Yr10 DD's school closing - please help me think it through.

Why does everyone blame the VAT as the ONLY reason schools are closing? In reality smaller private schools have been closing or amalgamating for the last 20 years. I can think of two private schools in my county that have been in the brink for at least the last 10 years. One closed last year, the other thought they'd be saved by joining a group but in reality is being asset stripped and will close in its current form in the next few years. I just wish people would accept that VAT or not, some private schools would have gone to the wall anyway.

Why does everyone blame the VAT as the ONLY reason schools are closing? In reality smaller private schools have been closing or amalgamating for the last 20 years. I can think of two private schools in my county that have been in the brink for at least the last 10 years. One closed last year, the other thought they'd be saved by joining a group but in reality is being asset stripped and will close in its current form in the next few years. I just wish people would accept that VAT or not, some private schools would have gone to the wall anyway.

A malicious and incredibly spiteful policy aimed at the children of people they don’t like for ideological reasons. Luckily they are obviously a one term government and any of the likely successor governments have vowed to scrap it. It’s too late for a lot of children but hopefully lots of schools and families can hang on in there for three more years.

I know two private schools that have closed down and another one is closing at the end of this term. It is very sad for the children and the staff. We are the only country in Europe that taxes education.

I think it's well worth organising a meeting of the year 10 parents, and trying to talk to the other schools as a group. There's a difference between how a school might handle one or two year elevens who haven't covered the same topics, and how they might handle it if there are 15-20 or more. They'd probably need to be putting on an extra class for most subjects, and that class could then follow a scheme of work tailored to what they've done. Maths/science are the same material, so it's only order of teaching that matters. For English it might just be a case of them doing different set texts. They might even be prepared to consider teaching them their current board if there's not enough overlap.
If you're really lucky, when they look at employing additional staff to cope with their increased numbers (which presumably won't just be in year 11), they might look at taking on the odd teacher from the closing school - especially if that solves the problem of a classful of year 11s who are halfway through a syllabus they don't know.

It would be good if there was a group of you moving en bloc to negotiate exactly how they will support with the trickier subjects

This is a really good idea and we actually did something similar, in our case the closing school facilitated it.

Move her to where she has friends. The most important thing is that she settles in quickly.

Are you in contact with other parents from her year? It would be good if there was a group of you moving en bloc to negotiate exactly how they will support with the trickier subjects (English Lit and history if she takes it). Could be a separate set for those girls to sit the original exam board or 'catch up' sessions.

I've seen that the local independents are offering to waive fees for the summer term and match current fees next year. In your position, I would look to move as soon as possible - within a couple of weeks ideally. But take this weekend to have a good think about things.

It’s more important that the schools teach the curriculum in the same order rather than the boards completely matching. For example history might have 4 modules but it’s not given that schools would teach them in the same order as they are separate topics. Also English Lit might have 8 different text choices and each schools may have picked 3 different texts to teach. I imagine it’s best to pick a school that does the same texts as well as board.

I suspect that some subjects the board matters less eg everybody who does GCSE maths will learn the same topics but I’m not a teacher so this is just my guess.

It would be easiest to repeat year 10 at a new school tbh but I understand if you decide to pick her social wellbeing which is important for teens.

You could homeschool most subjects and ask the local state school just to provide some subjects that are hard to teach at home (tech subjects that require workshops or labs for example)

If you mean actually have the pupil on site for teaching for some but not all GCSE subjects, then this really will not be a thing in a state school - theu would need to be on roll at the school to be taught there (assuming that places were available in the year group), and then they would have to attend for a full timetable (with the possibility that there might be some options where the classes were already full). Just 'popping in' for specific subjects really isn't a thing.

At this stage I’d go for the school where she has friends that ‘get’ her. It may not be easy to make friends if she is quirky and aloof as you describe. Plus if a decent sized group go to the new school it is more cost effective to support them with the difference in GCSE content.

