Moving from US High School to UK Secondary

[tropicaltailwind]

Can British expat kids currently in US High School system successfully transfer to UK Secondary School for A levels?

My family are UK citizens in British Overseas Territory - DS is 12/13, currently in small private US-system High School for ADHD/autistic/gifted/other neurodivergencies kids.

At some point we will move back to UK.
I would like help understanding how it works/if it’s possible to start A levels if he has no GCSEs.
What alternatives to A levels are there for students educated abroad?

He’s been in a UK-curriculum inclusive mainstream School from Y3 to Y7 but moved to the US-curriculum school for what would be UK Y8 (7th Grade) as the previous school only goes up to Y7.

If accessing A levels without GCSEs in the UK is really tough we will need to move back to UK sooner than planned, which will be v tricky. Thanks for any advice.

(I originally posted in Chat and then found this forum after I’d posted)

Hi, we are moving from NZ to UK for Sept 2024 school year. My daughter will begin the IB as will have missed out on GCSE and A Levels as will be over 16. My question is, has anyone had an experience of this and how difficult is it for them to go straight into the IB without having known the teachers etc. Any advise or opinions appreciated.

@Keryne , do you have a place lined up at a private school already?

No not yet. Any suggestions?

You would do best to start a new thread with where you will be based in the U.K. and the age of your dd. As you may know state places are allocated by the post code of where you live so you can't apply until you have a home in the uk. Private schools and further education colleges can offer options but your dd needs to be in the school year so aged 16 on 1 Sept 2024 (or turning 17 on that day). She will need to pass an exam to be offered a place at a private school that takes international students.
Re university, you need to be resident in the uk for 3 continual years to apply as a home student for home fees, it's worth arriving in the uk as soon as possible to build up the time if you are considering a Uk uni.

@tennissquare sorry just new to mumsnet, no not yet. Thinking of Surrey, Woking area.

@Keryne , you should start with ACS Cobham to get an idea of the cost / difficultly.

@tennissquare thank you. My main question right now is :

My question is, has anyone had an experience of moving to the UK and their teen going straight into the 2 year IB programme. How was that for them. We have UK passports and NZ passports so not daughter will not be an international student.

You need to narrow down which schools offer ib diploma and would accept without gcses. If you plan to remain in uk long term it would be worth taking English and Maths gcse at least since most employers expect it. List here: www.ibo.org/programmes/find-an-ib-school/?SearchFields.Region=&SearchFields.Country=GB&SearchFields.Keywords=&SearchFields.Language=&SearchFields.BoardingFacilities=&SearchFields.SchoolGender=&SearchFields.ProgrammeDP=true

And ranking : ib-schools.com/league-tables/uk-top-ib-schools but many take gcse rather than following pyp and myp prior to year 12.