Finding school for international student

[KellyOsh19]

Hey we are likely to move to London in 2022 and I will like to admit my DD(8 years old) In a school here.
Are there any school which offers CIE IGCSE (especially subjects Additional Maths and Computer Science) and is co-educational?
She currently studies in an International School in Bahrain which has CIE IGCSE programme.

Hi, we are an international family too. Oddly enough, I grew up in I Bahrain, though a very long time ago:)

I think you might struggle to find international schools that offer IGCSE. Most in London such as Southbank, the ACS schools and the Dwight School offer the PYP and MYP programmes. That said, at 8 I think your DD could easily adapt to the IB programme ( though I do think the IGCSE is better).
My own DS was 16 when we moved here, and we went the British route for A levels. He moved from IGCSE to A levels with no difficulty.

I have no advice on the schools in London but I just wanted to say hi from another person who grew up in Bahrain! I went to Bahrain School (the US DoDs one) :)

Have you thought of Internet school? DD is at Interhigh with a number of international students and many of their students are studying CIE IGCSE subjects

@roadwarrior

I have no advice on the schools in London but I just wanted to say hi from another person who grew up in Bahrain! I went to Bahrain School (the US DoDs one) :)

I went to the Indian School in Bahrain. Not v good and I really wanted to go to St Christophers, but my parents flatly refused to fork out the cash.

Try here OP

whichschooladvisor.com/uk/school-curricula/igcse

I think they're mostly co-ed, but Wycombe Abbey is girls only (and is very selective).

The above link is not comprehensive. Many independent schools offer igcse in some subjects at least. Tbh I really would not worry at aged 8, plenty could change in the meantime.

I wouldn't worry about IGCSE, it is years away. It is more important about where do you want to live in London.

Are you Indian? Indian Schools are good but I think CBSE is too lacklustre for us though it is better than The Egyptian Curriculum and the crowd when I tried to admission of my daughter there was far better than your average Egyptian crowd(I am Christian so we face huge struggles back home). And My daughter studies in St.Christophers right now it is pretty good school but only If you can keep up the lifestyle of the average student there who often comes from moneyed families with their parents in good jobs. Both we and husband do job so We can afford that lifestyle but I will admit both I and husband have made enormous sacrifices in terms of our own materialism so that our daughter to could keep up.(Not that I am sad- we would love to see smile in the face of a little person we brought to the world voluntarily and later she have to face struggles anyways)

I initially thought of admitting my daughter to Lycees in London since both of us have grown up studying in Lycees (my husband went to school in Paris though he is also Egyptian Christian like me) but now I have decided it is probably better to send them to the British system(atleast in GCSE level).We will be permanently settling London if our plans permit.
I have checked some schools in London most of them offer the Edexcel IGCSE which is supposed to be more easier but heard give better grades. And none of the private schools seem to offer Additional Maths/OCR FSMQ which we are keen to have our daughter enrol in(she plans on studying engineering or business in college -maybe both and we believe a strong maths background will help her)

@roadwarrior

I have no advice on the schools in London but I just wanted to say hi from another person who grew up in Bahrain! I went to Bahrain School (the US DoDs one) :)

How was your experience ? I did not grow up in Bahrain but I grew up in Alexandria which is in another part of middle East and I really don't like Middle East that much because we Native Middle Eastern Christians face massive discrimination from Muslim Arabs( I have heard from White people that they are treated much more better). Personally as a Minority Woman Who has worked in Egypt KSA Oman and Now Bahrain(with brief stints in Karachi Pakistan and Mumbai India and visited other places) I will say Oman is the best for women of any race in Middle East.

@Tomnooktoldmeto

Have you thought of Internet school? DD is at Interhigh with a number of international students and many of their students are studying CIE IGCSE subjects

What it is like that? Currently most of the stuff is online anyways so I don't think I won't mind online school and DD hates schools anyways so that's cool idea but I am working and don't like the idea of latchkey children( our daughter goes to daycare in Bahrain+helpful Indian Stay-at-home moms in Our compound) so I would probably skip on that until she is a teenager. Also How do you do lab? I don't think I can set up lab in home.

