Moving school in Year 10

And if you have decided that they don't matter enough and that you are going to return him to the previous school, why are you on MN asking for advice anyway because you have made a decision.

This just sounds like you want validation that the decision you made is somehow not your fault and that you didn't make a stupid mistake rather than just taking ownership of it.

But he is getting mucked around. By you. Because you made a silly decision to move in yr10...

...for reasons that you are now saying don't matter anymore.

Either they mattered or they didn't.

But thats just it.

If you were going to do that move, you do it in yr9. Not yr10.

Now you have put yourself in a situation where everyone concerned is mucked about. You shuoldn't be moving in the middle of yr10, which is where you are now.

You move before or after yr11. Mid way through? Even if just half a term, you say suck it up lad.

I wouldn't move him now. Catching up on missing texts in lit, and topics in maths, will be hard. Your view of iGCSE's is odd, (although neither of my ds's did them , they are very respected). More concerning is your statement that he's not ready to do coursework, what on earth does that even mean?

Have you talked to the other two families that moved their DC at the same time? How are they finding it? Does the Year 10 with its higher level of work load and new school giving them more is causing your son to want to leave? Old school, how many hours of homework compared to new school? I think to get the grades more homework are given to all Year 10 in all schools. 5 terms to GCSEs, follow by A levels. The step from GCSEs to A levels can be huge so they maybe managing at the right amount but a lot more than Year 7,8,9.

It's more that if you have made that decision, then have the faith to stick with it rather than give up without really trying, if your reasons were about the quality of education available.

See this is what I can't fathom.

And then to be surprised when the kid isn't settling in well immediately.

There's initially no value put on her son being settled and having friends. All that is important is how bad the previous school is. Then when the kid doesn't like it, more disruption in yr 10 when it's not ideal to move a kid in the first place (regardless of whether they allow it or not) seems to be thought of as the solution.

It's insane. It's like actively trying to screw up the kid

Hmmm… I imagine not many people transfer in to year 10 though.

You ask them. They should have data. If they don't it's a bit suss.

What a mess OP. Based on what you know now, which school do you think your child will achieve best in as that was the criteria you looked at when moving, his happiness and willingness , style of teaching comes into that decision but also your willingness to support ,encourage and help him stick with something he is unsure of. You need to have confidence about a decision you make and not put it all back on your son.

Also, when checking new school results I would have specifically checked the new intake results to see if they are the same/ worse than kids who've been there all the way through.

Many schools also start their GCSE curriculum in Y9 (I'm assuming not this one if they have a Y10 intake). If you're DS did a chunk of curriculum already at his old school, it may not be so bad to go back. But you need to check that with each subject.

I do think you need to persuade DS that at this point school is not a social club. If he wants to do his best, be the best he can be, he needs to be in an environment which will foster that.

Agree with @clary

Like I said @winterrabbit we cannot decide for you (obviously). But I have to say that if I had moved from school A to school B for reasons relating to behaviour and results; and if the new school had stricter lessons leading to better behaviour (and thus better results more of a possibility); and if moving back would cost me several thousand pounds; then I would be less than willing to move back again.

I feel as though you want to move him back. It’s your decision, your DS and your money. If I moved him back I would want to be very sure that the GCSE texts were the same (not similar – that's not much use really) and the same one had been started this term; and that other topics were the same as well. It’s easy to say he can catch up but it might not be that simple. Even if the Eng lit texts are identical, that's no help if he has been working on A Christmas Carol this term and his other school is half way through Macbeth. So I would dig deeply into that this week, as well as checking out what support the original school can offer him.

Honestly in your shoes I would point out thar it is 5 and a half terms at this school for him to get the best gcse results.
His job is head down and make the most of it. Teachers are strict? Good, he has nothing to worry about if he is behaving and working hard.
You will consult again at A levels.

Moving is always hard.

If school provid extra curriculum what are you paying for it outside school? Ditch the clubs. He made that decision so let him stay where he is and get on with it.

It’s 2 short years when you take holidays into account.

20 mins extra a day a slightly more travel shouldn’t exhaust him!

@winterrabbit it's May of 2026, but igcse's start a couple of weeks before GCSEs and he won't have such a full exam timetable around late May / early June 2026. I would focus on where he is going for sixth form instead of moving him now.

What on earth were you thinking moving in yr10?

Of course he was going to struggle and be unsettled.

What did you ACTUALLY expect?