Moving to UK from international school abroad

I was about to mention ab initio language at IB. Perfectly acceptable.

IB is not very common. It is hard to find schools which do it. And it always includes a modern foreign language, not at beginners level, so your dd would need that.
It is usually possible to do a beginner's, ab initio language course to get you up to GCSE standard, instead of an A level equivalent language course for those who are already at GCSE standard.

That's good to know, I didn't realise that

I was going to suggest an FE college.

As @steppemum says the 'foundation' is often for resits, most places do English and Maths and usually biology as you need a science for some careers eg teaching.

Often the GCSEs are alongside a level 1 or level 2 qualification.

The US system is broader than the UK so students take more subjects but as a PP said they end up 2 years behind the UK, applicants to uni from the USA are often asked for a number of AP classes.

IB is not very common. It is hard to find schools which do it. And it always includes a modern foreign language, not at beginners level, so your dd would need that.
It is usually possible to do a beginner's, ab initio language course to get you up to GCSE standard, instead of an A level equivalent language course for those who are already at GCSE standard.

I support families moving from overseas to UK, so I do have some experience in this.

Can I just say again, that not all Interanational schools are the same. If your school is not acredited with someone, then the High School certificate is not worth anything in terms of university entrance etc.
Sixth forms may be more flexible, but you do need to check.

IB is not very common. It is hard to find schools which do it. And it always includes a modern foreign language, not at beginners level, so your dd would need that.

Sixth forms can be school based, or they can be a sixth form college. You need to see what is availble in the area that you move to (usually both, but some places have more of one than the other) . Also sixth form applications usually go in in the spring of year 11, and they can be pretty competitive.

In terms of birth date and which year she will go into, anything up to year 11 they will want to put her in the right year for age. The cut off date is 31st August. PP said they are flexible, they aren't. Some places may be, but don't assume it.
But if she has completed the equivalent of year 11, there should be no problem in her going into sixth form early.

Foundation years are usually only in sixth form colleges, not in school based sixth forms. They can be great, but they tend to be designed for kids who have failed English and/or maths so they can't begin an A level or T level course yet (T levels are vocational) it is unlikely that she could do other GCSEs in foundation year, it would be mainly to get English and Maths.

this is the website for comparing qualifications (GCSE equivalents) but it is now paid, so I couldn't find the right page for you

link

In reality, this is going to vary a lot between different schools/colleges and what they are prepared to accept/offer.

@hummingbirdvn best to ask the sixth form colleges in your target area directly. I definitely know pupils from state schools in Ireland and Netherlands, for example, who were admitted to state sixth form colleges in London.

Here is some info from Esher College which specifically addresses candidates without GCSEs:
https://www.esher.ac.uk/admissions/how-to-apply/entry-in-2025/entry-requirements-2025/

You'd be better putting your children into an International Baccalaureate programme than US curriculum. Students from US curriculum are on average 2 years behind UK education standards. Whereas, Middle Years Programme in IB is approximately comparable to the UK system. E assessments at the end of MYP come at the same time as GCSEs.

BUT GCSE is a 2 year programme. So your children need to be in place for the beginning of Year 10 in the UK in order to sit GCSEs at 16 at the end of Year 11. And they will pick their options subjects for GCSE early in Year 9. So at 13.

IF they come to the UK at 18 with US curriculum education, they will need to do a foundation year, making their university degree a 4 year process, rather than the usual UK 3 year programme. This is because of the lower level / standard of the US system. Whereas IB is very broadly equal to UK.

I asked a few of our local state sixth form colleges this question as DD is at international school. It is not a problem without GCSEs actually, they all said they just take the school report and translate the grades, you can also get a "grade equivalency" certificate. They might tell you you need a "A" in Maths in the year 11 / 10th grade report to apply for A-Level Maths, for example.

I was surprised how straight forward it was, makes you wonder why others need to stress so much about GCSEs in the first place!

My DD loved IB. The only downside was that many students, including her, were travelling in from quite far, so there was less of a social life outside school. Fine for her as she had friends in her hometown too, but if you are starting from scratch with friendships after living abroad, it would be better not to have to travel too far into college so you can build up local friends.

When my DD started IB at a state school in about 2018, there was meant to be at least one state school offering IB in each county - not sure if that's still the case. Some do it better than others, though, as the support students need is quite different from A levels. You'd need to find somewhere with a strong track record.

Many 6th form colleges in the UK have international students from China, Italy etc doing A levels. I'm pretty sure these students don't have GCSE English and maths. I imagine they'll have evidence from their own school system of their maths, and a qualification to prove their level of English as a foreign language. So on that basis, I don't think you'll need to do a foundation year at 6th form. I would only suggest that if your DC hasn't got to a level broadly comparable to GCSE at the time you move (it would be better than throwing her into year 11 for the tail end of a GCSE program she won't have time to do well in), or if they really struggle academically.

In my experience, there is also some flexibility about date of birth and school year in the state system here when people have come from other countries - both going up or down a year from what British kids would typically be in with that date of birth.

Do considered state colleges (or private schools) that offer IB instead of A levels. Might suit someone better if they're transitioning from the US system at an international school, because I believe it may be more similar in terms of students, breadth of subjects, and type of assessment. UK universities tend to really like IB - although it occasionally causes problems if weaker compulsory subjects that you wouldn't have chosen if you'd done A levels, e.g. maths or foreign language, drag down your overall score. IB is brilliant if you're pretty organised and motivated and an all-rounder academically.

Most will only offer IB diploma in sixth form, and still do gcses in year 11. You can check out which do IB myp www.ibyb.org/search/UK+MYP/ but think they are private.

State - But there are private options I believe. DD is a dual citizen hence it was free . Also she gets Uk Uni fees ( I believe this is up to 2027 for those resident in the European Union before Brexit) - But don[t quote me on this . She really enjoyed IB

Some colleges offer a 14-16 programme so can a cater for year 11 although these are normally core and vocational subjects and aimed at those with lower academic aspirations. Alternative might be a private "crammar" or school offering one year gcses.

IB is an alternative 6th form qualification that you do not needed GCSE. My daugher did it she transitioned from an foreign school to an IB program . She did this at a 6th form college - I provided her school reports translated and she had an online interview. She is now in year 1 of University ( no GCSEs or ALevels done )

If you set up an account with ENIC (or the equivalent at the time), you can obtain a statement of comparability with UK qualifications for relatively low cost - this is how schools, colleges, universities and employers can see easily how those overseas qualifications transfer over - and demonstrates eligibility for 6th form funding because they've met/not met the GCSE 4 in Maths and English condition.

@hummingbirdvn , it depends because there is a bit of movement around a birth date during last week of August / first week of Sept but if you need her to be resident in the U.K. for 3 years before uni then she could spend year 11 in a state school and sit a handful of new GCSE's. The difficulty is that all schools dislike taking a new pupil into year 11.
Otherwise she could go straight to A levels but she would be very young for the cohort. She could then spend a year after A levels working in a low level job before going to uni. (She can't spend that year abroad travelling).

She would go onto year 7.
It is NOT going backwards. It is entering at the right point. The designation of the very early years (pre K, K verses reception) leads to the difference in numbering. Not the academic achievement of each "number"

My ds applied to UK universities with the IB diploma which was readily accepted. He also had home fees status as my dh was on a secondment overseas and his contract clearly stated he was still a uk employee. The university did ask for copies of all dh’s contracts.
dd moved back to the uk for year 10 after being in an international school studying the MYP curriculum. She was a bit behind as her school started gcse prep in year 9, but the school organised extra lessons at lunchtime for her to catch up.