Moving children overseas in year 10

[LovingLemur]

I'm hoping for some positive guidance of how to make a transition successful for a child moving abroad in Year 10 please. This will be from a UK state school to an international school which follows the UK curriculum so GCSE's can continue. The area will have lots of British and English speaking expats too which I'm hoping will help.
It''s 90% happening so any stories of success welcome (appreciating it's a really tricky time to move).

Have you checked the subject options available at the potential new school? Do they align with what your child wants to do? Is there definitely space for your child at the new school? Does the new school offer some new/ interesting extra curricular activities that could be helpful or continuing existing activities which could also be helpful? I think these are some of the issues to explore further.

kerp your dc involved in what’s happening.

Are you moving now? That gives your dc one term of yr10 to make friends for the summer holidays. That will make it easier for the start of yr11.

I have a dc in yr10 but I am waiting 12 months to move overseas after gcse, staying in uk rental even though I’m desperate to get moving to our new house. Appreciate this is not always possible.

Have you checked the subject options AND the exam boards?
(particularly if they are coming to the end of Yr 10 now - rather than starting Yr 10 in September)

I'm guessing your DC is starting y10 in Aug/Sept (depending on location). UK curriculum schools generally avoid children joining y11 for the reasons outlined here. A y10 start should be fine, but worth asking whether other students have done any early entry exams in y9 that impact the y10 curriculum.

If you're moving to UAE, be aware that Arabic is compulsory in y10 even for non-native speakers. Standards amongst expats are pretty poor tbh but they'll still know a lot more than your DC will.

Are they at the end of year 9 or 10 now? You can’t move them if they are just about to finish year 10 as there is no way to match up all the correct subjects/exam boards and order that things have been taught in.

if they are in year 9 then be quick I guess! Just make sure the new school aren’t doing GCSE’s over three years.

Thank you.
It's not UAE- western Europe. Yes there are places at the school. DC is in year 9 now. Also have another DC in year 8. We've emailed the exam boards of the current school across for them to review. The curriculum/ subjects look very, very similar.

If it is an international school it is probably experienced in welcoming new students every year and indeed every term or week so should have strategies to support. They will also not be the only new children so will have others in the same position. Is a visit possible before the move?

If you can indicate the country where you are likely to be heading there may be more advice on other non school opportunities and the wider community.

Thank you. Yes, I think the school will be well versed in the education transition bit, perhaps the feelings/ social bit not so much? I'm wondering what tips around settling the children feeling wise are do's/ don't do's. What little things could make a big difference.
It's The Netherlands.
We've visited the place before but not with a view to living there. If we were definitely on we would visit but I'm not sure if it would be helpful to take the children or whether this would feel unsettling for the actual move.

Are you planning on staying there? Might be issues with uni funding if they want to go in the UK

Year 11 is when they do GCSEs, yes? So the two year pre-GCSE course. It will be fine. International schools are very, very good at integrating new students. The only issue is when friends leave before your kids do. That said, there is a lot less churn higher up the school, and my two are still in touch with a lot of their friends. DD1 went to international schools all through her school life. DD2 went back into the U.K. system in U.K. when she was 12. Both did well, with DD1 staying in the American system and doing the IB.

Thank you. The employer pays education for children up to 24 years old so we figured re the uni element this should be covered.
Yes, year eleven is the end exams but coursework and the GCSE learning itself starts from year 10. It would likely be part way through that's the sticking point.
Any tips re managing the transition please?
How to make it positive and exciting for the kids?

We moved with one DC going into Y10 however it was our 5th international move so the DC were well versed in the actual moving process. As someone else has already pointed out if uni in the UK is on the cards have you factored into the move that the only guarantee of home fees and student loans is residency for you all in the UK for 3 years prior - anything other than that and it’s all very much more tricky, particularly student finance.

Thank you. Any tips for the actual move @TheTwenties

You need to be there for the start of year 10.

Even if the exam boards are the same, the 2 schools could select different texts, teach the syllabus in a different order etc which would mean that your dc misses significant chunks of teaching if they’re not there from the start if the autumn term in year 10.

Tips for the move: take them to visit the school. Have you narrowed it down to just one? For our last move, we assumed the kids would go to the British school, but we all hated it - it was like chalk and cheese compared to their previous British international school, so they went to the American school, which we all loved.

We also had a fun week’s holiday, found somewhere to live and did some exploring, went to a theme park. Got them used to the idea of moving by saying “We’ll be eating in this pizza place/going to this supermarket all the time when we move.”

If you can move and do half a term or a few weeks before the summer holidays, we found this helped, and they had friends to play with over the summer.

Get their bedrooms ready first, so they have somewhere that is their space, even if the rest of the place is in chaos, get them involved with choosing furniture. Do the journey to school before the first day so that they know what they’re doing.

If the DC play a sport or have other interests make finding somewhere suitable to do that an absolute priority. Housing close to school & activities wherever possible. Once you land spend time finding foods everyone is happy and familiar with. Experiencing new things is great but having some basic familiarity is also really important when there’s so much that’s different. A first move with DC’s of that age needs to include them in decisions as much as possible.