To change DD's school in year 10

[Bluebellee]

DD has had a really difficult at secondary school due to bullying, during year 7 and year 8 she was bullied by this one girl and her friends, they were extremely racist towards her, this girl was then excluded, the girls friends left her alone and things got better after that. Year 9 was a really good year for her, she found a good friendship group and that's the main she didn't move schools then as she was getting on really well there. However in recent months she's fallen out with one of her friends who's then been encouraging others to tease her and bully her. Her mental health has been really bad and the first thing I want to do is take her away from it and move her to another school but she's worried this is going effect her GCSE's. She's on her way to achieving high grades and changing schools may put her completely behind in some subjects

Bump

Academically speaking, changing schools mid-GCSE course is not a good idea. The biggest problem is that her current school have been preparing her for, say, not just History GCSE generically, but History GCSE with a specific exam board. If the new school is doing a different exam board, she will have to catch up very quickly on the topics that she needs to study for that new exam board's specification. This is a big ask when you times it by however many subjects she is doing - to catch up on a year's work in every subject.

However, this is not really important if her mental health is suffering. What are her current school doing to address the bullying and to look after her well-being, as well as to facilitate her achieving her academic potential? What have they said to you when you've raised it with them? - does it seem as if they are taking your concerns seriously?

Hi, I am really sorry that you'r dd is in that situation. Being a teenager is hard enough without bullying added.

What would your dd really like to do? If she wants to move schools, you could make sure you choose one that offers the same GCSEs with the same exam biards and then I would not think that she would be behind. Without the friendship issues she could really concentrate on the GCSEs? I think it depends how much being in the current school affects her.

*your, not you'r, sorry!

If she wants to move schools, you could make sure you choose one that offers the same GCSEs with the same exam biards

It's not like giving up shopping in Tesco and switching to Morrisons because they stock the same brands...I don't think you get to pick the new school off a list in an "I want that one" kind of way - you have to apply to it and see if it has places or not, and if it doesn't, then you may have to stay where you are or consider home schooling/tuition if staying in the current school really isn't an option.

The school seem to be treating it as more of just a friendship fallout which to begin with it was but has become more serious. She'd like to move schools but doesn't want to fall behind

DS is in yr 10 and one of his friends is going through a very similar situation at the moment. I have no advice ( I never know what to say to her Mum either!) but just wanted to wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do. Not an easy choice either way

But you can apply to the schools that havd the same examination boards in tje subjects the child is taking only and not apply for the ones that offer other boards/subjects

Its no good moving to a school that hasn't gof a french GCSE if child is excelkent at french and wishes to pursue french to A level

Parents often chose schools based on GCSE options so yes to an extent it us like chosing which supermarket you like becease of which brands

Yes your right you have to then apply and they may not have soace for your child yes.

But you can choose a school baced on subject choice and even exam board.

God No. I wouldn't. Ds1 is currently year 10, 1/2 way through GCSE's.

I would speak to head of year, and also tutor. In fact I would probably email them now, over Easter, now and ask for a meeting ASAP, ie Tuesday.

She Need help and support.

but you know, there are signs, girls can be bitchy and you can be very happy one minute and fall out the next as you've clearly seen - she was happy in year 9, now she's had a falling out.

she's had some problems before, which school probably didn't deal with very well?

but she was happy in year 9, so take comfort from that.

so she needs to learn to ride the storm, the latest issue, and you need to help her, and you yourself need help and support, to allow her to be able to do this.

I Would definitely spend the rest of Easter talking to her trying to find out as much information about this, the whole episode, and how it escalated.

and also encouraging other friendships - having girls over in the last few days of Easter.

Getting all your facts straight and then politely 'demanding' that the school deal with it properly : as a friendship issue, bullying issue, mental health issue.

And talking to her about ALOT, about all these things - she's 15, in some senses she is very mature - she's already been through a lot, so talk to her about how she's going to deal with all of this.

