Entering sixth form (state) after living abroad - how prep, transfer credits

[pawre]

Hi we were going to move back to England this year but won't be thanks to covid and too much uncertainty. Anyways as a result, next year when returning our DD will be entering A levels. So since being abroad she does not have any IGCSEs, she goes to an American school/curriculum

Has anyone been through the same thing? What do we need to do would you say to get her up to scratch for next year? Not sure of any gaps. How do schools in UK deal with someone from abroad going into A levels? Hope she can get credit for what she has studied so far! Thanks in advance.

Due to the covid situation everything is going to be slightly weird at the moment because GCSE exams are not happening. However there shouldn't be any major problems, assuming that your DD wants to study subjects that she is currently getting high grades in. Do consider whether a school that offers the International Baccalaureate might be a better fit for her though?

Each school can set their own entry requirements for the academic grades required to access their a-level courses. Websites don't tend to give details of what equivalents for overseas applications would be acceptable, but a phonecall/email to the admissions person would be the best first step once you know where you will be. The admissions process for entry in September 2021 is already well underway - there was a general applications deadline back in December but late applications are still possible so act quickly. Some schools/colleges will have distance from your home as an admissions criterion and your current address being hundreds/thousands of miles away will put her at the bottom of the list for that at present but as soon as you move that will change, so it may be quite last-minute organising a place for her depending on which schools she wants.

If private schools are feasible for you that may make things easier as those schools will have a lot more flexibility to adapt to your daughter's individual situation. Many private schools will also be a lot more used to students transferring in from the education systems of other countries too.

Thank you so much KihoBebiluPute

No, our house area does not have any schools with IB and private school isn't feasible I'm afraid.

We'll go back next year 2022. Just thinking what we need to do now to make it as seamless and more pain-free :)

OK well hopefully things will be a bit less confused by global pandemic by then anyway!

But I may have misunderstood - I was assuming she would be applying for places in the Lower Sixth to start a 2-year course of study. So (revised now I understand this is for September 2022 not 2021) aiming to take A-levels in the Summer of 2024 if she will be returning to England in 2022. Am I wrong? I doubt any school would take any pupil into the upper sixth with only 1 term of learning - the Spring term is revision, and the Summer term is exams, it would be impossible to catch up no matter what country you were transferring in from! If she would have been expecting to finish high school in 2023 not 2024 then no there isn't a way to "transfer credit" for work already done in order to not have to do the full A-level course. To get the qualification she will have to sit the exams and submit any coursework just like anyone else - but she could choose to study independently and take the A-level exams as an external candidate if she doesn't want to start a 2-year course of study. Alternatively, if it's not appropriate for her to enroll into the lower-sixth, it might be appropriate for her to skip A-levels and look towards getting a place on a Foundation Year at a university, which are designed for students coming to the course without having gone through the traditional route through A levels (usually for mature students).

But assuming that's not the case and she will be looking for a Lower-Sixth place, I don't see any major problems, and you have plenty of time for applications, so that will be good. You can and should make contact with all the potential sixth form providers in the area you will be moving to. Don't forget to check out colleges that specialise in post-16 education, she doesn't have to join a school that also caters for younger pupils. They will each have their own processes, sixth forms don't usually have a single application form administered by the LEA though some LEAs will be more help than others.

Whether there are gaps is going to depend on her subject choices. Subjects like Maths and sciences are going to build heavily on the foundations of what was covered in the GCSE syllabus and if the syllabus at her american high school misses something out, there will be a gap but nothing that can't be quickly caught up with if it's a subject she enjoys.

There are unlikely to be knowledge gaps with subjects like english, history, geography etc because the A-level syllabus will be covering completely different topics so as long as she has the basic skills from having studied them at high school she will be fine.

A lot of schools offer A-levels in subjects that are pretty rare to study at all at GCSE, like Economics and Psychology. If she is choosing subjects like that then everyone will be starting from nothing, so no gaps to worry about.

Can she take English and Maths igcse remotely or level 2 Functional Skills? What subjects does she plan to take and will the sixth form accept her current attainment and curriculum as entry?

The 2 American twins who went to my 6th form did a year of GCSEs first (5 subjects including English and maths) as they were tested on the first day and weren't at the right level for a levels. But this was a long time ago and they may simply have been behind anyway. There was certain things they were ahead in but sciences etc weren't the case. All English curriculums and exam specs are online so you can see where they compare currently, if it's not for a year you can then look at tuition if needed

Thank you so much for everyone's response.
Much clearer now and more reassured.