Relocating to the UK for year 10?

[MySparklyLimeJoker]

I'm trying to understand what are the options for entering the school system at year 10. DD will be 14 in the summer of '26, and we're relocating to a (mostly flexible) location in the UK. Top choices are currently London and Edinburgh, but I've been lurking here enough to see that the kids take entrance exams very early, so getting into a good school may be very difficult. We can go with either state or private, but prefer coed. Are there good schools that can work? She's very academic with (I think) a high level of math and science. Where in the UK would be preferable in this case? A good university in the vicinity will be a bonus.
Thanks!

The UTC where I live is a basket case and takes dc mostly failing at school. Not just academically - behaviour too. I’d give a wide berth. Why go down this route if you can find a private school? Just don’t be too choosy about the school. With vat some vacancies are around.

@MySparklyLimeJoker as you said you will be looking for a year 10 place and that your DC will be 14 in the summer of 2026, I assumed you meant that you were looking for a year 10 place for September 2026. If you were yo make an in year application right now, it would be for an immediate place in year 8; if in the later part of this term, you coukd apply for a year 9 place at the start of the next academic year, which starts this September. If you do want a place for when your DC will be starting year 10, you would have to wait at least a year to apply. Apart from for schools which have an intake at year 10 (I'm not recommending UTCs, just saying that they exist and where the normal intake year is at year 10, you would be applying this coming autumn term for the following year's entry).

Got it, thanks!

I'm in Edinburgh and my daughter is in S1 (2012 birthday) at a local state school that will make it on none of the 'best schools' lists. The ones that are the 'known' ones are typically quite oversubscribed - anecdotally even more so now with some families having to pull out of private school after the VAT updates this year.

I am a huge proponent of state schools but in this specific situation you might be better off focusing on private if you are able to afford it. That would allow a lot more flexibility around where you end up living and you could start setting things up earlier. Are you intending to stay here through the rest of high school? If not you might want to actually consider an international school or boarding school if it's a temporary thing. The system is totally different to the states (my husband and I are American but we immigrated to Scotland before having children) so unless your daughter is exceptionally bright, it will be a pretty big adjustment to go back and forth.

As you'll have seen, Scotland and England don't do things the same way so might be worth focussing your planning on one or the other and going from there.

Which curriculum are you moving from? I ask because if they're not in an English curriculum school at the moment you may find that there are also curriculum gaps you need to cover before they start, and that will impact their ability to pass entrance exams for the private sector.

On your question on university, it's not the norm for students to stay at home for university in the UK unless they're from London going to a London university. When students stay at home for university it is normally cost driven as moving away for university is seen as an intrinsic part of the university 'experience' in the UK. I raise this because I know this isn't the norm in many other countries (Canada, and France come to mind immediately and I was told the same was the case for Australia recently as well) - it's a bit of a UK quirk although applies to the US as well - and the fact you're thinking you need to move somewhere near a 'good' university suggests it isn't the case in the country you're from.

@stupidarticle That’s why joining y9 in a private school would help - if curriculum gaps need to be filled. It’s not unusual to do this. A state school probably wouldn’t be keen.

But the child may be in an English curriculum school already, or be in a curriculum which is generally more advanced. No need for an academic child to repeat a year unless they will actually be behind.

@PurpleThistle7 Thanks for the input on Edinburgh! TBH I think we're not going to state school after reading all the feedback here. There are just too many unknowns otherwise. Is there something like ASL in Edinburgh? There are many pros and cons wrt England vs Scotland, and I haven't done the spreadsheet yet to decide..

@stupidarticle Yeah, the plan is to compare curriculums, since we're not coming from the UK system. It's more similar to the US, but for the important stuff (math + science) DD is beyond her grade level due to some extra curriculars she's doing. Are there some sample exams for what private schools are using, e.g. ASL? How does one prepare for these exams?

Thanks everyone for the valuable feedback!

Examninja.co.uk, year group study guides bundles and notes. Check current UK year for your child grade and year DD will be entering. You say her education along US but extra curriculars above grade. It’s worth doublechecking because the questions are different, we know families with very high Maths grades but the wording in UK maths problems are very different so they really needed extra help. This applies to Physics, Chemistry and Biology because UK have exams and tests are worded very differently to US or Australian education system.

