Changing schools in year 11?

[EmotionallyEncumbered]

We need to relocate due to work. We have three Dc currently in years 5, 9 and 10.

This means DC1 is half way through GCSEs, DC2 is due to start next year, by the time DC2 has finished GCSEs DC1 will be half way through A Levels, then same issue with DC2.

Ideally we'd wait until DC2 has finished A Levels, this would coincide with DC3 starting GCSEs. But this is 4 years away!

Has anybody successfully moved their child mid GCSEs? I personally feel it would be too disruptive, but Dh thinks it'd be fine.

It's a bit of a no no unless you could find a school with exactly the same exam boards.

If you move your child in this key stage statistically they are bound to drop grades. Is that worth it?

A friend had this done to him when we were 15/16. He had to go to a private school to get the right exam boards. He did not do particularly well to be honest. I would never do it to my children if I had a choice.

Would schools even accept new pupils half way through their GCSE years?

We know a family who had to relocate in between exam years. One parent moved with one dc, and the other stayed behind with the other dc to let them do their second exam year. Might that be something that you could consider? Or is there another relative that your dc could live with whilst finishing their GCSEs.

I would do anything I possibly could to avoid a move at this stage tbh. It would be incredibly disruptive and really isn't fair to your child if you can help it.

Very tricky. Even if you found a school with same exam boards, they could have done topics in a different order, chosen different English texts etc.

Don't do it. Can he stay with a friend or one of you stay behind with him?

Do everything you can to avoid moving for yr 11. Any friends / family your eldest could stay with while the rest of you move? Or could you stay with eldest whilst rest of family moves?

Is it possible to divide the family for a year?
DC2 go with the parent with the new job, DC1 stay in the current location for the next year, and DC3 go with the most logical location- although I'm guessing they are doing secondary applications in the autumn, so possibly best to move now?

Moving Y11 is not advisable unless there are major issues. Unless it could work for the child, and you get a school to agree, could they repeat a year, and be in the same year as their sibling?

It will be very very difficult to find a school that will accept a dc in Year 11. Just a quick glance at dc's current work will show you each school teaches the exam board curriculum in a different order.

Thanks all, just confirming what I already thought really. Don't think splitting family even for a year would work for us so probably best to stick with the work from home/couple of nights a week away working that we are currently doing.

An alternative might be to move but put the eldest back into year 10 this September at a private school (state unlikely to agree to this)?

Agree with others, not a good idea to move at end of Year 10.

The issues are:
a) The new school may not offer the same combination of subjects
b) If it does, they are unlikely to be identical exam boards - this can make a big difference for many subjects, surprising though that may be
c) Even if a and b are the right answer, it is vanishingly unlikely that choices (such as which Eng lit texts) will be the same and carried out in the same order. So your child has studied Macbeth and Christmas Carol, they start at the new school where they have done Inspector Calls and the poetry and are about to start Macbeth and Chr Carol.

Basically the most likely upshot is either your DC will have to drop some subjects (typically option ones) in order to catch up on core subjects/deal with the variation, or they will generally do much less well that they might have.

Sorry, I do see your issue, as your yr 9 child now will be in yr 10 this time next year... and so on!