Help please - Advice for moving a 15 yr old to the UK

[dorsetemma]

My apologies in advance for the long post but I really need some advice please from any secondary school teachers / heads out there. I have 2 children - one born Aug 2005 and the other Oct 2007. They have been at school in Australia for the past 10 years and are both very academic.

We need to return to the UK and the original plan was to be back by Sept 2020. Having spoken to a few independent schools, my 15 yr old would have gone back a year so as to start year 10 in September.
Unfortunately we were unable to return in September and it now looks as though we will have to move in March 2021. And I have no idea where this will leave him academically. Would he still go back a year but join halfway through year 10 and try to catch up?
Or stay in his correct age group but miss out on GCSEs completely?
Unfortunately Australian schools don't have any formal exams or qualifications until the final year of high school (aged 17) so he would have no exams to his name. Would there be anyway of entering a 6th form college on this basis? Any help or advice would be really appreciated. Many thanks.

If you're only going to be here for the summer term then I'd think it would be better for your older one to stay in his correct year group and spend the summer term possibly looking at the UK syllabus for subjects he's going to be taking for A levels. That wouldn't be any different from if you all arrived 4 months later over the summer and I think that's preferable to starting in the wrong year group and still having to play catch up.

I agree, it wouldn't make sense to go back a year and have to catch up on most of year 10. Not even sure that schools would accept a kid on that basis.

I'm sure it's possible to start a-levels without gcses, if you have just arrived from overseas. Ask the schools that you're considering whether they would accept this. I assume it will depend to a large extent as to whether you can evidence that dc has been working at a comparable level to gcses in Australia.

I suspect March is going to be too late to get him entered for any GCSEs this time round, so if he joined year 11 it would be on a "non-exam" basis.

Some independents offer a one year (or less) pre-A-level programme. See Cambridge Arts & Sciences (not just in Cambridge) for example - and they also have a January start option. It might be worth investigating whether joining that sort of programme might be an option - either late this year or starting September. One of our local boarding schools has a similar year-long programme, although theirs has more of a focus on language for students whose first language is not English.

Whether that sort of course is better than just trying to get straight into a sixth form may well depend on how his Australian education compares with GCSE in the subjects he's wanting to study. (That's worth starting to investigate so you can plug any gaps. I once tutored a bright youngster who had come from the US and hadn't yet met some of the GCSE algebra. A few tuition sessions were enough to get her caught up so that she could cope with her IB course.)

If he's going to stay in the UK in the longer term, getting at least maths and English GCSE is probably a good idea, even if that ends up being alongside A-levels.

My niece moved from the US to the UK at 16 and went straight into 6th form. Lack of external exam grades wasnt a problem but she did need to show her High School transcripts.

She did find it tough though as the curriculum contents obviously dont match.

I would enquire at the local sixth form college OP.
You can have 3 years sixth form funding in the UK.
The one dd attended did have the option of pupils taking GCSE and level 2 courses in one year and then moving onto A levels.
It would be very difficult for your eldest dc not to have GCSEs in Maths and English in terms of job/apprenticeship prospects and university courses.

If you are willing to pay, can they not go to a boarding school in Australia ? At least for the older one? Then you get continuity. Do Australian universities take Dcs at 17? What do Australian Dc do from 17 to 18?

Thanks everyone. He wants to go on to do engineering at uni so I think he will need to ensure he plugs any gaps in maths & physics. It looks as though a pre A-level or 1 yr gcse course might be a better option for him next year. @PresentingPercy - they do their HSC exams at 17 in Australia but (as much as he would like it) I'm not willing to leave him behind!

So when do Aussie kids start at university? 17? Or is there an enforced gap year? Lots of people have to educate their DC in a country where they don’t live. Lots of forces DC board. Lots of overseas DC board here. It’s not unusual. However the school would be crucial and holiday flights cost quite a bit on top. It does give continuity though and presumably the Aussie quals are good enough for Engineering.

I tried to move my kids back to the UK and found that schools really don't like them not being in the right grade for their age.

