Hello,
I was hoping in some opinions from UK parents if possible.
Our kid was offered to switch to a slightly better school right now, in year 9.
The two schools are actually close, the current one is 25 minutes walk and the other 35 or so. No house move would be required
The only reason for the move is that, based on on government statistics, the percentage of kids going to top third universities in the current school is 5%, and 30% in the other. However, the current school is a Sport College (he is not into sports), so one reason for the difference might be that many kids attending have other careers in mind.
Also, the current one is boys only, the new one would be co-ed. My wife and I studied in mixed schools, so we tend and like that, but of course it might or not be a good thing.
They both do A-levels too.
Besides that, the current school has very good good pastoral service, and kids feel safe there. Our son is the diligent type,never asked to skip school and never seemed afraid to go (unlike myself at his age and later), always punctual and so forth without prodding, and I think we are very lucky in that. He is not top class, always in the top set because that he tries to reach bar the the school sets, but he would not do more without a specific reason. Nothing wrong with that, but we were wondering if a slightly demanding school would then lead to better GCSE and A-level.
The new school could be better in that respect, but he would need to drop one current GCSE choice (computing, in his school they choose subjects in year 8).
We had a meeting with the new school, just parents, where they explained some, then a test to gauge his level.
Then we were promised a meeting with the head of year, which I hoped would be about how supported he would be in catching up and fitting in.
It turned out the lady was a substitute because the head of year was otherwise engaged, and initially she took it as a formality, asking us to sign documents and him to select first and second choice subjects on the spot.
When I raised our concerns, she was kind enough to discuss them, and when she heard that our kid is anyway happy in his current school, and that the reason is just better test scores in the future, she replied that any school is good enough to get into university if a child studies hard, and , while it would be their loss if he did not transfer, she was not raccomending doing that necessarily just for the test grades.
She anywya reassured him and us that by April he would be fine enough.
Our son hates the idea. Over the last week he has been saying that very often. He even sent me a mail with all the pros and cons to the move, to which I tried to reply fairly and spent many hours researching about, so we could discuss it.
He agrees that the new school could give better chances but he also offered to work harder and use hold GCSE papers to practise on top of schoolwork, so he does not need to move, which I appreciate, it is quite mature of him to offer that solution.
My wife will have none of that. She essentially decided it would be a good thing for him to move the very moment we received the offer.
He should have gotten a place becasue he passed an exam for it years ago. That never materialized but now there is an offer, so we should take it.
I am myself less convinced and I am worried that he might not fit in and then become less diligent and hard working as a consequence. I have no reasons to think he would not manage, but having myself struggled in high school because of the environment and luck of support, I would hate for him to end up the same way. He told me that continuity is important for him. Even if I promised I will always support him provided that he can tell me if there are issues.
Sorry for the long text.
Essentially my wife an I got are a bit clueless about the UK system. Our first degrees abroad and then got offers by UK universities based on that. We never had to deal with preselection based on high school grade, entering was easy, staying on board took work.
But in the UK it seems many doors can close dependently on GCSE and A levels results, so we are worried our kid might not have enough options when the time comes.
Thansk for any opinion!