Moving to Canada, after DD completes YEAR 10

[gailomommie]

Hi,

I have a situation that we need to think through with regards to my DD who has started GCSE and will not be able to complete Year 11 before we relocate to Canada (term may be 4-6 years)

We will not be able to stay back one year for completion of Year 11 due to work contractual requirements unless we get renewal for another year!!

I'm aware that it is not an advisable time for a move. Considering the fact that I have no options but to move...what are his choices of schools...he will only complete Year 10 by the time we move.

Can he continue GCSE in Canada, if the GCSE options he chose is not available or should we change to another curriculum ? It might also be tricky to get admitted to a new school with same or new curriculum?

Any advise/options would help!

Cheers
Gailo

Canada has a completely different education system to the U.K. and also differences between provinces as education is not a federal responsibility. Trying to move someone part way through GCSEs is not at all advisable. I am sure others with greater expertise will be able to add more.

Can he stay behind with a grandparent or aunt, etc for one year to complete his schooling and then move to you? He could still visit in the holidays.

State boarding?

Is there any international school that may do GCSsEs? Or distance learning and entering as a private candidate?

Otherwise possibly restarting the year 10 equivalent and doing Canadian or international exams instead?

How does your son feel about it all?

I wouldn't want to leave my child behind for a year personally though I guess that may be a possibility if not ideal.

Which province are you moving to OP?

Is it just one parent who has to move? Can the other stay with DS to complete GCSEs?

We moved to Canada when our daughter was in Year 9. It is completely different, but you can use school reports or awards to apply for transfer credit (we're in BC).

Also, it might be worth looking at local schools which may offer the International Baccalaureate from Grade 11.

Can your DD stay behind to finish GCSEs? The years don't equate equally UK to Canada in terms of finishing high school.

Options to work through
i) DS stays behind with a relative/friend - think of it as boarding school but in a home, keeps him in his old school and holidays can be used to visit
ii) Boarding school - would this mean he has to change schools anyway? Whats he like socially, would this knock him off track anyway so you may as well take the hit and move him to Canada
With i) and ii) you need to think what you'd do if this arrangement works well - would it stay in place for A levels/IB?
iii) move to Canada and find an international school that runs iGSCE - if you're moving to a big city this is very likely . We live abroad and the kids are in international school - kids join each and every year in middle of iGSCE and IB, international schools will know how to help kids settle in quickly.
iv) move to Canada and change to the local schools and exams - as a PP said this would depend on which province you moved to

So, no its not ideal but it happens. To me its as much about his personality and what would work for him, where will he feel settled, as it is about the exams.

Ifs he wants to go to uni in Canada, she should go into a Canadian school. If she wants to go in the UK, she should stay in the UK system or go to an IB school or a school that offers APs. UK unis will accept 5 good APs or a good IB diploma. If DD does Canadian high school, she'll probably have to do a foundation year in a UK uni.

It won't be hard to move into a Canadian school from an English school even though they are different.

If she will go to uni in the UK, make sure you look at the residence requirements for home student fees and student loans before you go. You need to maintain sufficient connections with the UK to qualify as ordinarily resident. It's not straightforward but planning ahead can make the difference.

I’d second trying to find an IB school if your child has to move with you. Could you and your DS stay behind till he finishes?

What province are you moving to?

My kids did their schooling in BC and I’ve worked in public (not private I mean) schools here. Mostly they’re a bit crap. There’s not much standardization in the classrooms, and it’s next to impossible to get rid of bad teachers. Brand new curriculum but teachers just wing it a lot of the time and I’ve seen so many times gym teachers handed physics or final year Literature to teach. Too many of them don’t know their subject but think they’re the experts. I’m underwhelmed on a daily basis by most of the teaching staff.

He would still have the choice of applying to British universities after completing education in Canada through but would have different have gcse or A levels.

Where are you going? As others have said, the move won’t be hard in terms of getting in with it, but the systems aren’t comparable. Canadian schools stay generalist throughout high school, and don’t specialize (as in A levels). The high school diploma is a breadth requirement not three (or four) subjects.
University entry for Canadian universities uses the grade 11 scores for application, and is confirmed with the grade 12 diploma results. There is no separate history, geography etc curriculum, kids take ‘social’.
Where are they heading for post sec? Back to the uk? (In which case, eek, beware international fees if you are ordinarily resident in Canada at the time or immediately previous to start)) to a Canadian university? Go for it. You might also want to look at starting in grade 10 which would smooth the path ‘in’ considerably (in terms of Math 10, 20,30, Bio 10,20,30 etc. It may even be that depending on date of birth your dc may be the right age to start in grade 10 anyway.
If you go for it, don’t fall into the trap of not wanting to ‘redo’ grade 10 (y10). Out of my three, two graduated from high school at 17. It’s not super unusual but it can take a bit of getting your head around when your dc is a year younger than their peers, and has been off at uni for a year before they turn 18..,
Other random things to consider - all the kids drive super early (depending where you are). A 17yo without a drivers license here is vanishingly rare. So get used to the idea that Canadian kids are driving to high school themselves way before g12 😬😬
I have two graduated high school and a 16yo in g11. One went to a different province for university. University here also has a subject breadth requirement generally, so they don’t ‘just’ specialize in one very specific area at first.

Depends where you are, natch, re the driving. I think in the GTA, the Lower Mainland etc, loads of kids don’t drive. My kids went to school in a city of half a million and neither learned to drive in high school,
ditto most of their friends.

The kids don’t specialize. This can be boring/frustrating for specialists. I really suffered with being crap at math and consequently didn’t go to university till I was in my mid-20’s, ditto my eldest. One of my kids went to a gifted program and too often the kids knew the subject better than the teachers (at least when it came to sciences, maths and socials). There’s also a massive pay gap between teachers and support staff, and I think those divisions rub off on the kids.

If you are entering the Canadian system, Grades 10 or 11 are not bad times to do it IMO. I am in Ottawa, Ontario and my DD1 is at University and Dd2 grade 12 high school. High school runs grade 9-12.

When is your DC birthday? The cut off date here is Jan 1st rather than Sept 1st so that may make a difference.

I have been very impressed by the public schools my Dds have attended, they have had relatively small classes, many excellent teachers, very few behaviour issues in school (compared to my experience in the UK) and an incredible amount of extra curricular opportunities. As others have mentioned, they don't specialize as much, but they do get some choices in Grade 10 and 11. Dd1 did no science (all arts / social science) in Grade 11 and 12 and dd2 has done all sciences.

English is compulsory to Grade 12 and Maths to Grade 11.

Even if you change schools within the UK you can pretty much wreck your DC’s chances at GCSE by moving between 10 and 11.
They would need to find a school that had studied the same exam board curriculum for each subject. And had studied it in the same order.

I would do all in my power to keep my Dc in their school.

The ideal situation is that your DD goes into her age appropriate school year. Don't assume there is a benefit in your DD doing classes above what is expected from her age range. The teaching is not necessarily there for her to get her UK expected grade in her choice of classes.

I think the best thing is for her to decide whether she wants to go to UK or Canadian uni and work back from there.

OP you need to come back and mention which province.

I agree with switching to IB. There are many IB schools and programmes in Canada.