Yr10 DD's school closing - please help me think it through.

[TheCheeseTax]

My girl is Y10 at an independent school. It's sadly closing at the end of the academic year.

DD has autism, diagnosed, but does well. She's academic, strong, stubborn. She loves hard and has friends. She is quirky, can come across as aloof.

We are considering school, both private and state. But here's the thing - we can't find anywhere which matches her current subject's boards exactly.

The school we'd like to send her to has her friends there and more will likely
join. But none, not one, of the subjects match the current board.

Our boys' school matches the subject spec for only 1 bit at least she'd have 2 friends there and her brothers (but she might not ever see those friends).

There's another school which matches the specs (not sure if all, but a lot of them) but she knows no one there at all.

There's a school which would be v diff to anything she's known which can match all but one and we'd have to take her through somehow (but we could make it work).

Does anyone have any insight on how damaging it can be for a Y10 to move schools and have to start her subjects again for the new boards? The schools are all confident (save for the last one) that they can manage her (and whoever joins her in the move) and they have the space, time and man-power to do so.

Help, please. I am so sorry for my lovely girl. She's putting on a brave front but the thought of moving schools is eating her up.

Thanks guy x

my dc state school had a big influx from a closed down private school last year. The school has made a huge effort to support the new y11 and y13 kids in the middle of their courses. The exam boards matter less than things like the set texts but if lots of other girls are going to the same state school then they might be quite well supported.

(the closed school has been on the brink for over a decade)

Go where all her friends will go

They don’t know the numbers of children from term to term that would be affected by the unprecedented move of taxing children and they work on tight margins. Ten children leaving or not joining a small school that needs a 100 children would be enough to cause serious issues. They will try everything to keep the kids being educated, as opposed to the Government who introduced the policy half way through an academic year with no impact assessment and a bundle of other tax increases on the school itself.

The only people with questionable morality regarding these children are those who supported taxing their education, not the teachers who tried to make it work.

Pragmatically expect to drop one GCSE so that time gained can be used to catch up content/ order mismatch in other subjects.

I would go where the bulk of her cohort are going and where she will have existing friends. That is first priority. Secondly, I’d look at trying for the same syllabus in English language. Then, you have the summer to buy in tutors, get the books and plug the gaps or changes in the syllabus. The teachers at the new school won’t be exactly thrilled about a bunch of new year 11 coming in who haven’t done the syllabus so also get the vibe of the school which is going to do the most and is the most sympathetic so sending resources for the summer, etc. Then I would look at the options offered at sixth form - which sixth form has the courses she may want to follow in the future. Then ensure that any current exam access arrangements she has will be in place. It is doable but for someone with ASC I’d go friendships first and possibly even consider dropping a GCSE option so she can self study in that time as part of catch up.

I think in your shoes I would go on to Save My Exams (there’s a free trial) and download the GCSE past papers of your expected board, and the boards you’ll be moving to. Then once you’ve chosen the school which is a good fit for your daughter, employ a tutor (starting now and continuing through the holidays) who can zone in on those gaps and differences. There probably won’t be as many as you think

For those talking about dropping a subject - don’t assume that this will be possible as the child still needs to be supervised, even if they’re not in a lesson. Many schools won’t have spare staff available to do this so do check carefully.

Whichever school you decide on, I would try and move her immediately. Good luck

I agree, it's immoral that they didn't notify families in exam years as soon as this was a possibility.

They can't really.
As soon as they announce a possibility there would be a hemorrhage of leavers turning possibility into certainty.

That would be every single small non profit independent school in the country. Any notice is given asap, the schools then spend months (or a year in my dd’s case) aiding the children trying to get suitable alternatives. There is no one else helping clear up the mess the Government created. Any immorality lies squarely on the people who supported the policies, not the teachers, not the parents and certainly not the children.

Shave you thought about approaching the independent school with a bunch of other parents and asking if any of the teachers would like to privately tutor for Year 11? You could homeschool most subjects and ask the local state school just to provide some subjects that are hard to teach at home (tech subjects that require workshops or labs for example).

I would go to the school where most of her friends are going to. I agree that this school might well be better placed to assess how dc can transfer to a different board. Independent schools can allow dc to repeat a year too. So I would explore, with other parents, how the dc can be accommodated. I would not home educate a dc who had thrived at school.