@Kellyosh19, yes I am Indian. Coming back to your main requirement, if you have decided to put your DD into a British school, then you will need to decide if you are going to go state or private. If you go state, you will need an address in the UK. Private schools are very expensive. There is a wealth of information on this site recommended by a poster upthread. Best to decide where you are going to live in London and then decide on schools nearby. whichschooladvisor.com/uk.

I am probably not the best person to advice further as I only have experience of A levels.

@KellyOsh19 Your daughter is 8 years old. An awful lot can change in the next six years when she will be sitting her GCSEs - including the concept of a GCSE itself after the last two years of exams being cancelled. I would also advise against taking her career aspirations aged 8 too seriously. My DD is also 8 and wants to be a farmer / fashion designer, one of her friends wants to be a ballet dancer (yet has never had a lesson in her life) another wants to be a doctor and the last a clown. I’ll bet my bottom dollar that none of them will actually end up doing those careers so I wouldn’t be sending an 8 year old to full time clown school.

There are so many great schools in London and around, all with very different qualities. Some are very academic, some are more rounded, some offer great sport, art, drama and music. Some are single sex, some are co-educational. Some are religious, some are not. Some go through to 11 and require an entrance test, some go through to 18 with children not having to go through the 11+ exam process. Some offers GCSEs and A-levels and some offer the IB. Some have a very monied feel and some have much more balance. State schools are free but you have to live close by, independent schools you can live just about anywhere.

I think you are looking at things in the wrong way. Forget which particular syllabus a school is doing. Offering further maths at GCSE isn’t important - she could do further maths at a-level which just requires the top grades in regular GCSE maths.

Decide on:

State vs private
Single sex vs co-Ed
Vibe - academic hot house or a bit more chilled
Religion vs no religion
Location / proximity to London
Activities important to your daughter
Your budget
School to 11 only or an “all through” school
How bright your DD is

You are then much more likely to get some sensible suggestions as to schools that might fit. There’s no use in wanting St Paul’s Girls School if your daughter only has an average academic profile, for example.

she plans on studying engineering or business in college

Your DD is only eight! She can’t have “plans” like these.

Agree with Zodlebud. Best not to put too much stock in her becoming an engineer:) And yes, Further Maths can be taken at A Level.

[quote Zodlebud]@KellyOsh19 Your daughter is 8 years old. An awful lot can change in the next six years when she will be sitting her GCSEs - including the concept of a GCSE itself after the last two years of exams being cancelled. I would also advise against taking her career aspirations aged 8 too seriously. My DD is also 8 and wants to be a farmer / fashion designer, one of her friends wants to be a ballet dancer (yet has never had a lesson in her life) another wants to be a doctor and the last a clown. I’ll bet my bottom dollar that none of them will actually end up doing those careers so I wouldn’t be sending an 8 year old to full time clown school.

There are so many great schools in London and around, all with very different qualities. Some are very academic, some are more rounded, some offer great sport, art, drama and music. Some are single sex, some are co-educational. Some are religious, some are not. Some go through to 11 and require an entrance test, some go through to 18 with children not having to go through the 11+ exam process. Some offers GCSEs and A-levels and some offer the IB. Some have a very monied feel and some have much more balance. State schools are free but you have to live close by, independent schools you can live just about anywhere.

I think you are looking at things in the wrong way. Forget which particular syllabus a school is doing. Offering further maths at GCSE isn’t important - she could do further maths at a-level which just requires the top grades in regular GCSE maths.

Decide on:

State vs private
Single sex vs co-Ed
Vibe - academic hot house or a bit more chilled
Religion vs no religion
Location / proximity to London
Activities important to your daughter
Your budget
School to 11 only or an “all through” school
How bright your DD is

You are then much more likely to get some sensible suggestions as to schools that might fit. There’s no use in wanting St Paul’s Girls School if your daughter only has an average academic profile, for example.[/quote]
My daughter is not that interested in co-curriculars that are offered in her school in Bahrain so she only does art as of now but not really keen on it long run.

Part of the reason we are looking for a school with strong STEM background atleast at KS4 stage is because we believe that even if our DD take up Humanities and the arts in the latter stage of her career- she will have a good base and will accurately know where her interests strengths and weaknesses lie on.
I don't want her to be the girl who takes on Humanities subjects because she is bad in STEM, I want her to be the girl who did well in STEM but took up Humanities for the love of the subjects itself. And Personally, our family is not that keen in our daughter to go into non-conventional professions and both my parents and parents-in-laws think most Humanities courses except Law and government services has no future. I really don't think in this way but I really can't turn them down as well.

