Relocate to London in August and urgently seeking school places for Year 11 and Year 8 boys

[benten1323]

May I have your help please? I am unexpectedly relocating to London in August, but feel helpless in securing school places for my two boys who should be studying in Year 11 and Year 8 in September. Can anyone provide me some help or tips which schools I can try? We are from Hong Kong, and my boys currently study at International School with UK curriculum. We would probably rent a home in west or southwest London. Many thanks in advance.

Appreciate all of your good opinion!!! Thanks

Given his birthday, Y10 would be by far the best idea. He will be in a good position to do GCSEs having the cushion of a year's study behind him to help him through the transition.

If it is at all possible you should pospone this move for one year.
It is a very inreasonable expectation on your son to move half way through his GCSE.
Most schools here do not do IGCSE, and the curriculum is different to standard GCSE.

If his birthday is sep 2002, most schools would not allow him into year 11 anyway, they would ask him to start at the beginning of year 10.
While that may feel rubbish to you son, it would be by far the best solution for him. It takes a lot for teenagers to adjust anyway when moving country and to expect him to do that adjustment while doing year 11 in a new school is really unfair.

When is your younger son's birthday? he may also go into a different year group.

Year 10 would be much better, especially moving from iGCSE to GCSE. He may not even necessarily find he is repeating that much really. Some iGCSEs for example don't require the study of Shakespeare, or need different periods in History.

My two sons also were born in September, so if they move to London, they won't be entering the same year group as in Hong Kong, given the strict age requirement in London.

On second thought, if my sons join IB school, would it be workable? Then no worry on IGCSE/GCSE issues. The upcoming exam would only be IB diploma which would happen in year 13.

They were brought up by PYP, and then MYP for two years, and IGCSEs. So they have IB background actually.

Hi OP

Here is some stuff on international schools in London.

Thanks a lot.

Ordinarily, I would recommend getting a copy of the Good Schools Guide for London North and London South - however, in your case, it might be worth employing an educational consultant. Will your work / your husband's work pay for that?

Probably not. But your advice is valuable. Thanks.

Very few schools offer IB earlier than 6th form , those that do (such as ACS iirc) are independent and fees very expensive.

Friend used a small consultant firm who didn't charge the earth.

So your eldest son is Sept 2002. So will be year 10 in september coming up.

I don't get what the issue is? That's the start of the 2 year GCSE course.

What am I missing?

He is currently in year 10 in hk completing half of igcse courses already. If he stays in hk, he only has half way to go. If he goes to U.K., due to age policy, he needs to retake year 10. Thanks

It isn't only age. He will have the opportunity to undertake a full 2 year gcse course rather than try to pick it up part way through to different specifications. The chances of finding a school with a perfect fit to what he has already studied are very slim so that would be a better route to achieving good grades and broader opportunities later on. Your younger ds may be offered a place in year 8 but that is dependent on the school agreeing, only really a possibility in the independent sector.

And even within igcses there are different papers and options, so set texts, topics of history etc may vary even if a school ostensibly offers the same format and board as he is currently studying.

True. Thanks for all your advice!

IB replaces A levels though - he would still need to take GCSEs or IGCSEs before the IB.

His suggests he would go into year 10 and this is probably the best option to find his feet in a new country, make friends even if he does double up some work.

Even if you found a school that did the exact same boards (and some mix and match boards for different subjects eg. do OCR for some, CIR or Edexcel for others) they may still have taught a different part of the syllabus to what you son has covered so he may end up doing something he has already done and not covering something that he would have done in HK in yr 11 but was done in yr 10 in England. Also some schools do a bit of each science for triple science each term all year round but I know of one school where they do a different science subject each term.

Unless you go private you will not be able to apply to a school until you have a UK address.

He's year 10 in September not year 11 which means that he can start a complete 2 year GCSE course with children the same school year as him and he will have already covered some material so will be in a good place to not be overwhelmed by the curriculum and can concentrate on settling in. Year 10 often has places as children make last minute changes before GCSE's so you may well be able to find a good state place for him

Thank you very much for your good advice

I'd also add that he will do better in his exams if he goes with his age group instead of a year ahead. Not just because of the exam boards etc. but just because he will be that bit older, more mature etc You wouldn't want to push for him going into year 11, only for him to underperform in the exams and limit his options later.

On the IB front - a few schools offer it for A-Level but there are few that do it for his age group. The locations are often a bit more remote so could make your commute tricky even if you manage to find a place.