Overseas student joining a UK school just before GCSEs

[Grevillea]

Hi there, we're moving to the UK from Australia at the end of the year.

My DD is 15 and is in the last term of Australian Year 9 (school year Jan-Dec 2018). Because her birthday falls at the end of July, the UK schools (and County Council) we've contacted have told us she needs to go into Year 11 - thus skipping Year 10 entirely, plus one term of Year 11.

She will have followed a different curriculum, and although bright, will probably struggle to cram in the new syllabus in just a few months. For example, she's been learning Mandarin as a modern foreign language; she's studied Australian history ...

If we fail to win the argument (and we're running out of time), I'm wondering whether, if she sat GCSEs in Year 11, would she be able to retake any in Year 12? She wants to study law at uni so needs 3 decent A Levels. Does anyone know if students can do three years at 6th form: 1 year for GCSEs and 2 for A Levels?

Fingers crossed it works out for you. Even had she been about to finish Australian year 10 she'd have struggled to do GCSEs in less than 2 terms; the style and length of the exams alone is something she probably won't have been prepared for. My guess is that she'll be in a reasonable position for maths, sciences will depend a lot on her current school's approach (is the yr 7-10 science curriculum still defined only in vague terms the way it used to be?), other subjects who knows?

I did NSW HSC (a while back now!) and I wouldn't say the GCSEs my daughter is currently doing are entirely at the same standard - but I know the HSC syllabuses were being cut down further not long after I did them. Science in particular. The thing that has struck me most though is comparing the number and length of exam papers compared with what we did.