That is really tricky. I guess you need to determine whether social integration or exam syllabus takes priority. However you cannot rely on friends to welcome her readily. Even different boards may have some common texts, modules and techniques especially in core subjects but the difficulty is also the order in which material is covered. So in history, for example, she may have already done the Tudors, whereas new school may have studied WW1 first, thus she has a whole topic to catch up. You need to be asking the schools how they would address any learning gaps.

The content isn't always the same on different boards. My DS is doing History for example and it includes German history from the 20th century and the cold war. The 6th form he's going to mostly feed from a school where the syllabus is different but for him it means A level will likely build more on what he's done.

I'd prioritise board rather than friends where it matters and I'd get the syllabus for subjects where it's possible that there is a difference and use your existing school to advise. It's 1 year and honestly, she may not have lots of close friends in that school for 1 year but that's ok as she can prioritise time with friends outside.

@LIZS A school is more likely to do this if a larger number of dc arrive. This is r the first time this has happened. They have a stronger bargaining position if there’s a group of parents. Or, they repeat y10. That’s not the end of the world.

Around our area a number of smaller preps and senior independent schools have closed or been taken under the umbrella of larger ones or bodies like United Learning over the past 20 odd years, so this is not a recent issue. Increasing costs of ni, vat, staff pensions etc may simply have exhausted already dwindling reserves.

True, a cohort of pupils sin a similar position may make it easier to allocate dedicated resources.

@TheCheeseTaxsorry to hear this, my DD’s school Is also closing, (might be the same one) we have already moved her but she is a lot younger than yours so not impacted by exams. It’s a sorry tale all round, I’ll never forget my DD’s face when we told her and the upset and disruption it’s caused. Wishing you well.

I have an autistic child who loves hard and this would be a nightmare, I'm so sorry.

Without question, I'd go where the majority/most important of her friends are. Especially if she's academic and motivated she can catch up but the loss of all his friends in GCSE year would not be manageable for my son.

Your first option sounds best to me, go with friends, and PPs’ suggestions about tutoring if needed.
I also agree with those saying the specs don’t have such a huge impact/same spec could have been taught in a different order/way anyway.

The fact she’s academic helps enormously. Sounds similar to my DD who’s now in Y12 and has often said to me how so many of her year went up a grade or 2 between Y11 mocks and final exams - meaning, even if your DD takes a while to get used to a new environment and teaching, there’s still plenty of time for her to get back on track before next summer.

DD also says now she’s on the other side of it that GCSEs only need to get you into sixth form doing the A levels you want, meaning grades can be 5 and up and no one cares if they’re 8/9 now ie at the time it all feels so important, and unnecessarily stressful, but it needn’t.
Don’t repeat Y10.

At this stage I’d go for the school where she has friends that ‘get’ her. It may not be easy to make friends if she is quirky and aloof as you describe. Plus if a decent sized group go to the new school it is more cost effective to support them with the difference in GCSE content.

You could homeschool most subjects and ask the local state school just to provide some subjects that are hard to teach at home (tech subjects that require workshops or labs for example)

If you mean actually have the pupil on site for teaching for some but not all GCSE subjects, then this really will not be a thing in a state school - theu would need to be on roll at the school to be taught there (assuming that places were available in the year group), and then they would have to attend for a full timetable (with the possibility that there might be some options where the classes were already full). Just 'popping in' for specific subjects really isn't a thing.

It’s more important that the schools teach the curriculum in the same order rather than the boards completely matching. For example history might have 4 modules but it’s not given that schools would teach them in the same order as they are separate topics. Also English Lit might have 8 different text choices and each schools may have picked 3 different texts to teach. I imagine it’s best to pick a school that does the same texts as well as board.

I suspect that some subjects the board matters less eg everybody who does GCSE maths will learn the same topics but I’m not a teacher so this is just my guess.

It would be easiest to repeat year 10 at a new school tbh but I understand if you decide to pick her social wellbeing which is important for teens.

Move her to where she has friends. The most important thing is that she settles in quickly.

Are you in contact with other parents from her year? It would be good if there was a group of you moving en bloc to negotiate exactly how they will support with the trickier subjects (English Lit and history if she takes it). Could be a separate set for those girls to sit the original exam board or 'catch up' sessions.

I've seen that the local independents are offering to waive fees for the summer term and match current fees next year. In your position, I would look to move as soon as possible - within a couple of weeks ideally. But take this weekend to have a good think about things.