moving schools at start of year 11

Is your commute each way or combined?

If it's combined just suck it up for the sake of your kids. I have done a 3 hrs combined commute for over 25 yrs. children first.

Or move and go to an independent school and he can start again in year 10. They don't mind pupils being a year older, state schools won't let you do that. Don't move him for Year 11, that would be so disruptive.

I moved twice during y10/11 and did well. Years ago now so may not work with the present exam system but I went to a crammer for the last two terms. Everyone else was doing retakes but it was fine.

Mandy I would phone the local authority education teams inclusions officer, school cannot just off roll her for low attendance though they can fine. They should either get her place back or find her somewhere else. Don't deregister or agree to take her out. It maybe worth going through school's complaint process as well.

ACE may be able to offer advice as well. www.ace-ed.org.uk/

Mandy I suggest you start your own thread. Was the new school private or state? If state was it part of a managed move? They can't usually exclude just like that because of attendance...

My daughter had bullying in a school she is enrolled on now. The bullying was because she was groomed on line and it has affected her so badly.
She was bullied for 2 years and I managed to get her into another school T the start of year 10. However now the school sge was moved to isn't keeping her because her attendance was a half a percent under.
They kept her there for 7 months and last week told her she was not staying
I am now struggling to even get her somewhere.i can't afford home tutoring either.
It's just a nightmare

Move now. If your job doesn't pan out you'll be out of work, but you would have been anyway so nothing really lost, and everything to gain.

Or move next year but put him into year 10 which a private school would probably recommend anyway.

Many years ago this is what I did . We moved in the summer term year 10 .it was very hard , different exam boards . My results were not great. Your commute sounds difficult but I would not recommend you move him in year 11.

Why don't you talk with your work, explain that you need certainty sooner to make things work for your children, and discuss possibilities. They would probably find you are a better worker if you relocate now rather than continue with that length of commute. I agree that a move asap sounds a good option if there is any way you can swing it - good luck.

A boy moved into ds18s year, when they started year 10. Ds said he was really isolated as he had to spend every break and lunchtime catching up on work they had already completed yet he hadn’t. So he didn’t have the opportunity to build a secure friendship group. He made friends don’t get me wrong. But when they were talking about going out, doing things together etc obviously he wasn’t there. They tried including him, but he turned the down and ds said he didn’t know was it because he did not know them well or was it the amount of work he was doing? But all the kids felt sorry for him. He was a really bright kid it struggled a lot.

The Progress8 measure, which is a key way that the government assesses and compares schools in England (e.g. in published tables and comparison tools such as those on the DfE website) does not count any iGCSEs. So for example if a school does an iGCSE in English, those pupils are counted as not passing any English qualification. From this year, the same applies to all 'reformed ' 9-1 subjects - an iGCSE French qualification is not counted within any element of the Progress8 qualification.

Therefore, state schools in England have very largely dropped iGCSEs, as very few can afford to have the 'well below average' progress measure and very low position in league tables which would result. Private schools and, as you say, schools not on the English mainland, still have much more freedom of manouvre.

IIRC, retakes are also not counted - so if a child repeatedly retakes English in several sittings (e.g. Y9, Y10, and Y11) only the first one will count - and also English and Maths taken earlier than the child's main sitting won't count at all, though other early sittings (if only taken once) may. Schools have adjusted their arrangements accordingly.

Didn't know that, thank you. Ours is a local comp not private.
But we aren't on the mainland.

Thanks for clarifying, Green!

As OP says that her DS will move to private, iGCSEs may be relevant - and this is a further complication / issue in her plan to move at the end of Y10, because moving from a state school (almost certainly doing GCSEs) to a private school doing iGCSEs would be an even bigger change than between GCSE exam boards or different choices (e.g. of book studied for English Lit) within a single exam board.

The vast majority of pupils who will take 'normal' GCSEs cannot do them in November.

Moving school for Y11 is one of the seriously shitty things you can do to a child. This happened to my niece - her parents thought it would be fine. Smart child, can knuckle down, blah blah blah. It really wasnt.

Move now. Or in 2 years.

Y11 all sit IGCSEs 'early'

If they pass they do the higher papers in June if they fail they 'resit' the lower papers in June

Pass = next level tuition
Fail = recap

Sorry but this would not be good for your ds, different schools use different exam boards and syllabus's, so anything learned throughout year 9 and 10 (apart from the basics) could be more or less irrelevant if the new school uses a different exam board.

Don’t do it.

At Dds school a couple of students who were unhappy elsewhere moved in January of Year 10. They just managed it by taking one less GCSE & doing catch up.

A private school I spoke to said their cut off point for accepting new pupils was also January of Year 10 as it was impossible after that.

If you’re already doing the commute, is there a reason you’re not moving house now so that he could start year 10 in the new area? Or even that he could do the commute with you for the first year?

Certainly in all the - state, both selective and non-selective - schools I know doing standard 9-1 GCSEs, some exams may be taken a year early (ie end of Y10, though that is less common than it once was) but most are taken at the end of Y11. As Government accountability measures only take into account GCSEs done within a single session - e.g. a single May / June - along with the abolition of the November 'first sittings' session and the january sitting - most exams are now taken end Y11.

Green, that sounds unusual - are those standard GCSEs or iGCSEs? I thought that GCSEs in November were now resits of English and Maths only?

Can you ring round and ask the schools

DD sits maths English Language and Sciences in November - if she passes she then studies English language higher maths and sciences

Then come June will do the others.

It may be possible, but you'd have to move quick

Move tomorrow. Literally. Move as soon as you can, renting a house in your new location, renting out your current house and finding a school immediately.

Even moving tomorrow will only work if the school didn't start GCSEs at the beginning of Y9 (increasingly common), have the same option blocks and use exactly the same exam boards.

Alternatively, move next summer but move your child down a year - so they do Y10 twice. If it is a private school you are moving to, that might work.

Moving end Y10 / start Y11 will sacrifice your child's GCSEs.

If you must move do so now.