Anyone move to Ireland after GCSEs?

[2024glengardens]

A bit of a convoluted story - the long and the short of it is that I am Irish and moved to UK for uni years ago. I have a family and husband. We attempted to move back to Ireland a couple of years ago but it didn’t work out and we had to return. We are rethinking about it again but our eldest would be 15/16 and just finished her GCSEs.

so my question is - has anyone any experience of a kid moving from UK to Ireland post junior cert years - into TY preferably. And how did that go - was there a massive disadvantage to studying the GCSEs instead of JC (I know the systems are very different and there will be a disadvantage but just wanted to know how much).

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

Following as we are thinking of potentially doing the same thing. Eldest DS is Year 10 now so we want him to do his GCSEs, then possibly move for TY. Would also love to hear from anyone who moved back to Ireland with a kid of this age. We also almost moved just before the pandemic but in the end didn't go through with it.

We moved back a couple of years ago, in the summer break directly after GCSE's and my son went straight into 5th year that September. He had no issues whatsoever. Had already covered quite a bit of the curriculum in GCSE - eg. had already studied Macbeth, etc. He's thrived and is currently at Uni in Dublin. My other one started into 2nd year and is currently in TY and loving it.

For us, I was desperate to move home, but it had to work with the schooling. It was either make the move the summer after GCSE's or wait another three years, until the 2nd had also done GCSE's. No regrets at all. Although my older one now seeing his sibling doing TY with all the activities is a little jealous he didn't get to do it!

That's so interesting to hear @BFG2023. Do you mind me asking if it was difficult to get school places? And I'm also curious if you considered putting your son into TY instead of 5th year? My son is summer-born so would be just 16 when starting in Ireland, so could go either way I think.
The main things we're worrying about re. moving are the fear of missing the great community of kids and parents where we now live (and struggling to find anything similar in Ireland as our kids are so much older), and not being able to get school places. We'd be moving to Dublin for job reasons and because that's where I'm from.

Sorry to hijack your thread @2024glengardens!

@BFG2023 thanks so much for such a helpful reply. I am delighted to hear your kids got on so well and it gives me hope!

@WildPatience no worries at all, and you have asked all the questions I was thinking of asking! My main concern is difficulty getting into schools as well. I must admit we have already done the move back to Ireland and then had to return to the UK as one of our jobs didn't work out and also we could not find a house after looking for a while. But, I am hoping (really hard!) that the Govt sorts its act out on housing in the next few years and we could return then (after my eldest has done GCSEs). Ideally, I would want my eldest to do the TY but not sure if that would be an option and they would have to go straight to year 5 (which sounds very much like that would be fine, too!)

@WildPatience and @2024glengardens we are not in Dublin, so no direct experience of finding schools there, unfortunately. We moved back to my home town, and I just emailed the (excellent) local secondary school and they were both offered places instantly.

We never considered TY for the older one, actually. He is winter born so turned 17 a few months after starting 5th year. He was comfortable getting stuck in, didn't want to be 'behind' his equivalent cohort.

In terms of community, my three ( I have one in primary also) have been welcomed with open arms and have great friendship groups, better than the ones they had in London, and I am not worried about them being stabbed on the train to school any more, or being targeted by gangs, etc. There is a huge multicultural mix in their school, and in the town at large, certainly very different than when I left for uni in the 90's. My children are dual heritage, so that was also an important factor for us.

My little one has joined the local soccer and GAA clubs and is very much one of the gang now. These have also been great social opportunities for us too, meeting the patents and getting involved with volunteering and coaching, etc. I've made some really lovely friends too.

The housing situation is pretty shit, especially in Dublin. We are renting, and had been renting in London, so had no equity to move with. I would say if it was possible to move to outside of Dublin and commute in, you'd get a hell of a lot more for your money. There is also a healthy work-from-home and hybrid working attitude here, with companies seeming to accept it more than in England.

Honestly, my only regret has been the lack of decent Turkish or Lebanese restaurants in my locality! I do miss my old Turkish local in London, it was amazeballs!

Oh, also wanted to expand a little on the curriculum differences, etc.

Mine didn't have to study irish, they got exemptions as they had completed their primary school out of the country.

Maths and sciences etc is the same no matter where you study it! My son found he had covered quite a bit in GCSE already.

Same with English, with macbeth. In terms if poetry, literature, etc they started from scratch in 5th year, as in it wasn't a continuation of the junior cert, so he was on a level footing with his classmates, who also hadnt studied those poets/books before.

In terms of history, there wasn't much focus on irish history, it was more modern European, so again he didn't feel like he was missing half the story.

Other subjects such as engineering, geography, tech graphics, languages etc there wasn't much of a difference at all, and again as GCSE is an additional year on the Junior Cert cycle, he felt he had covered some topics already, so all in all he was very comfortable with the transition into 5th year.

@2024glengardens I moved back at exactly that age. I finished GCSE in England then went into 5th year in Ireland. Yr 11 is age wise the equivalent for TY so I think she'd be too old for TY. I am January born, there were younger girls in my year who didn't do TY but I was the right age to fit in with the girls who had done TY. If I had gone into TY I think I would have felt too old

I found a fair bit of my 5th year course had actually been covered by my GCSE course. I didn't pick history though and I was exempt from Irish.

Any questions please do ask

After GCSE would be a good time to move. TY totally an option for a young in the year child and would give a nice opportunity to settle in without academic pressure.
DD is in 5th year now and with a Jan birthday has gone from being in the older half of her UK school to one of the youngest. Being 18 starting 6th year is very normal now.