moving schools at start of year 11

[wtf2015]

It is possible that we will be relocating in a years time... my ds will be at the end of year 10. Has anyone done this without it being catastrophic from the educational perspective?

Teacher here. I can’t imagine how this would work if your son is to do a full tange of GCSE. At this point they will have covered well over half the course. Even if by some fluke you found a School doing the same exam boards as your son has started they maybe doing different units or teaching in different order.

I wouldn't do that, no.

Could you, or DP, stay with your DS in your present location, and then move in time for him to start Sixth Form? Or postpone the relocation for a year?

Not unless you were moving him to a private school that would let him start in year 10 again.

It does happen though - Secondary school hoy here. Always disruptive. If there was ANY way of pausing or him staying behind with 1 parent I would try that.

If not, start communicating with schools now...from an option perspective a change now might mean less change later on.

We have a similar dilemma (moving Jan 2020). Only in our case we’ll be moving abroad when DS is a term into Y8, and then back to the UK one term into Y11. We plan to apply for a boarding place for DS for Y9 entry as we can’t see any other way to make this work (DH will stay behind in the UK until DS finishes Y8).

Very very very hard for all the reasons above let alone having to make new friends when the year group is already in their last year together and working towards the biggest exams they've ever done.

If there's any way of avoiding it, I'd do it. I've known kids stay with relatives for a year to finish GCSE/a-levels before rejoining their parents in the new location. Or one parent stays with exam child whilst the other moved. Or the relocating parent work away mon-fri and come home at weekends. If it's just for a year it's do able.

Either repeat Y10 or go to an independent school where they will go the extra mile.

Thanks for the replies.... single mum and so option of 1 parent staying behind isn't there. He would be moving from state to independent sector. I could possibly move next Easter with DD moving during yr 6. Maybe this would be preferable?

Currently I'm commuting to new work.... it's 2.5 hours a day on top of very stressful full time job. Not sure I can sustain this for another 2 years until after DS has finished GCSE's.

Not you can't move at Easter either as he'll be about to sit his exams. That's possibly even worse than moving at start of Yr 11.

You need to check which exam board they are using as well.

Some exams are done November - depends on how you think he will do

I think I'd look to move asap in your circumstances. If you have a DD in Y6, what are you doing about applying to secondary school for her?

If you must move do so now.

Move tomorrow. Literally. Move as soon as you can, renting a house in your new location, renting out your current house and finding a school immediately.

Even moving tomorrow will only work if the school didn't start GCSEs at the beginning of Y9 (increasingly common), have the same option blocks and use exactly the same exam boards.

Alternatively, move next summer but move your child down a year - so they do Y10 twice. If it is a private school you are moving to, that might work.

Moving end Y10 / start Y11 will sacrifice your child's GCSEs.

Arghhhh that awful feeling that I've messed it up for them . He isn't overly happy where he is, not unhappy but no real friendship group, very much likes being at home so leaving him behind with friends etc isn't an option. Maybe I will need to suck up the commute, put dd into same state school for year 7 and move them into year 8 and 6th form.

Can you ring round and ask the schools

DD sits maths English Language and Sciences in November - if she passes she then studies English language higher maths and sciences

Then come June will do the others.

It may be possible, but you'd have to move quick

Green, that sounds unusual - are those standard GCSEs or iGCSEs? I thought that GCSEs in November were now resits of English and Maths only?

Certainly in all the - state, both selective and non-selective - schools I know doing standard 9-1 GCSEs, some exams may be taken a year early (ie end of Y10, though that is less common than it once was) but most are taken at the end of Y11. As Government accountability measures only take into account GCSEs done within a single session - e.g. a single May / June - along with the abolition of the November 'first sittings' session and the january sitting - most exams are now taken end Y11.

If you’re already doing the commute, is there a reason you’re not moving house now so that he could start year 10 in the new area? Or even that he could do the commute with you for the first year?

Im in the probationary period for another 6 months so don't want to move until job is confirmed. Timing is rubbish. I think I need to speak to School regarding possibility of him moving at start of year 11 and prepare myself for 2 years of commuting. Dd can go to same school as her brother for year 7 and then all move together.

Don’t do it.

At Dds school a couple of students who were unhappy elsewhere moved in January of Year 10. They just managed it by taking one less GCSE & doing catch up.

A private school I spoke to said their cut off point for accepting new pupils was also January of Year 10 as it was impossible after that.

Sorry but this would not be good for your ds, different schools use different exam boards and syllabus's, so anything learned throughout year 9 and 10 (apart from the basics) could be more or less irrelevant if the new school uses a different exam board.

Y11 all sit IGCSEs 'early'

If they pass they do the higher papers in June if they fail they 'resit' the lower papers in June

Pass = next level tuition
Fail = recap

Moving school for Y11 is one of the seriously shitty things you can do to a child. This happened to my niece - her parents thought it would be fine. Smart child, can knuckle down, blah blah blah. It really wasnt.

Move now. Or in 2 years.

Thanks for clarifying, Green!

As OP says that her DS will move to private, iGCSEs may be relevant - and this is a further complication / issue in her plan to move at the end of Y10, because moving from a state school (almost certainly doing GCSEs) to a private school doing iGCSEs would be an even bigger change than between GCSE exam boards or different choices (e.g. of book studied for English Lit) within a single exam board.

The vast majority of pupils who will take 'normal' GCSEs cannot do them in November.