Which year should my children join

[Sharontap]

Hi
We are planning a move from South Africa. Our children are currently 11 and 15. We wrote entrance exams for Whitgift and Trinity for 12+ and sixth form. Both boys were not offered a place as they did so badly in the entrance exams. My 11 year old is in the top of his grade in South Africa and is very academic and hence I am now wondering if we have selected the correct year.

Is there anyone else from SA that has moved their children in the later years of schooling. Is it normal to send in them into the correct year for their age or should I be holding them back and only entering them into 11+ and 14+? I can't see how an intelligent child in the SA system can be way below average in the UK system.

My son was 6 when we moved fromSA, and was put into the correct year at school, he managed just fine. I'm not sure how it would work with older children but I would imagine it best they join their correct age group and get a little extra help if needed.

I would research the exact curriculum and get them started on some work in the meantime, also hire a tutor when you get here to fill in any gaps.

I think Whitgift is pretty competitive and if you were applying for 12+ you would presumably only get in if they had a space (and you scored top) making it harder than getting in at 11+. I don't know Trinity. Not getting in doesn't mean they are below average, just not right at the top.

Assuming they turn 12 and 16 before end of August those were the correct years to try for. Occasionally private schools will take pupils out of year in early teens but there is less discretion in State system. You would not want your eldest to enter year 11 anyway as that is gcse focussed and very awkward as a starting point academically. You did pick 2 very competitive entry schools and there would be few 12+ places. How did they find the tests and were they interviewed? If feedback was positive your younger son could try again at 13+ but you may need to alter expectations otherwise. Maybe look at schools which also have overseas boarders (Whitgift does but it is still relatively new) and are more used to assessing and supporting students from diverse educational backgrounds.

Like others I suspect it's more likely to do with the schools you selected rather than the years of entry.

Our children are currently 11 and 15.

When are their birthdays? School year for most of the UK begins in September.

If your elder son will be sixteen between now and the end of August, then he would be currently in Yr 11 and due to take GCSEs in May/June and going into sixth form in September. If he has only just turned fifteen, he'd be in Yr 10, going into Yr 11 in September, thus not taking papers for sixth form entry..

Similarly, if your younger son is nearly twelve, he would already be in secondary school (Yr 7). If he's only just turned eleven, he would be taking, or have just taken, the eleven plus.

Didn't the schools advise you at all?

As others have said, they are unlikely to be way below average, it's that you picked very academic schools (and with 12+, an unusual entry point with few spaces).

You don't have the flexibility in the U.K. system to just decide to put them back a year either; you can talk to the schools involved, private schools tend to be a little more flexible than state ones, but it's rarely done unless the child would be entering into an exam year without prep (so coming into year 11)

In previous thread op confirmed they would be 12. & 16 this academic year.

Lots of children are tutored either externally for entrance exams or by their private schools.

Our good friends moved over to Bucks from SA a few years ago when their eldest was 10, he did really badly in his 11+, so went to a local prep and has just started at a really good 13+ school, having got a great mark in his entrance exam. She reckoned he was around a year behind the other children in his year group.