Your first option sounds best to me, go with friends, and PPs’ suggestions about tutoring if needed.
I also agree with those saying the specs don’t have such a huge impact/same spec could have been taught in a different order/way anyway.

The fact she’s academic helps enormously. Sounds similar to my DD who’s now in Y12 and has often said to me how so many of her year went up a grade or 2 between Y11 mocks and final exams - meaning, even if your DD takes a while to get used to a new environment and teaching, there’s still plenty of time for her to get back on track before next summer.

DD also says now she’s on the other side of it that GCSEs only need to get you into sixth form doing the A levels you want, meaning grades can be 5 and up and no one cares if they’re 8/9 now ie at the time it all feels so important, and unnecessarily stressful, but it needn’t.
Don’t repeat Y10.

I have an autistic child who loves hard and this would be a nightmare, I'm so sorry.

Without question, I'd go where the majority/most important of her friends are. Especially if she's academic and motivated she can catch up but the loss of all his friends in GCSE year would not be manageable for my son.

@TheCheeseTaxsorry to hear this, my DD’s school Is also closing, (might be the same one) we have already moved her but she is a lot younger than yours so not impacted by exams. It’s a sorry tale all round, I’ll never forget my DD’s face when we told her and the upset and disruption it’s caused. Wishing you well.

True, a cohort of pupils sin a similar position may make it easier to allocate dedicated resources.

Around our area a number of smaller preps and senior independent schools have closed or been taken under the umbrella of larger ones or bodies like United Learning over the past 20 odd years, so this is not a recent issue. Increasing costs of ni, vat, staff pensions etc may simply have exhausted already dwindling reserves.

@LIZS A school is more likely to do this if a larger number of dc arrive. This is r the first time this has happened. They have a stronger bargaining position if there’s a group of parents. Or, they repeat y10. That’s not the end of the world.

The content isn't always the same on different boards. My DS is doing History for example and it includes German history from the 20th century and the cold war. The 6th form he's going to mostly feed from a school where the syllabus is different but for him it means A level will likely build more on what he's done.

I'd prioritise board rather than friends where it matters and I'd get the syllabus for subjects where it's possible that there is a difference and use your existing school to advise. It's 1 year and honestly, she may not have lots of close friends in that school for 1 year but that's ok as she can prioritise time with friends outside.

That is really tricky. I guess you need to determine whether social integration or exam syllabus takes priority. However you cannot rely on friends to welcome her readily. Even different boards may have some common texts, modules and techniques especially in core subjects but the difficulty is also the order in which material is covered. So in history, for example, she may have already done the Tudors, whereas new school may have studied WW1 first, thus she has a whole topic to catch up. You need to be asking the schools how they would address any learning gaps.

I would go to the school where most of her friends are going to. I agree that this school might well be better placed to assess how dc can transfer to a different board. Independent schools can allow dc to repeat a year too. So I would explore, with other parents, how the dc can be accommodated. I would not home educate a dc who had thrived at school.

Shave you thought about approaching the independent school with a bunch of other parents and asking if any of the teachers would like to privately tutor for Year 11? You could homeschool most subjects and ask the local state school just to provide some subjects that are hard to teach at home (tech subjects that require workshops or labs for example).

That would be every single small non profit independent school in the country. Any notice is given asap, the schools then spend months (or a year in my dd’s case) aiding the children trying to get suitable alternatives. There is no one else helping clear up the mess the Government created. Any immorality lies squarely on the people who supported the policies, not the teachers, not the parents and certainly not the children.

They can't really.
As soon as they announce a possibility there would be a hemorrhage of leavers turning possibility into certainty.

I agree, it's immoral that they didn't notify families in exam years as soon as this was a possibility.

Whichever school you decide on, I would try and move her immediately. Good luck

For those talking about dropping a subject - don’t assume that this will be possible as the child still needs to be supervised, even if they’re not in a lesson. Many schools won’t have spare staff available to do this so do check carefully.