to have done relevant GCSEs (such as Geography). In Year 12 you may get those resitting to get a better result or even taking extra ones , so your dd would not necessarily be alone if she were still doing GCSE courses in year 12. Also Year 12 is typically the first year of A level courses (known as AS levels) and you may find those from year above resitting these to get required grades to take A level the following year.

It will be very difficult for her to slot into Y11 and have a good attempt at GCSEs. There will be 2 terms left of basically a five term course. Some subjects may have already done their controlled assessments in Y10.

The subjects will not match up well with what she has done in the US, and even if she is very bright and motivated, it will be very difficult for her.

I think you have two options to do the right thing by your DD:

1. put her into Y10
2. put her into a US diploma or IB MYP for a year, then move onto the IB diploma for sixth form. This option would cost you £15k ++ for the year.

I would have thought it might be possible to join Year11 but start the first year of GCSE courses if needs be so effectively be a year "behind". As a gap year after A levels/IB isn't uncommon, likewise GCSE resits in Year12, she wouldn't necessarily be out of peer group for long.

You might not need GCSEs to do the IB per se - but schools offering IB may have their own entrance requirements based on GCSE results. (It may not be typical, but in my area, entry to a school offering IB is highly competitive and would rquire at least 6 Grade A GCSEs).

It would seem to me to be more sensible to look at the possibility of your daughter stating school in Y10.

Oops, misread the last post. sorry

However, I still think most schools offering the IB in the UK use the UK August cutoff for entry ages IYSWIM

I am pretty sure most of the schools offering IB in the UK follow the standard uk school year.

You don't need GCSEs or any qualification at age 16 to start the IB diploma. And IB schools tend to use the calendar year instead of the September-August dates of birth - not sure if this helps or not!

Sorry, that link again www.impington.cambs.sch.uk/home.html

Would you consider commuting to London from Cambridge? Village College www.impington.cambs.sch.uk/home.html is a secondary school which includes an international sixth form, and they do IB so may be able to work something out.

It may be worth thinking about putting your DD into year 10 in Sept. It is uncommon, but not impossible for a DC to be in the "wrong" school year. You could also argue that as the school start year is different in the US, that this will be more appropriate anyway.

Moving country will be stressful. Starting a new school will be stressful. Starting a school in an exam year will add to the stress. Going into Y10 means that she will be starting courses with the rest of the group and may have a better chance of developing friendships. She will have more of a chance of filling gaps (or consolidating) in knowledge. The only long term impact will be that she misses out on a year of pension - hardly a massive consideration.

IB is quite rare in the UK. If that's what you want her to do at 18, then you probably need to find a school that offers it first and work backwards from that.

lljkk, just try it with a 12 year-old! I have searched all over the London area (Essex and Hertfordshire included) trying to find a suitable school for my dd! (same situation as OP)

She does have a 7 year-old sister to keep her company -- when she's home from school!

Agree specialisms mean almost didley squat.
Any decent size secondary will do some sport & some drama.
They don't have competitive sports teams to the same extent that most American high schools do, it's not a central part of high school life.

Homeschooling a home-sick culturally shocked 16yo with no local friends and not even any siblings: sounds like Hell to me! Hope you get something sorted soon.

Dd1 is making cookies so I'll just sit here and answer you!

From what I've read it isn't wise to rely on a school's specialist status -- doesn't mean much apparently. I know it was a total and complete joke that my dd's school was a specialist science, math and computing school. Music schools seem to tend to prioritize places for music students.

Which sports does your dd do? Girls play netball (a form of basketball) here, sometimes rugby, sometimes football (soccer). It isn't like in the States. There are extra-curricular activities but often quite limited, as in "such and such club" for "Year such and such only." You could find sports clubs exterior to the school.

Drama is part of the national curriculum, if I'm not mistaken -- at least my dd had it.

In short, yes they do. Specialist status can be a bit of a red herring and is variable by school. For example, a local languages specialist school insists everyone takes a language at GCSE and offers a couple of choices, but languages are still offered at every other school. The local Sports specialist just has an extra PE lesson a week.

In essence, every school will offer music, sports, languages, drama, technology etc, but they might be slightly better resources in their specialism or it may alter the options the students are allowed to make at GCSE.

Citizenship does matter if you are in the UK for less than the three years. That is why I mentioned it. As with all these things it is always best to go to the actual source of the information.

My DS went to Uni as a home fee payer despite having lived in the Uk for less than three years. I seemed to have filled out millions of forms as all the Uni's decide your fee status individually and my son didn't want to waste a Uni choice with a Uni that wasn't going to consider him a home student. There are cases of the same student being considered a home fee by one Uni and an overseas student by another Uni. Goodness knows why this isn't done by some central body.

University fees don't depend on citizenship but on having been ordinarily resident in the UK (or other EU state) for three years immediately before entry onto university course.

I just wanted to jump in to this thread to say what a great mother you are! You're taking so much care and interest in your daughter's education and how she will fit in to this complex system. I moved around the world as a child and I think my mother just gave up trying to figure out all the different education systems, and left me to it. So you are being wonderful and I am sure she will really appreciate it.

I think if your daughter is clever then she will probably be fine, after a period of adjustment. At her age, the other really important thing is making friends and fitting in (and I know from experience that can have a big effect on grades), so my advice would be to look for a school that feels right for her in more ways than just the academics.

Good luck!