Has anyone moved school at start of year 11 and how difficult is it for teaching staff to get a new pupil at this stage?

[Mumofrage]

If you moved your child was it very difficult for your child to adjust.

[Rosieposy4]

We have taken kids into y10 when they should have transferred into y11 ( state comp) so that is definitely possible and would probably be your best bet.
I have had the odd transfer into y11 and it is hard work for all the reasons given above.

[titchy]

Given the current situation it may be the best option. Your dc will have to sacrifice several subjects to concentrate on Maths, English, Science and maybe one or two others, but if the new school can accommodate them in their 'nurture' classes, or whatever they call the classes for low ability kids not able to access a full range of subjects, plus a tutor, you may get an outcome which enables them to continue to sixth form.

[TheFifthKey]

You’d really have to check out the college option though - a student in my town would have no access to a post-16 gcse course other than maths, English or science anywhere within travelling distance. They would have to do a level 2 course instead (which might be a good option for a student with LD depending on the student, but it’s not GCSEs).

[AlexanderHamilton]

If it’s for the good of your child’s mental health then I would do it they can always re-take GCSE’s at a 6th form college. There may not be quite as much choice (my local college offers Maths, English, Double Science, French, Art, Media & Psychology for example alongside a couple of Btec 1st diplomas) but what price your child’s well being.

[Mumofrage]

Yes there are LD involved.
Thank you. This is another avenue to explore.

[PatriciaHolm]

Am I correct in remembering your DD has LDs?

It is possible to go back a year into Year 10, though it would be hard to achieve; not impossible though. I sit on appeals panels and have seen several cases where schools have accepted that a child can go into a younger year, due to exceptional circumstances. I would have thought this was your best option, but you need to start enquiries with the school now.

[anotherangel2]

Most schools will have taught well over half the content of GCSE as exams start in May and they need to allow revision time. Even if they were teaching the same exam board they maybe teaching different units.

[ReservoirDogs]

A friends Dc did this. It took a lot of hard work. Some boards were the same but had been taught differently eg. her previous school had done a bit of each science subject all year whereas the new school taught all the biology, all the chemistry then all the physics (! god knows why!) so they were ahead in some and behind in others. A good science tutor sorted that out.

Luckily the English was the same board and taught similarly, her textiles was completely different and her year 10 portfolio counted for nothing and she worked incredibly hard through holidays etc to get her new syllabus done in a year.

So with hard work, parental support and private tutors to fill some gaps at home they did get a batch of A*s and As but took 8 instead of 10 she had originally planned.

However it was worth it to be away from the bullying little madams at her previous school.

[Girlslikeme]

Your dc would count on the new school’s published exam results and I wouldn’t imagine many schools would be keen on that, especially the more academic ones.

Another thing to consider, are there spaces in year 11 in the new school? I know in my area year 11 is full in the most popular schools.

[Girlslikeme]

It’s really hard. I am an English teacher and your dc might have studied different books from the ones my class have studied. How would they catch up?

The course content is so wide and like pps have said, different schools and teachers cover things in a different order.

Also ime trying to get a straight answer from pupils about what they have/haven’t done at a previous school is impossible. Ideally the old and new teachers would liaise but in reality that does not happen.

[IAmTheWifeOfMaoTseTung]

Not completely impossible with a statement of SEN (I forget the new terminology) but you’d have a hell of a fight on your hands.

[geogteach]

In my experience it won't be an option . I work for a local authority tutoring service, no local school will take year 11 (whatever the reason for needing a school). Best case scenario is resit year 10 (but student would need to demonstrate being highly
Motivated) , may be possible to join a 14-16 course at college but spaces are
Limited and it is not a GCSE course or stay with me (5 hours a week) and hopefully get eng and maths functional
Skills and apply for a place at college post 16. My professional opinion would be stick with current school if at all possible.

[Clairetree1]

Could you move her but move her down a year so she can repeat year 10?

not in a UK state school.

[PotteringAlong]

Could you move her but move her down a year so she can repeat year 10?

[noblegiraffe]

It’s not a year at school, it’s 9 months, or about 7.5 months once you remove holidays.

Have you explored all possible options for sorting the issues at the current school?

[1busybee]

Could you and would you consider moving them back to the beginning of year 10 again if you were moving them. Then they could restart gcse from the beginning in new environment. Alternatively might be worth looking at one of those one year intensive colleges so they start from beginning but complete whole syllabus at same setting.

[Rainbowtrees]

Is retaking year 10 an option? Or perhaps looking for a college that takes 14-16 year olds as that would give more options.

[IAmTheWifeOfMaoTseTung]

I wish we could be more encouraging OP, because you’re clearly in a hell of a situation, but my DM sent me to boarding school in a different continent because her experience of moving schools midway through O and A levels was so dreadful.

Have you begged the existing school for help coming up with creative solutions? Perhaps flexischooling? Is there anyone there who you’d trust to look on it as a challenge? Do you have any money for tutoring?

[Clairetree1]

You can retake gcse exams

really? how exactly?

some colleges do a EBacc year, but you have no choice what you take English and maths, and you are allocated a science, a humanity and a language, whether you have done them before or not.

A very difficult situation to be in, and one to be avoided if at all possible.

And that is assuming the OP lives within striking distance of a school even offering an EBacc resit year

[TheFifthKey]

Retaking GCSEs isn’t as simple as “you can retake them!” - actually you can usually retake English, maths and maybe science but certainly not the full spread - if OP’s DC failed them all they would probably have to go and do a level 2 course such as a BTEC at college. Which isn’t the end of the world but it also isn’t retaking GCSEs.

[IHaveBrilloHair]

I'm in Scotland but I moved my Dd for S5 which is the equivalent, best thing I've ever done.

[BrieAndChilli]

I moved schools at the start of year 11. It was awful, the new school didn’t do several of my GCSE subjects, I went from double science to doing each one as a seperate subject. I had to make new friends and build relationships with teachers from scratch.

I should say that I went from state school to private boarding school so also had that to contend with and the reason for being sent there was breakdown in the relationship with my narcissistic mother,
I developed an eating disorder and bombed my GCSE’s (for Bs and Ca instead of the predicted As at my old school.

[Mumofrage]

Thank you that's helpful

[IAmTheWifeOfMaoTseTung]

They won’t necessarily be studying things in the same order though will they?. History and Eng Lit GCSEs in particular consist of completely separate chunks that presumably can be taught in any order, so even if you move to a school doing the same board you could end up doing Stalin and Shakespeare twice but not covering Vietnam or poetry at all.