Moving school in Year 10

[winterrabbit]

DS was at a private school from year 7 and moved in year 10 (just this September past) to another private school that had a small entry point in year 10. The results at this new school are a lot better (65% grades 7-9 as opposed to 43% at his old school) and facilities much much better. We decided to apply very late in year 10 as not overly happy with the old school as there was some disruption in classes, results not great for a private school and virtually no facilities, however, DS was happy there. DS got offered a place, did a taster day and we decided to move him although we were both a little unsure at the time but the school only gave us a week to decide so we took a chance. DS started at the beginning of September but he really doesn't like it and wants to go back to his old school. The school day at his new school is really long and he says the lessons are very strict and boring, plus, although he has made some friends, he says they are not his type of people (all very posh and nerdy (his words), plus the school day is very long and the journey there is a lot longer and more difficult so he's exhausted. Even though the facilities are great, you are forced to do the school sports and he isn't into rugby at all and has a lot of existing sports commitments outside of school. I told DS to give it until half term to settle but he is still saying he wants to go back to his old school. Old school still has a place for him and says they would love to have him back. I feel in my heart, although new school is better on paper and the organisation and communication is excellent, I can't bear for him to be unhappy and should let him return to his old school. However, new school has said we will need to pay for next term as well as 1 term's notice is required. We already paid for this term and old and new school which has nearly bankrupt me and I really don't want to go it again although would think about it if it meant DS being happy. WWYD??

Ok, that's helpful. From my research, views seem to be really mixed on whether they are better or worse regarded than traditional GCSEs. Is your son at grammar or private school?

Difficulty it, views on this thread seem to be split! I think i could try to persuade him to give it longer at his new school but if we're going to move him back then it needs to be as soon as possible so that he's following the correct GCSE curriculum.

Private school

If you move him back, will he be motivated to engage and catch up with the work?

Agree with this - the latest that boys at my sons’ school are allowed to switch gcse subjects is before October half term. Appreciate you won’t be changing subjects but with different exam boards, history may be a different period, English may be different poems and plays etc

A university will know that a child has no choice whether they study GCSE or iGcse. So no bearing on offers. And once you have a levels or a degree, the most you would put on a CV is “9 GCSEs at grades 8/9” or whatever. No one will care.

I would focus on what grades he's getting, not what the average is. My DC school (state) has poor results overall but they are set for 7-9 in everything. Part of exam success is building confidence and getting enough attention. My DS1 went to a more academic school but was always 'average' and middle sets. My niece went a supposedly academic private school and got 2 7's, the rest were 6 and she dropped her language. My younger DC are top set everything (not much competition) and are constantly pushed and encouraged as star pupils - which helps alongside some natural talent. I they may have done worse, certainly no better, at my other DC's school. Maybe your DC would be a top set pupil at his old school?

Some of the most academic schools in the country do Cambridge IGCSE for English. Def not dumbed down.

What on earth are you paying fees for??
I pay my kids school fees to ensure good teaching and excellent results. Good behaviour management. Excellent facilities and sport.
What is this school providing for your money? I’m deadly serious.
And school in year 10 should be hard work.
I wouldn’t be moving any child in a gcse year without an exceptionally good reason.

I think so

It's a good point but I think you must live somewhere with better private options than me. Where we are, all the excellent schools with good facilities are massively oversubscribed and very very difficult to get into. We went to this school in year 7 as it was a better option than our local state option and I am still happyish with that choice but it's still far far from perfect.

Well, "happy ish" didn't stop you making a move to improve the outcomes, did it?
I'd be concerned if they weren't on top of disruption because it sounds as if the behaviour policies aren't great.
I'm guessing that the Curriculum intent/mapping was better at this current school? They probably have more effective academic interventions as well.

Regarding the iGCSEs, really they aren't an issue. My kids have a mixture of iGCSE and GCSE, state schools and some home learning. One had an offer from Cambridge (but didn't make the grades), RG offers and another a place on a competitive apprenticeship. No one has ever commented on the iGCSEs and there was no problem stepping up to A level from them.

As for school choices, I guess it depends how unhappy he is, a miserable child wont get good results. Is he motivated to produce the work in a less pressured school or is he looking for an easy life. Personally I'd never make my kids have a long commute or pick a school solely on results. But I'm not a fan of independant schools either.

It was always going to be a tricky age to move.

Doing coursework in year 10 is absolutely fine. Here in Wales it’s pretty standard for pupils to take their GCSE English Literature in its entirety in year 10. Why is your DS so worried about that? In terms of the iGCSEs not being looked at favourably, they are not sat by state schools as the government decided to stop counting those results about 10 years ago when producing school performance / league tables. That won’t be an issue forever though, just for the next couple of steps in his education.

Are you completely sure that the old school is using the same exam boards and covering the same curriculum as the new one? Have they chosen the same texts and covering the curriculum in the same order? Catching up half a terms worth of work is a huge ask and will put your DS at a big disadvantage.

Putting aside the not insignificant financial aspect, I think you need to be a lot more diligent in checking the similarities and differences between the courses at both schools before you make a decision, something you weren’t very good at before switching schools as you didn’t know about the iGCSEs

A private school needs to suit the parents as much as it suits the kids. In general, kids do best in a school environment that is fully supported at home.

I've worked in a fairly rigid school with a robust approach to discipline. By and large this was what the parents expected from the school, the kids were on board and worked with the system not against, and they came out with great grades.

I've also worked in a far more flexible school. Less expectation to do tough sports, lighter touch with homework, extensions freely granted etc. These parents really valued a more individual approach, the kids learned to manage more autonomy, but they didn't get such high grades (we still had a comfortable positive residual across the board).

