would it be insane to move schools at the end of Year 10?

[NigellasGuest]

That's it really. We are considering relocating, but DC1 starts 6th form in September so we should probably let her do her A'levels at the current school. DC2 will be at end of Year 10 when DC1 finishes A'levels. Should we really wait another year for DC2 to finish GCSEs and THEN move, so that DC2 starts 6th form in a new school?

It's obviously too late to move in time for DC1 to start A'levels somewhere new, seeing as we would have one month in which to organise that.

Really should we hang on for the extra year to get DD2 through school?

Whats so wrong with the School that makes you want to take such drastic action?

nothing at all is wrong with the school - it's a case of relocating for career opportunity for DH.

So obviously this would be drastic action.

Perhaps we should hang on for an extra year then. By which time, job opportunity may be gone. However, if it's too much of a disruption to DD2, then job op will have to be sacrificed. That's what I'm trying to weigh up.

Moving school at the end of yr 10 would be very difficult. You DC might not be able to take the same subjects etc and even if the same combination of subjects was available, the exam boards might be different.
Research suggests strongly that students who are moved "in-year" (and half way through GCSEs would count, IMO) do worse in exams.

As a teacher, if we have students join us part way through y10 or y11 it is an absolute logistical nightmare tbh.

I am an English teacher and if a student does Lang and Lit gcse they will have about 5 controlled assessments to do, plus 3 speaking and listening. Often if they move they have done different controlled assessments to what their new
class have done, and so trying to fill the gaps and avoid repetition is very very difficult. It also relies on the other school forwarding stuff and communicating well which doesn't always happen. I would really strongly advise to try and wait until y11 is over. Gcses matter, I still look at grades when recruiting graduates.

I wouldn't risk it. You may find the schools use different exam boards or have covered things in different orders. I think it could be catastrophic whatever the ability level of your DC. I would rather live apart from DH for a year than move a child in yr 10.

Can I hijack to ask for opinions about moving DC at the end of Y9 (so in time to start Y10 at new school, in new area)?

TIA

bump

It would depend on how close to the end of yr 9 you made the decision, tbh. If you were moving to my school for next year, you would find your DC's GCSE options limited to which classes have space left. For example, if your DC was particularly interested in drama or product design, they would be disappointed as all groups are full.

Being lumped into the classes with gaps when you have little interest in those subjects can be hard, but it's manageable, I guess.

OK thank you all for clarifying -
for DD's sake we will wait til she's finished Yr 11

Mothermirth many schools start GCSEs early in year 9, either spreading them out over 3 years or doing them in year 10 and offering enrichment activities in year 11. I would be concerned that they would have missed that bit of year 9 and would either struggle to catch up or be put in inappropriate sets to match the syllabus missed rather than their ability, so in a lower set than they should be. I'd call the potential school to find out.

dd changed school unavoidably in October of year 11. The main difficulty is finding a school that does the same syllabuses or will support your child doing a different one to everyone else, which given the plethora available it's vanishingly unlikely to find a perfect match. Any exams already taken or controlled assessments completed can be transfered to the new school (I think all GCSEs are terminal exams now, so the exam result transfer wont be relevent). English is particularly difficult as you need a fit both with the syllabus and the chosen set books/poets. I wouldn't recommend it at all if you can avoid it, although dd did better than expected in her gcses in the end, and was told having achieved well in spite of the upheaval was a factor in landing her latest job..

Thank you for all your very helpful replies. Lots to think about

my PIL did this to DH in the middle of his a levels (this was pre As/A2)
the syllabuses were rather different and despite his new teachers helping him to catch up he dropped as much as 2 grades in 1 subject, lost his uni place and had to get one through clearing. They now admit that maybe it wasn't the best thing they ever did...

Could your DH live away during the week initially? If the job starts at the beginning of September it would only be for 9 months.

If you can organise accommodation, it would make more sense to move now. There 's generally plenty of movement on sixth form places after GCSE results, so if you turn up in anew area, your dc1 should get into a sixth form easily enough (if they have decent grades.)

If you want to move now, hanging on for another 3 years is a long, long wait.