Unfortunately, it’s not just if the new school is doing the same exam boards, it’s if they’re taking the same options within the subject. Eg history again, are they doing Elizabeth and medicine or maybe American West or WW1 etc. In Geography maybe river scenery or glaciation. In English, Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth, The Sign of the Four or An Inspector Calls, and poetry, War and Conflict anthology or Love and Relationships anthology. These are options taught within the same exam board. Just down to teacher/school preference.

If your DD wants to go to university getting good GCSE grades is important. Not necessarily more important than her mental health but moving schools will impact her attainment so you both need to make that decision with all the facts.

Realistically she has a year left in school before her exams. Can the situation be managed for that time and she start somewhere new for a-levels?

If not could she drop back a year and start a new school in year nine going into year ten to start her exams from scratch?

Is she in year 10 now? In all honesty, you might struggle to find a school to take her. Even if they do the same exam board for a subject (for example history) they might do different modules or in a different order. So your DD ends up repeating WW1 but never gets taught the Normal England paper for example. Her results will suffer and no school wants someone almost guaranteed to pull their progress 8 down and thus have a negative impact on league tables / ofsted.

*norman England, not normal England

How big is the school? Would she be able to change classes/form groups to avoid the bully?

The school seem to be treating it as more of just a friendship fallout which to begin with it was but has become more serious.

More serious in what way?

Moving at such an important time will definitely have a negative impact on her GCSEs, so your daughter is right to try and avoid doing so if at all possible.

I think if she did move she'd still get good enough grades to do the A levels she wants to do but she won't do as well as she could have done

But you can apply to the schools that havd the same examination boards in tje subjects the child is taking only and not apply for the ones that offer other boards/subjects

Well, yes. This would involve a tremendous amount of research before even applying, however, and would mean potentially having to be prepared to commute a significant distance. As others have said, you would need to find a school not only offering all the same specifications for all the same subjects - unlikely over ten subjects, tbh - but also ones which have selected the same options within those specifications as well. I'm no mathematician, but the probability seems vanishingly small.

It would certainly be more sensible to liaise properly with the school over trying to resolve the issue within the school first.

OP, what makes you think she would get good enough grades to do the A Levels she wants if she switches at this stage? Does she work very quickly, and pick up and retain material very quickly and efficiently? Is she able to study independently without much input from teachers? Does she have a strong work ethic? She will need all these qualities if she is to make up a year's worth of material in some subjects alongside studying the new material she will meet in Year 11.

Well, yes. This would involve a tremendous amount of research before even applying

Yes thats what the poster was saying Only its you thats making it complicated no one else

There was nothing wrong with what the poster who said make sure their the same exams subjects and boards. It just meant doing the research in to the schools.

Of course if there isnt one fesable then moving isnt an option.

But all the person was saying was make sure you check out the schools you apply for.

It was you that was like it doesnt work like that.

Er yes it does and can do

When is her birthday? If she's a summer baby I wonder whether the new school would allow her to repeat year 10?

It was you that was like it doesnt work like that.

If you mean it was me who said that it doesn't work like that (trying to unpick your convoluted expression), I don't think you actually understood my original point at all but in some cases, life's too short to waste the energy trying to explain.

Worse case scenario is your DD becomes more depressed and refuses school and doesn’t do any exams - loss of threads on here about this type of thing

If she wants to move do your research and ask the right questions

Yes only thats exactly my point life is to short

And wow i put an extra like in a phase doesnt maje it convoluted

Thanks for the replies, she's predicted 7's in most subjects at the moment and she is very hard working. If she stays there she could get really good results but seeing how unhappy she is now and things could get worse, moving means she won't do as well but considering how she's doing at moment surely she's not likely to pull a school's progress down

The latest I have known a student to change schools in Y10 was at Christmas and he found it really hard to catch up with all the work that he had missed - it doesn’t matter if they are doing the same GCSEs (you’d be lucky to get the same subjects as now due to option blocks) and same exam boards (highly unlikely this would be the case for every subject), schools don’t teach things in the same order.

This boy missed a third of Y10 and it undoubtedly affected his grades, even though he was very hard working and high achieving.