IGCSE/GCSE to Highers

[hosnav]

Hi. I wondered what the transition is like from IGCSE/GCSE to Highers. Are the GCSE courses similar enough to National 5s for kids who've done them to transition fairly easily to Highers? I also wondered if schools typically start teaching the Highers curriculum once they've done their exams in S4? Or do they wait until the beginning of S5? My son will be moving to the Scottish system from an International School doing IGCSE at the beginning of S5 so just wondering if anyone else whose done that (or moved from England) could share any insights. Thanks

They do tend to start the Higher curriculum after the Nat 5s (so beginning of June) but a) there's only really 3 effective weeks of term left before the holidays, so they've not covered that much and b) there's flexibility at the beginning of the new school year for pupils to change once they've got their exam results.

Can't speak from personal experience, but ds' old (state) school (in Glasgow) was used to pupils coming from all over the world (including the English system ).

There's also the flexibility that young people can choose to spread their Highers over 2 years (even though the Unis tend to like to see the results from a single sitting) and/or adjust the number of Advanced Highers in S6, alongside some extra Highers.

Where are you moving to?

Moving to Edinburgh.

Good luck with the move

I'm sure others who know the Edinburgh schools better (both state and private - not sure which you're planning for your ds to go to) will be along to advise

As far as I have gleaned from previous Scotsnet threads, there are good State schools in Edinburgh but you need to be in their catchment and (in the case of later years) check that there is space in that year's cohort.

Thanks for your responses. My main concern is how short the Highers course is - staring in August and presumably the exams around May - so if you start off on the back hoof AND are missing content knowledge from not having done National 5s, it could be hard to catch up. Hoping someone will know how similar/different the two courses are.

A lot will depend on the highers your DC will take, done are more self contained than others ie are not so much a continuation from Nat 5 - social sciences should be easier to pick up and are often ‘crashed’ by those looking to pick up extra highers. There are revision guides for most subjects so you could buy those to start studying before August.

The sqa website also provides a lot of info about the content of each course.

That's a good point celtiethree - I should have remembered that as ds "crashed" a Higher in Modern Studies in S6 (and got an A), having dropped Modern Studies in S2.

He actually says with hindsight that he could probably have crashed the AH - but he was already doing AHs in Physics and Maths.

It was a good foundation for him though as he's now in his 2nd year doing Politics & International Relations at Aberdeen Uni (have got 2 Unconditional offers).

I think it's quite common to "crash" Biology at Higher in S6 (for those schools that don't offer all 3 Sciences at once) and I know Graphic Communications is also crashed.

Thanks. Another issue is that Highers seem a lot less one text book based than IGCSEs so not as easy to just pick up the course book and teach yourself what you may miss. I am thinking once we have a place at a school for him - which should be be the February - his school will no doubt tell us what he's missing in June.
He is planning to do Human Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Maths and not sure about the 5th. Maybe psychology if they offer that.

Do you know yet/have an idea of what school you will apply to?

Although there is no set txt book the sqa guides are very useful, this link is for higher human biology and provides detail of all the course content: www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/HigherCourseSpecHumanBiology.pdf

The bright red study guides or how to pass books are useful.

Your other alternative is a private school which offers A levels. There are some in Edinburgh that offer this - though appreciate that private may not be in the table for any number of reasons.

1st choice is Heriots; 2nd choice is Watsons, so both Higher (though I think at one time Watsons did IB, which is what he would be doing if he stayed at his current school, but it looks like they've stopped doing it). Will have a look at the SQA website - thanks!

@celtiethree - the A level schools in and around Edinburgh all seem to be boarding schools which have much higher fees for day pupils than the schools that are for day pupils only. They are all out of my price range.

All the best for your ds in his transition.

I know someone who arrived in Scotland from abroad with her kid going into S5, doing a similar selection of Highers to your ds (but hadn't done GCSEs/iGCSE where they came from) and she's investigated extra tutoring for her kid for Biology and/or Maths.

@prettybird the SQA wesbite is acutally very informative - just looking at it now. Was kind of dreading looking as the equivalent for IGCSE is very hard to navigate but this is much more logical and straightforward. It will answer all my questions. Thanks for your help!

It is good - also, lots of past papers and iirc, explanations about the correct answers and the marking of them.

Can't remember much more as I pretty much let ds get on with things himself . The most I did was buy him the Leckie & Leckie study guides and a couple of "How to Pass [x]" for the subjects he wasn't so confident in.

Suggest you get him to have a try through the most recent Nat 5 past papers for his subjects to get used to the different style and also to see where he is at. Higher Human Biology is a very common S6 crash Higher because so few Scottish schools offer 3 sciences at Nat 5.

Most Scottish students, especially in private schools, do Higher English and Higher Maths so worth considering. That said English is probably one of the courses where there would be most difference from the iGCSE. Check the school success rate with courses like psychology because they tend to have low uptake and are geared towards more mature S6 students.

Watson's start the highers in August as my niece has left there and my nephews are still there. They keep up because they are in on Friday pms unlike the council schools.

@Groovee wow! Had no idea they are closed on Friday afternoons!

I take it the kids need to be working on their Highers in the summer holiday after National 5s? Do their schools normally given them directed work to do? Or is it just self study?

Not in my experience.

And most Glasgow schools don't close on Friday afternoons I think there might be one or two but they increase their hours on other days )

The Edinburgh schools also have slightly longer hours on the other days, overall they do the same amount of hours as other schools. Most schools don't do a standard week anymore. In my day we finished early on a Wednesday.

My friends dc high school in Glasgow didn't start any of the higher work until they went back in August which meant that they spent 3 weeks twiddling their thumbs and going to classes for subjects that they weren't intending to take the following session.

My DC school said that around a third of pupils change their courses after exam results.

No particular work given over the holidays apart from English (maybe just AH?) where it was recommended to read the relevant books so they were ready to hit the ground running. If you are moving up in the summer, remember that your DC will have a shorter holiday as Scottish schools go back earlier and English schools break up later.

@WaxOnFeckOff thanks for the reply and good to know that not too much happens in advance.

He is moving from an International School in Thailand which actually breaks up a week before Scottish schools do and goes back around the same time. He will finish his exams in the 1st week of June which looks to be about the same as Scottish schools too, so did think he could potentially join his new school for those last three weeks of Term. However, not sure that would be offered or indeed whether it would be necessary. Would mean him jumping on a plane post exams and then straight into a totally new environment so he'd probably learn very little anyway.

It's definitely worth speaking to the schools involved. I'm sure this won't be the first time this has happened and they'll have a likely plan in mind. Though, as you are paying for the privilege, I would expect comprehensive support from them.

I would think that things like Maths and Science being fact based will be broadly similar and as PP said, a lot of the social sciences are picked up as extra highers with no previous nat5, once they know how to write a decent answer/argue a point etc then it's just a matter of learning the material.

The Scottish system is quite flexible and allows for being placed in a year that doesn't necessarily follow their age and also to do exams in any of the exam years, it's just down to what the school can accommodate.

Good luck with the move.

My dcs are at a different independent school in Edinburgh to the ones you are considering but a couple of comments to add to what's been said:
Higher course starts in August as the time between exams and summer is spent on enrichment type activities, Dof E, trips etc.
English is the only compulsory higher at the schools my DC are at, this may be something to ask about.

@OwlMother thanks for the info. I looked at the English paper and only issue he may have is understanding inferences/colloquialisms in the Scottish text. However, my son is Scottish - despite never having lived there - so about time he learns!