Moving from Northern Irish School System to English HELP!!

Part of the confusion is because the school year cut-off date is 2 July in NI, where it is 1 September in England. Technically your son would be one of the youngest in the year above where he is now (Y10 England/Y11 NI). You need to check he can join the year below or he'll be going inhalf way through his GCSEs (which is also a 2-year course in England - or meant to be anyway )

I know a lot of posters say schools won’t do it, but I teach in an ordinary state comprehensive in England, and we always have kids out of year. I can’t actually think of the last time i had a year 11 class where every kid should have been in y11. I have 2 this year in one of my groups that should be in y12, there may well be several others across the year group.
Certainly for something like moving from a different educational system we would be happy to put them in the correct school year in educational terms rather than strict age group.
We really can’t be the only school that does this.

yay op ring up tomorro and see what you can find out.

Remember the year he is in is what we in England call year 9, in a lot of schools in England (tho by no means all, sadly) he would not have started GCSE courses yet, tho he would have chosen subjects by now, or just about.

So you want him to go into his next year, which here would be yr 10, ideally at a school that starts GCSE courses in yr 10 not yr 9. You need a school to approve him being out of year but maybe it's more possible than some of us here think. Good luck!

isabelle I don’t know about England but in Scotland a catchment school have to take a mid-year pupil in unless they are at capacity.
I don’t think it’s ok to make the OP and her dh live apart for two more years (and the child to hardly see his dad) to avoid a change of school on the basis that NI ones are so much better. I know the English school system has problems but it is educating a lot of young people successfully!

You need to phone the local authorities to see if they would be prepared to place him a year lower. Starting in year 11, which would be his normal year group, would be awful.

Alternatively can you afford private for a couple of years?

I agree with peachgreen - I wouldn't be moving him now. We returned to NI from England for the very reason that we didn't want our children in the English school system. I used to teach there (admittedly not in a great area) and nothing would have convinced me to put the children in that system - we were in a first school/middle school area. We have never regretted that decision. They have friends who have also moved here from England and Scotland and none of them ended up in the year group they should have been in had they stayed in England and Scotland. One boy was a full school year older than the others. It's not a straightforward move and one I would avoid if possible - meaning that out of all the times to move this is not it.

Sorry I know that I mean the sense of urgency that you can’t move once the gcse years begin.

Oh, yes, I understand what you mean now.

And on that note, when people say that schools just won't accept a pupil into year whatever, what actually happens? If the parents had to move to England and didn't have the option of staying in N Ireland, and the child can't get a place in any school, what happens then? Do you get prosecuted for not ensuring your child is obtaining an education, even though it's beyond your control?

I went to school in NI though it was all fields then

Sorry I know that I mean the sense of urgency that you can’t move once the gcse years begin.

Surely the boy is studying GCSEs in his own school, so if he moves across into the next year he should be in, he will still have studied a year of biology or whatever.

If he's 14 in N Ireland he won't have started the GCSE courses yet or chosen his subjects.

Surely the boy is studying GCSEs in his own school, so if he moves across into the next year he should be in, he will still have studied a year of biology or whatever. Issues are if schools are doing different options, or starting earlier.
Children move schools all the time though, and at least he is moving from a gcse system to another gcse system (ie not to Scotland or Republic of Ireland).
I would get accurate advice on the birth date issue from an admissions officer - maybe someone on the thread can advise if that would be the local authority or the schools themselves.

Hi OP, I live on the Wirral so the neighbouring LA borough to Cheshire.

I would echo other posters recommendations that you try to let your son finish his GCSE's in Belfast. As the UK GCSE's have changed some schools including my sons are now asking children to take their options at the end of year 8 (when they are 12/13 years old) and are converting the GCSE curriculum to 3 years (Yrs 9, 10, 11) to cope with the considerably wider content.

As previous posters have mentioned if your son was not granted leave to be held back a year then he would be classed as year 11 which is the final GCSE year. Other students could potentially be 2 years ahead in their GCSE course and would be finishing their courses off during the first two terms then consolidating from Easter onward. It would be near impossible for your son to catch up as he would have missed out on 2/3 of the teaching in every subject. I would imagine that any school would try and support him as best they could but realistically Year 11 is frenetic and they would be facing a herculean task that would be incredibly stressful for your son.

If you could perhaps wait until sixth form that would be a much easier transition as all of the students would be starting A levels together.

On a side note Wirral has some great schools and is a grammar area. Calday Grange Grammar is a fair distance away but has private transport from Wales and Chester area for students.

Do children in N.I. finish their studies when they are a year older than children in England? E.g. after GCSEs and two years of A Level study, my ds will be 17, nearly 18. Would your ds be 18, nearly 19, if he continued in the N.I. system?

That sounds about right. My daughter has an August birthday and she will be about five weeks away from turning 19 by the time she finishes sixth form.

There is some confusion here as the NI system is slightly different. The op is correct when she says her child is in Year 10 the equivalent of year 9 in England. He isn't being educated out of his year group. In NI there Reception is called Year 1, so the years don't always map across. If they were to move he should be able to move straight into Year 10 and start his GCSES .

Behaviour is better in NI. Much much less bullying. Teachers are under less stress and better-paid (at least, comparatively given the cost of living) which imho results in a better quality of teaching. Some subjects are totally different (history especially). The grammar system means that children are in an environment with other children of a similar academic ability which allows for better, more targeted teaching.

For me, the real difference is the behaviour. I think an English school could be quite intimidating for a child used to NI schools.

Of course I'm talking generally, and there are lots of wonderful schools in England as well as some not so good ones in NI. But I think it you could avoid the culture shock for your son it would be worth the sacrifice.

Just to add, as he is a summer born child he actually has a right to start a year later. This was introduced a couple of years ago for reception children. A summer born child is from April onward and a parent can request to start their child a year later with sufficient evidence. This evidence can range in complexity based on councils but it's worth calling the councils and asking. If he can go into Y10 he will be fine. Y11, I wouldn't recommend- there as some kids who do extremely well in these situations but it is super stressful for all involved. The good thing is- for him anyway- is that there is no coursework, or very little of it so it is all exam based.

Just as a warning OP - in general, English schools are quite different to NI schools, and in my opinion not usually in a good way. If you can delay until your son has finished his GCSEs, I would. A-Levels not so vital as there are some great sixth forms in England.

No, kids in NI finish at the same time as kids in England, it's the timing of their birthday in relation to the start of the school year that's different, ie the cut off point is July 1, not August 31.

It's quite handy for summer borns, in that when they start school in the September after their 4th birthday, the youngest they can be is 4 and 2 months, instead of 4 and 1 day.

Sorry, x post! I think you've partly explained this.

I would contact LEA and maybe possible schools now and explain, it's possible there may be one that is willing to take him out of year. He would only be a month older than the oldest student in yr 10 in Sept so that wouldn't be terrible. I don't know how likely it is tho.

Do children in N.I. finish their studies when they are a year older than children in England? E.g. after GCSEs and two years of A Level study, my ds will be 17, nearly 18. Would your ds be 18, nearly 19, if he continued in the N.I. system? Just interested in the difference! Hope you get everything sorted out. As your ds is young in the year, it hopefully won't be too much of a problem for him to start year 10 here as not hugely older than anyone else in his year. Maybe ask schools if they would be prepared to do this, and whether any GCSE work has already been started.