Try to get DD into a lower grade (or not)

[filka]

I'm returning from 20 years abroad with a DS and DD who have never been at school in the UK. They have been at international schools which are taught mostly in English but is not the first language for most pupils.

The schools aim to take International GCSEs which are (I understand) rather different to UK GCSEs and anyway have different subjects. Little English history or literature, second language is Russian or Azerbaijani (like Turkish), maths and science I suppose are similar but I think they only take 5 subjects in all.

I don't have a problem with DS as he is in Grade 8 and has time to catch up. But when we last moved schools DS was put down a year because the school said her maths wasn't good enough. So she is currently in Grade 9 where her age group is Grade 10. Even though maths was the problem, Grade 9 is Grade 9 for all subjects. This school seems to downgrade a high proportion of incoming pupils.

My big concern is that my understanding is that Grade 10 & 11 are the main GCSE study years and if she goes into Grade 10 in January she is effectively being asked to do UK GCSEs from scratch in under 5 terms. Actually not much more than 4 terms as the last term must be revision & exams. This seems to be setting her up to fail.

In applying to local schools in Reading/West Berks there seems to be a blanket refusal to even consider putting her in Grade 9. It may be coincidence, but all the schools are Academies. But this refusal seems likely to damage their own statistics as well as DDs likely results.

From DDs perspective, if she takes GCSEs in 4/5 terms as all the schools seem to demand, then another year doing retakes, she is basically back to where she would be if she stays in Grade 9 now, below her year group. But that seems to be a much more painful route.

Actually it seems to be hard enough to get into any schools at all in reading/West Berkshire. I have 4 schools within 4km that are all rated good but seem to have almost no places, and a 5th which is over 5km away with no direct public transport - also an Academy which I understand has replaced a failed school and which has no Ofsted information at all.

Advice gratefully received!

Have you tried looking at independent i..e fee paying schools for your dd rather than state schools? Often independent schools take iGCSEs so the course wouldn't be as different as switching to GCSEs.
Independent schools may also be more open to the idea of switching school years if needed than state ones where it is extremely rare.

It is very unusual for state schools to take a pupil out of year. You may have more luck with independents. When was your dc "moved down"? However if a school teaches gcse syllabus over two years it may not be impossible for her to make up for a lost term, especially if you could afford extra tuition.

In England, the school years are in the form of Year X and it doesn't correspond with American grades. UK Year 9 is US Grade 8

Some schools study GCSEs in Year 9/10/11. Others study it in Year 10/11. I don't live in Reading so can't comment on your local schools.

I think your problem is that basically if your DD has already moved down a year then you are basically asking for her to be 2 years out of her true academic year group.
As a state school we do take kids out of year but I have never known someone 2 years out.

@rosieposy4 I was hoping to keep her down the one year she already is, not push her down another year. One year doesn't feel unreasonable to me but at the moment all the schools are refusing. I'll see some of them next week.
@ghostsandghoulies I think the Grade 9 she is in corresponds to a UK Year 9. The school she is in does Cambridge IGCSEs, not a US system
@LIZS We switched school in Sept 2017, that's when she was put down a grade. It didn't seem so important at the time, we weren't thinking of coming back to the UK.

You'll need to find her a private school I'm afraid. Resits of GCSEs aren't really a thing in the state system here, except English and Maths, maybe science.

You will find many school now do GCSEs over 3 years anyway, and I can't imagine any being keen to take someone in the January of year 10 who has effectively missed a year of education. Independent is the way to go, I would imagine.

There is thread or two on primary education board discussing the same issue under the term of deferred entry. They have a link to a Facebook group that might advise on how you might apply to the Local Authority for entry into the lower year group, as you need. (just don't be confused by the term deferred entry, this is not what you want, you want entry into lower year group)

I have no personal experience, except that you need to do what is right for your child and this means dealing with the system. Don't give up.

State school league table results are compiled using the attainment at 16. Your daughter would be on the school figures as no exams and they wouldn't get any funding for her in year 11. If a school has a place they will be obliged to take her.

How old is she right now and what month is her birthday?

Out of four schools contacted/visited. one offered DD a place in year 9 (the lower grade where she needs to be), so we will almost certainly take that.

The attitude of the others was very unhelpful - they insisted they would only consider her for Grade 10, which would mean 4 terms f tuition until GCSEs, but didn't really have a plan to get her through the courses in that time.

Apparently one issue is that children could legally decide on their own account to leave school at 16 and if they let DD into a lower grade she could in theory leave without taking GCSEs at all. For some reason that is perceived as a bigger risk than pushing her through GCSEs in a short time and having her fail. I'm not impressed with the logic - the probability of the first is very low but the second is very high.

In the UK young people still have to stay in some form of education/apprenticeship until 18, so if she leaves at 16 she would still need to go to college or get onto an apprenticeship scheme.

I would check when the school that will take her in year 9 start their GCSE courses. As far as I know the schools where I live start theirs in year 10.