Has anyone ever moved to new area with dc for Alevels?

[Billyandharry]

Has anyone moved area- and moved a child into a new area between after GCSEs and Alevels?
How was it? Did child do ok in new place? Disaster? Any advice/experience welcome!

Yes. Can’t say how it’s gone yet as only moved 2 weeks ago and DC starts sixth form next week. He’s pretty chilled though.

Ha. Good for you. Glad he's feeling chilled. good luck!

Yes. But how it went is probably irrelevant to you as my ds is very much not ‘school shaped’ ! He just had his results and got what he needed and he made some new close friends so not a disaster at all. He would have done the same (no work and poor attendance until Feb of year 13!) anywhere so it wasn’t the move…

Not specifically for A levels but I did move a 16 and 14-year-old. The 16-year-old is a confident kid, took it on like a mission and made a very determined effort to make friends and settle into the school and he's thrived. The 14-year-old is much more anxious, frankly their world collapsed and two years later they've just got back on track - lesson learnt I'm very grateful we did this in a non-exam period for them. And in our case, I think it's much more about the personality than the age. It's not something I would advise to do lightly.

You know your kid best, so what are they like - btw confident doesn't need to mean extrovert, but more confident in themselves, and good self-esteem. Are they happy to make the move? What about outside of school, can they continue extra-curricular or other activities in the new place? What about friendship groups or at that age even crushes/relationships - social media is great for keeping in touch, can they independently get back and visit old friends, would they want to?

My parents moved between my O levels and A levels and it was fine. In fact better than fine as my new school was quite a bit better than the really awful one I went to in our old town.
Obviously that was specific to me, but as a general rule I think itis quite a good time to move as it's a point where lots of change occurs for many pupils anyway. Obviously if you go to a stand alone 6th form college or similar then it is new to everyone and there will be lots of people who don't know each other, but even in regular schools there's often quite a lot of pupils starting. It may be that their old school doesn't have a 6th form, they have come for a particular subject not offered elsewhere or lots of other reasons, including just fancying a change! So you're far less likely to be the only new kid if you move between year 11and 12 than in other years. Plus 6th form tends to be a bit different for everyone even if they've been in the school since year 7, so you're all experiencing change together.

I would be very wary about doing this - we moved earlier than this, for one child it went fine, for the other a disaster. The one it went fine for also found first six months tough. Also depends how they feel about it and where from and to.

It’s definitely harder than just moving schools for sixth form (which my dd had done, to a sixth form where she knew no one). It helped my ds that he could still go back at weekends (about 45-60 mins away) to see old friends and he really needed this the first six months (online/xbox contact was also key).

On the plus side, every opportunity young people have to meet new people and develop their social skills is useful - and good preparation for uni and work life. My kids moved house for secondary too and went to schools where they knew no one - and then again for sixth form. They’re both very confident.

Thanks All for your thoughts/experiences. Really appreciate them.

Yes. My DD was at a mixed independent school and wanted to go to an all girls sixth form. I wanted to return to London so rather jumped at the idea and wow did I discover the rigamarole of apply to schools (her first two were non selective). But while she didn't get into her favourite she got in to a good one. We looked along the District line as that was the part of London I knew. But we went from a large town and five minute walk to school to a huge city and 45 minute by tube commute.
Quite a number changed at sixth form - either to go to vocational college, or like mine, for a new different experience.
She is an introvert and was not out to make friends, and was fine with leaving her old ones behind. It was also 2021 so while school remained open it was an odd time initially. But she made a few, worked hard, did a couple things totally new to her and totally out of her comfort zone that she couldn't have done before. Got three A stars. And I'm happy to be back in London!