Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Where to Live?

35 replies

MumOfTwoMovingToUK · 23/07/2022 22:05

We are moving to the UK and working in London. We are looking for recommendation for towns/counties surrounding London (max 90 minute travel time by train) that offer very good state secondary schools for boys and girls. Our children will be in year admissions. Thanks so much

OP posts:
Original poster
MumOfTwoMovingToUK · 23/07/2022 23:43

Thanks, Ladies. Unfortunately it is too soon to move now to start in September. So our only option is January 2023 to start Term 2 in Year 10. The other option is to not keep her back in Year 10 and then, as you said, move across so that she starts 6th Form in September 2023. I am concerned that 6th Form will be a big jump for her because she missed out on her GCSE years.

OP posts:
OhCrumbsWhereNow · 23/07/2022 23:07

If going for the Y10 option, you also need to make sure you only look at schools that do a 2 year GCSE course as a fairly large number do a 3 year course starting in Y9.

OhCrumbsWhereNow · 23/07/2022 23:05

Or could your daughter stay in your home country till the following summer and then come over and go straight into 6th form?

OhCrumbsWhereNow · 23/07/2022 23:04

You don't get that much actual choice.
Maths, English literature, English language, Sciences are essentials. Then there is normally a Modern Foreign Language and a Humanity (History or Geography). So you only really end up with 2 actual free options.

Is there anyway you could move over for the start of the academic year. Trying to start in a new country in a new school midway through Y10 will be really hard and a lot of catching up.

hockeygrass · 23/07/2022 22:57

Even in year 10 she will have missed the first term of the syllabus in each subject, she won't be retaught the content before she takes the exams as the end of year 11. Schools do enroll students mid year but it's very tricky for the student and the school.

Original poster
MumOfTwoMovingToUK · 23/07/2022 22:54

Thank you so much for your reply. We are concerned about my daughter. We are hoping that they will accept her into Year 10 because we are arriving from a foreign country and she needs time to prepare for her GCSEs. Her birthday is in August and she is small for her age. Why do you say that she won't have many choices of subjects? I have read up a lot about GCSEs but thought she could choose subjects if a school offered them. Thanks again

OP posts:
hockeygrass · 23/07/2022 22:49

You will be fine in west London, anywhere that is on the tube lines or anywhere on the south west trains line that stops at Wimbledon train station - for example New Malden, Guildford, Woking.
As @LIZS says 15 is a very difficult age in the U.K. school system, you need to speak to someone via your new employer who can explain the U.K. secondary school exam system to you.

LIZS · 23/07/2022 22:46

15 is a difficult age to move, will she be year 10 or 11. Either way she would arrive part way through gcse courses. She may not have many choices of subjects and a lot of catching up to do. There are good schools in most areas but these may well not have a vacancy. You cannot apply, and therefore will not find out, until she is resident.

Original poster
MumOfTwoMovingToUK · 23/07/2022 22:32

Thank you so much for replying. My husband will be working in Hammersmith. He is moving in October to find rental accommodation in a county that has good secondary schools e.g. Hertfordshire/Berkshire/Surrey. My daughter will be 15 years old and my son will be 12 years old. My children and I will move at the end of December.
The move is so daunting because we are unfamiliar with the UK. Our idea is to find a recommended county and then to look at schools.

OP posts:
hockeygrass · 23/07/2022 22:20

You need to state which train station your office is near and how old your children are and when you are arriving in the U.K.. There are some age groups, ie 5 and 11 when it's very difficult to get a short notice school place.