Relocate from England to Scotland this May/June and should my DS finish GCSE before joining new school in Scotland?

[graceandmercy]

Hi there, would like to seek advice from all. My DS age 16 now and I plan to relocate to Scotland this Spring/summer and originally plan to start new school in Scotland after his gcse (the last subject being 23/6) but found then he will leave with only few days to know his new schoolmates before the summer break. While no anticipation of a flying result from this gcse, some friends strongly us to finish the gcse before relocating. Whats your view on this? Thank you so much.

[quote graceandmercy]@RampantIvy oh yes he will turn 17 in Aug.
@Cbes thx and let me dive into the scotsnet now☺️[/quote]
17 in August is already older than most of the incoming S5 cohort (although there there are outliers), so I suspect a school would struggle to place him in S4. By joining at S5 he will already be closer to 19 by the time he finishes, which is unusual.

thx all. I had sent an email updating my DS's situation to the School and am now waiting for the reply.

I would caution that the change from GCSE’s to Highers might be quite hard. Partly because although it’s a 1 year syllabus, in reality it’s more like 2 terms. Partly because the kids are taught to pass exams by answering questions according to a specific marking scheme. The foundations are laid in the National 5 curriculum.

My cousin moved to school from overseas for highers but has swapped to A-levels as there was too much to catch up on.

I agree that he should definitely complete his GCSE’s. Im a secondary school teacher in Scotland and the way most secondary schools work in Scotland is that in year 5/6 pupils are able to sit national 5’s (GCSE equivalent) as well as highers (A-level equivalent). In some cases they will be in classes with a mixture of year 4/5/6. So I think your son will be able to opt for national 5’s. Your sons schools will look at his GCSE results to help guide him to the correct level. It’s not like it used to be where everyone above 4th year does highers as pupils of different abilities stay on at school these days. So I don’t think repeating S4 is necessary.
Also many schools do other qualifications like NPA’s and courses in conjunction with there local colleges.
Your son will be fine, many pupils re-opt after the summer hols and to be honest he won’t miss too much prior to summers hols. It’s always a disruptive time of year with school trips etc… he’ll be fine if he puts the effort in.

What school year is he currently in?

Yr 11 ? In England or Wales?

I agree with other posters, if he turns 17 before the first day of September he would normally be in Yr 12 now?

My DS is now in year 11 in England.
thank you so much for all sharing, this is such a warm and lovely community. I have discussed with him and we decided to finish the GCSE before making any move.

You can't compared the two school years as the intake is different. I have a child who will be 17 in August too.

She would have been the very youngest in her school year in England, she's about the middle in Scotland.

@graceandmercy

My DS is now in year 11 in England. thank you so much for all sharing, this is such a warm and lovely community. I have discussed with him and we decided to finish the GCSE before making any move.

That’s great OP. How is he feeling about the move? Excited?

@Cbes i gave him a digest of the above and then he said ‘wow thats really cool platform! Is it only for mums?’😆
Re the move i think i am more exciting than him at the moment, but we will go up during Easter break for a visit and let he feels the vibes. I ask him to focus on the gcse and he’s really working much harder than before. As a adhd kid without any medication on hand, what i can do is to accompany him, cook something healthy for him and cheer him up!