I think you will face quite a problem finding an acceptable quality of school mid-year, unless you are going private. The better schools have long waiting lists, I have no idea how someone within the UK manages to move house to a different district/school mid-year. For us it was impossible, the only available school was a complete disaster and we moved back abroad after the first week!

But in the private sector - I agree with a PP that if you have transcripts/school reports you should be OK.

Good luck.

I think he will need to ensure he plugs any gaps in maths & physics.

Could you find a tutor in the UK who'd be willing to work with him online between now and when you move in March?

Has your 15 yr old just finished Australian year 10 or year 9? With an August birthday I was assuming more likely the latter and thinking he'd really need a catch-up option of some sort, but from your later post it sounds like he's young in his year?

If he knows he wants to go on to engineering, then I suggest you and he look at some of the UK universities and make enquiries as to how he would be looked at for admissions if he did A levels and no other qualifications due to the move. That could be the biggest determinant of the right route for him to take now. I know a family whose eldest did some IGCSEs from NZ (home schooled there I believe), then returned to the UK in advance of the family move to start 6th form. She wanted to do medicine, found she was restricted where she could apply (not enough GCSEs in one sitting), and didn't get any offers. Whether she would have been better off without any GCSEs/IGCSEs I don't know.

I'm Australian educated; I was fed up by the time I finished my HSC and desperate to start university and learn something ... Moving to the UK for university was something my parents asked me if I wanted to consider, but I didn't want to take a gap year in order to do so. Sometimes I regret this with the benefit of hindsight. I turned 18 halfway through my first year at university, but, like Scotland, our honours degrees took 4 years not 3. @PresentingPercy most students starting university in Australia directly from school do so somewhere between 17.5 and 19.

I did this move at 16 - In hind sight I wish I had gone back half a year. I still have huge gaps in my learning because the syllabus doesn't read across. Simple things in Geography, History, English Lit were all new to me.

I was wondering if Australian universities did a foundation year. That would make sense but it makes it more difficult coming here.

I can't imagine any uk school private or state would accept him into year 11 in March. This would presumably be just before the Easter holidays.

In a normal year when they return after Easter they would be concentrating on revising. I don't think so many schools do study leave in the same way now more revision sessions in place of lessons before exams start. Things are slightly different this year with the exams supposed to be starting on about the 24/5. From this point the yr11s would only be in school for an exam or revision session.

I think you would need to either contact the schools if looking for independent or the LEA and discuss him going back a year or waiting to start sixth form in the September. Which 3 subjects would he be looking at taking at A Level?

I think it would be beneficial for him to at least try and get his maths & English gcse if staying here long term.

Is there no way he could attend an Aus boarding school until he has finished his education. I assume you are only looking at 18 months or so.

I can't imagine any uk school private or state would accept him into year 11 in March.
A state school with spaces would have to - he's entitled to education. However being shoved into year 11 lessons spent mainly revising for exams he's not taking is not going to be a particularly useful education - home ed would be more productive.

@lanthanum I assumed state schools would probably put him into year 10. Although saying that he would have already missed a huge chunk of the gcse syllabus by that point.

Year 11 would be an absolute waste of time for him.

So the only answer is y10 at a private school and hope for the best. Or stay in Australia longer. Depends how much you value education over other factors. I’ve known parents separate for such reasons. Not formally. One stays behind with DCs.

Could he start an online school now to take his GCSEs or iGCSEs, then he could start A levels with his peers.

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately staying on longer over here is not an option as it would be another 2.5 years for him and then we would have the same problem with my youngest. I think an independent school is the only way to go and hopefully we can find one which is willing for him to start a 1 yr GCSE course in September. No idea what they will do with him between March and September though! I think finding a tutor to help plug some gaps before September is a great idea but I'd still like him to be in a school environment between now and then (rather than a tutor or home educated option) just so he can start making friends and settling in somewhere. Will start calling around some possible schools after Christmas. Thanks everyone!

An independent school can put him in to Y10 next March (or at the start of the summer term in April) Then he will only have missed two terms of the two year GCSE course,rather than three terms and half the course, so it will be doable. He can then stay at the same school for 6th form, as they'll understand why his GCSE grades might be lower than they would have been if he'd been educated in the UK for the past few years.