I am checking whether The school offers Additional Maths or not Because DD already is interested in the subject as she loves doing studying out of the syllabus and has completed a lot of higher class mathematics in this lockdown and switching schools in Year 9 might be tough. Even if she does not take that subject ultimately, we would love to keep that option open.

But your daughter is her own person. She shouldn't have to study subjects chosen by you, your parents or your in-laws. She will end up resenting you massively for that. By all means choose a school with excellent STEM provision (and iGCSEs if it matters that much to you), and if that's where her talents lie she can avail herself of whatever the school offers, but don't force her down a particular path. She's 8 years old! Sorry, I know that isn't what you were asking (is it OK to decide for my 8 year old daughter what careers she can and cannot have?!), but you will end up with a very unhappy teenager if you try to control her to this extent.

I understand the cultural baggage because I am Indian and the only 2 acceptable professions for us are doctor or engineer ( everybody in my family is one of these two), but believe me, you are just making things harder for yourself. One of my DC excels in maths, the other does not. Both had exactly the same primary education. You can't coax a child into a STEM box.

I don't talk to my parents or my in-laws about my children's education. It's none of their business; they don't pay the fees.

Is your daughter aged 8 or in year 8? You are now talking about the problems of switching schools in year 9.

I'm being harsh - clearly you love your daughter very much and having experienced discrimination yourself you want her in an environmemt where she will thrive. I understand that. But if STEM is her forte any good British school will notice and develop that. I wouldn't get too hung up on exam boards etc for now.

I think your information is flawed. Fewer UK schools do igcse now since the changes a few years ago, or offer a mixture, but dd did both Additional Maths and Further Maths at level 2/gcse level at an independent just within m25. Plenty of selective schools do offer it so not sure why you are finding it so tricky. You need to look at results tables for each. However you do seem to be planning way too far ahead and focussed on a particular field whereas your dd may have different ideas when the time comes.

I know of one school in London full of children given the option of only being a lawyer, doctor or engineer by their parents. They are, on the whole, being forced into it and many are miserable.

Culturally, most schools in the U.K. look to nurture the unique skills of each individual child. Girls schools tend to have much higher numbers of girls studying physics at A-level than at coed. In fact, they are three times more likely to chose physics if they are at an all girls school (source: The Institute of Physics). So a girls school will probably offer you more the environment you are after.

There are some great careers for those who have studied humanities - accountancy, banking, consultancy, public sector, politician, charity worker, journalist, teacher etc. Please don’t decide her career path for her aged 8 if she will be schooled in the U.K. You will stifle her true passions.

I am guessing she is year 8 rather than 8 and talking of switching schools in year 9.

Schools often only start the GCSE curriculum in year 10 here, sometimes year 9 and switching between iGCSEs and regular GCSEs should be fine. If you are looking for a private school that is strong in maths Bancrofts is very good and mixed, they do the FSMQ and I think they won the UKMT Maths competition for teams recently. So if that's what she wants there will be plenty of opportunities. It is to the north in zone 4 on the central line.

www.bancrofts.org/senior/the-curriculum/curriculum-11-16/

If you are after a state school all will offer the three sciences and maths as a choice, combined science covering all 3 sciences counting as a double GCSE is compulsory now and there's the option to do all 3. Pretty much all sixth forms would offer Maths and Further Maths at A levels and you only need Maths at GCSE to get on them.

@Silkiescat Whilst the great majority of schools, both state and private, offer separate sciences at GCSE, you often find that the choice to study them is taken away from you if you’re not top sets or at a very academic school. An extremely large number do combined science which as you rightly say covers all three sciences.

One (very expensive) school I looked at just outside London had only five children doing separate sciences, with the remaining 35 doing combined - it’s a very small school. On digging further I was told that only those students who would cope with the work were permitted to do it. It’s the same at our local comprehensive, although proportionately they have a lot more taking separate sciences.

So, if sciences are important you should DEFINITELY look into if the school decides if you are eligible or are you allowed free choice.

Ellen Wilkinson school in London specialises in science.

John Lyon school I think does igcses and is opening to girls next year