Help with moving from US, to UK year 8 please :)

[doley]

We moved to the US when DS12 was 7 ,at that point he was well ahead of his American classmates (had been in school longer ,and was apparently gifted? )

Anyway ,unfortunately he has slipped further and further down with his grades.
At the last look they were at best a C and at worst an F (in 2 subjects)

So ,all this is making me very nervous about our impending move back to the UK in the Autumn .

I know he is being lazy ,as when I have questioned his teachers about his work (and should I get him extra help ) they have almost laughed ???

When taking standardized testing he flies through (that is why he has not been held back )

He is still considered gifted/talented with computers and tech related subjects ,so ,at least I know he could get work (when he gets through his school life lol )

Thank you for reading all the background ...

What can I do to help him achieve something when we return ?

I am worried as I imagine that his classmates will be way ahead in the curriculum ~that would be bad, if he wasn't already struggling here IYSWIM ?

Where can I go to find out what he should know or practice ,are there any good sites to get ideas ? I am wondering if he will get enough time to get familiar with things before the GCSEs start ?

I have no idea how YR8 is ,and what will be expected of him ? he will miss YR7 as here they are a year behind anyway (grade 6 right now and will be almost 13 when we get back )

Thank you very ,very much :)

www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/book8/book8int.htm

This site might give you some support for mathematics, I haven't looked through all of it, but I know from experience that cimt (Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching) material is usually excellent.

I don't know about the other subjects

Okay, don't panic. UK state schools are very used to pupils coming in from other education systems. You son will be going into keystage 3, you can look at some SAT materials for some help. I would think his use of English might be superior, he may also be used to rather more old fashioned teaching methods. The national curriculum can be found here don't panic this is written for teachers. A good first port of call if you can access it is BBC Bitesize. Another possibly useful site for Maths and Science is here.
You could use this as a good opportunity to get him to realise he needs to work to achieve. Also do point out that the UK uses continual assessment, so its not great to just be a test wiz.

I think there'll be plenty of time for your DS to do any catching up that might be necessary. It has seemed to me (4 DCs, youngest in Y10 now) that the real work starts in Y10. Your DC, going into Y8, will probably find a mixture of children above and below him and there'll be two years to iron out any worries before he starts the GCSE years.

I assume you're going into state education in the UK? Things might be different for your DS if private sector or selective.

Thank you all for the replies ~guess you can 'hear' my anxious voice

I am glad to hear that he will have time to re-establish himself in the system .I actually think it will work better for him (in the long run ) as at least in the UK not ALL subjects add up to the final high school certificate (ie having to take them all to pass )

Thank you for the links ~it will really help ,and yes ,it will be in a state school .

mummytime you are right ,it is a much more old-fashioned system (at least here ) repetition all the way lol :) it works for the MATHS facts very well ,my boys have a had a good grounding .

off to check links now ...

I don't think sixth grade/yr7 are that different.
The range in Y8 is huge; actually the range in most years is pretty big. The way the British system works they can faff about and do very little work all the way until Y10, I reckon, when finally the screws are tightened (that's my perspective as a Yank import). You're right, that he'd have to work harder for longer in the US system in order to get anything at all (9th-11th/12th grade, age 13-18+), and that faffing about at age 13 would be much more detrimental in the US system than it has to be in the UK system. I don't like the way the results in the UK system are so dependent on final-exams, but I suppose it is more forgiving, too.

He probably won't have done much Science in the US, and almost certainly no Chemistry. However, he can catch up missing work fairly easily by getting a Year 7 text book and KS2 revision guide.

What kind of maths is he doing now? College Prep or Advanced. If CP, he will be behind, if advanced he will be very comfortable.

Is he doing a foreign language?

Geography is quite limited in the US, and he will need to catch up on map skills.

English and History should be fine.

I don't get this "being a year behind" in the US system. Mine moved from UK state primary to US system just over a year ago. Both G & T in UK school, one for English, one for maths. The "maths genius" was set extra work for her first term, to enable her to catch up with the rest of the class. She is now - now that she has caught up - in the extended maths group and doing well. My "literacy genius" struggled a bit initially as well, but is now getting As.

I think it depends on the school what they do regarding science - DD1 (who is 6th grade/Yr7) certainly does chemistry and physics. Both learn French - they get an hour a day - and DD1 will be doing Spanish next year as well. DD1 also studies video production, ceramics and does Mini United Nations - the breadth of the curriculum is really good, and one of the things that "sold" the school to us.

Sorry I didn't see these up-dates :)

Thanks very much ...

lijkk your perspective is interesting ~it is what I suspected and I think it will actually suit DS better .

Halleluia Thanks for your advise ,I will look in to those revision guides:)

Mrs I think I was coming from the point of view that as they start school later,they skip a year .
My DS (for example) will leave grade 7 here ,and enter the UK system at YR8 IYSWIM ? :)

I am glad it is working out so well for your DDs ,I think you have found a great school :)

Doley - I think it is just in the way the "numbering" is done! I do worry about "what next" as we will be returning to UK when DD1 is 14/15, so returning in (I think) Yr 9 or 10. Ideally she would go to a school that does IB and only IB, but most schools in UK do GCSE as well and I am not sure how she would fit in with that.

MrsSchadenfreude that is interesting as we are also hoping to return when DD is entering year 10, also going for an IB school. We have been on the whole really pleased with the education that she has received but it definitely depends on the individual school. Doley I have mentioned this on other threads but we thought we were coming back a couple of years ago and had DD sit entrance exams to some selective schools - she was offered places at every one that we applied for. Good luck!