In short, your son will do best in a school you can both work with, and one where you both fully buy into the general ethos.

Hey @winterrabbit a few thoughts from me

IGCSEs – I wouldn’t worry about these. A lot of private schools do them, as do HE students. They are accepted by employers and post-16 settings. In the (state) school I taught in we used to get the bottom sets to take IGCSE Eng lang as they often were able to achieve a passing grade, but I think that was to do with the structure rather than it being an easier exam as such; state schools don’t use IGCSE any more tho. I have taught IGCSE (in MFL) and don’t consider it to be any easier – just a different approach testing different skills. There is coursework in some (inc Eng lang AFAIK). Why does your son not feel ready for this? He wouldn’t be doing the final elements till year 11 anyway I wouldn’t think.

I’m a bit surprised that you didn’t consider the longer commute and longer school day ahead of the move – you must have been aware of them. But maybe everyone thought it would be OK.

I do think you need to interrogate closely your reasons for choosing the old school, your reasons for preferring the new school, and what it would mean to return to the old school. Were you just swayed by the nice facilities and prestige of the new school? Or was it more about the better discipline and attitude of the students? Why did your DS think it was OK? What has changed?

We can’t really advise without having the knowledge that you do, tho I would certainly be cautious about a move at this stage of year 10. He will have started on Eng lit texts, history topics, topics for other GCSEs. Is he taking an MFL? Does the new school do IGCSE for that? What about the old school? The exams are quite different from GCSE MFL and require different skills (I am using this example as I know the specs well) so that sort of thing is worth looking at across the board. The key for me would be, where will he do the best in GCSEs? From now until the start of May 2026 is only just over a year and a half – is it worth the hit to his happiness to stick it out at what sounds to be a better regulated classroom environment?

I have two DS at different schools both doing GCSEs - one is doing igcse for some subjects and one isn’t . The poems they are studying for English are completely different . My understanding is that the school use igcse due to the coursework element .

I moved a child in yr9 and I would say it took him a lot longer than I expected to get used to the new schools ways . We stuck it out and he’s happy and doing better academically. His new school is much more strict - he just needed to learn to play the game !

Re the Rugby have you checked whether it’s compulsory in January ? Our school brings on the football in January !

Thanks Clary. We did think about the longer commute and longer school day and thought it would be ok as it's only 10 minutes longer at each end of the day (so 20 mins in total) and then they finish earlier 2 days and have longer holidays so probably evens out. Commute is about 10 mins longer but it's much further in distance.

I think the new school only does Eng Lit and Lang iGCSEs. The rest are GCSEs. He is doing a MFL and I think it's the same exam board. Triple sciences have the same exam board, History and PE are different. Not sure about Geography. I am not worried about him catching-up/missing content provided we move him by half term (i.e now) if that's what we decide to do.

TBH, I was swayed by the results, reputation and facilities of new school. What you can't tell on a taster day is how well they will settle and what the kids are like.

I think you made the wrong decision to move him, so if there's a way for him to slot back into his old school and you both develop a plan that will enable him to catch up on anything he's missed, then you may as well do it asap.

Yes you're the parent, but you're not some infallible all-knowing goddess, you are allowed to admit to errors and find ways to rectify them. Your son could learn some valuable lessons in watching you navigate this on his behalf. Could he get a part-time job over the Christmas holidays to help with the double fees?

I think you've made a real error op.

By year 10 you've missed the boat to casually browse schools and simply up and move them to the best. Those decisions are made far earlier.

Moving so late is usually for urgent situations such as moving areas, bullying, actually failing at existing school - not because the new school get 20% more top grades and have an extra sports field and music instruction (or whatever the 'better facilities' look like).

I don't think you should ever have moved him in the first place.

In your shoes I would now talk to him, apologise and ask what he wants to do -making it clear that the choice made now is absolutely the final one. If he wants to move back, I'd move him back.

Tough scenario, if he moves back he needs to work hard. I think he should realise Year 10 all schools up the homework amount, tests and expectations due to GCSEs. He would need to go catch up work on all subjects for the first term missed. It doesn’t matter if same exam boards etc, the topics sequence could be taught differently. The other options is suck it up for 2 years, 5 terms and go back for A levels.
Is it Rugby only in Spring? Or move to a different sport?
I think you have done amazingly well for him and will continue to give him support but also he needs to have some grit since A levels, university or degree apprenticeship needs to have him doing all the heavy lifting. Great his old school wants him back but have you talked to the current new school about his academic progress? Since you may pay double I would ask them what they think area of strengths and areas to focus.

If his old school are keen to have him back could you discuss some sort of payment plan with them so it’s not a massive financial hit of both fees at once?

I do feel for you OP. You did what you thought was best and I hope you can find a solution you and your DS are both happy with.

Thank you, that helps and that is also my gut feel. Wrong decision but good intentions. He was happy to move but I should have challenged him a bit more on it. I think it's because it's a sought after school and we would definitely have sent him there over his current school in year 7 or even Year 9.

Thank you, that helps. I do feel very bad about this. Just want to fix it and make the right decision so he can settle down. I was going to ask his old school about sports scholarships as we discussed this before. I already pay in instalments and will get a work bonus next month so can cover the cost, just a huge waste and shame to spend it on school fees we're not going to use. But my fault so I should bear the cost.

I've tried to talk to them about his progress but very little back as early days. I would find out more after half term as they had assessments but he won't be there then if we do move him. New school does rugby in the autumn term. football in Spring term and then cricket in summer. He knows he'll need to catch-up but I think will be ok as he's a bright boy. GCSE texts are similar I think.