Some private schools can email you sample papers for guidelines.
As another MN mentioned education consultants maybe very useful to find the right fit for your family, worth a call.

Yep, math definitely has different wording, and also focus is a bit different from what I read. So I expect some prep will indeed be needed. Thanks for the link!

@MySparklyLimeJoker They tend to set their own exams so you need to find some schools and ask. There’s no standard as independent schools don’t necessarily follow the national curriculum. Also some schools are highly competitive and others are not.

You don’t know if dc is advanced in our three sciences though. If it’s a different curriculum - advanced in what aspect? Where our DDs were at school, lots of the Chinese students were very bright but often a year down due to written English. It gives that extra year to bed in. They were all great at science and maths though. They were accelerated through the maths curriculum.

My DDs actually exchanged with a South African school for a term. The curriculum there (as an example) is very different, including science. Definitely French and nearly everything else! So it’s not always easy to slot in here.

My advice (and I know SA dc who have done this) is to shortlist schools and speak to them. They might have dc from where you are coming from. They should be able to give you past papers. They might not even test science. Most likely maths and English for y9. Talk to the schools because no one here will know exactly.

I don't know what you were asking by asking about ASL but to be honest we'd never considered private school so maybe it's something I just don't know!

My husband and I are American (can't remember if I already said) and we are really struggling to help our daughter in S1 in maths as everything is really different. The words and the methods (though that might also be true in the states as it was... quite a while ago we were in high school!). So definitely might need to build in some extra support at the start. Also with spelling lol

@TizerorFizz Yeah, will contact schools directly. Thanks!

@PurpleThistle7 ASL = American School in London. Somehow I assumed that American English math is the same as British English math, but ChatGPT explained (some of) the differences. Starting with the fact that it's called maths! Anyway, thanks for all the help!

@MySparklyLimeJoker The school curriculum will have differences. It’s inevitable.

@MySparklyLimeJokermy understanding is that English maths is quite a bit more advanced at GCSE age relative to in the US (though I think it evens out by end of school/18!)

If dd is a summer baby some independent schools might let you drop down a year and start in year 9 which would give a bit of a run up to GCSEs and more time to settle before the exam years start?

St Christopher in Letchworth has taken quite a few international movers (often funded by local companies like Airbus as part of a relocation package). Bus network to North London and locally as well. Would be worth a look.

St Chris is a bit quirky. There’s many that are more academic and you don’t have to be summer born to be in the year below in a private school.

@TizerorFizz there are a lot of very able dc locally that are at St Chris and quirky can be good. All depends on what suits particular dc and it’s horses for courses.

I think policies vary on moving dc down across the HMC and GDST schools eg, don’t they? Some indies are very anti and won’t do it at all, some are happy to do it for summer born but not that keen for older in year dc. Some are flexible where there’s a specific reason eg language catch up, time lost due to illness etc. We have friends who live in an area where no local independent was open to moving their dc down a year.

@muminherts It’s a marmite school. I do know it. Others are more standard schools. My DDs were at a school not a million miles away where overseas students were regularly a year below. This is what op needs to find out. They are independent and not gdst so csn do what’s best for dc. Having that extra year is valuable.

@TizerorFizz Agree it’s about emailing/ringing round, isn’t it. Marmite is fine if it happens to be to your or your dc’s taste! I guess the best thing is to have a range to call and then decide what looks best for the dc in question. We considered more than ten schools for secondary.

I considered 4. I’m good at shortlists!

@TizerorFizz I suppose how many to see it often depends if you are already sufficiently sure about certain variables without needing to see it in front of you. So if you’ve already decided single sex or co ed rather than viewing both etc etc. Or if you would move for a school, which we were considering so we looked at several areas, like op here although we weren’t coming from abroad.

There is some really interesting research around decision making I read recently (not just about schools), which said people tend to fall into two broad categories in their approach, effectively either trying to be exhaustive or a more pragmatic targeted approach to choosing.

I’m pragmatic and targeted! Definitely. It was really about which one dd liked too as she was boarding.

Yes @TizerorFizz I think what they think is crucial and while we wouldn’t have let ds choose something we didn’t think was right for him we would also never have forced a choice on him.