moving back to UK with a year 9 and year 10 student

Hi

We have lived in Brisbane for almost 5 years and due to family reasons want to return home. We have a son coming to the end of year 10 and one year 9. I know the UK education system is different and have heard of international schools in UK. I don't want my son having to repeat his last 2 years to then take GCSE exams in England.

Does anyone know if we can continue his education from UK and possibly return to take any exams in Australia.

So confused as we want to do the right thing by him but need to return home.

We would be grateful for any information or advice on this matter.

Australia doesn't really have any exams until you get to yr 12. He should get his GCSEs, he won't be "repeating" anything just doing the local thing. He could start GCSE in Sept so hopefully you can get him back ASAP. Schools are pretty good at helping kids catch up I've heard.

If you're coming back and planning on staying in the UK for any length of time, your son should do his GCSE's.

Australia doesn't really have any exams until you get to yr 12. He should get his GCSEs, he won't be "repeating" anything just doing the local thing. He could start GCSE in Sept so hopefully you can get him back ASAP. Schools are pretty good at helping kids catch up I've heard.

But won't they be half way through the gcse's courses in year 11 which is when he will start ? That's quite a lot of catching up but I hope ur right as it's very similar to my situation. He may have to go back year which would be ideal even though he might not think so.

There are International schools in the UK which offer the IB instead of GCSE's - many private schools (in Scotland anyway) choose the IB route too and some state schools do. A lot will depend where in the UK you would be living as to what would be available.

You can find all the IB schools here... http://www.ibo.org

Unless he is already in an IB school in Brisbane, an International school in the UK is not going to enable him to continue his education seamlessly and take the standard year 12 exams in Australia.

Do you plan on returning to the UK for good? Or at least until your children complete their pre-University education?

If so, I would simply get them back asap and get them into the UK system. If your eldest son is already going to be 16 by the time you return (just wondering if that's what you mean by 'repeating two years') then a good option maybe to go to a FE or 6th form college. I see no reason why he can't, if he is academically able commence A levels straight away and take 'critical' GCSE's like Maths and English alongside them - ideally he would want to chalk up 5 over the two years but it really depends if he is university bound - if he is it probably matters less - there will be matriculation requirements for specific courses but there is little regard given to GCSE results and to be honest so few kids leave school at 16 these days I don't know why we persist with them (& I say that as an ex-GCSE Chief Examiner!)

If it feels like too much to start A levels straight away, he could do 3 years at FE/6th form (it is quite common) and do GCSE's along with students re-sitting - the pace is much faster but if he choose subjects familiar from Australia (so probably not History or Geography but things like Biology or Art would be similar in skills and content I expect) then there should be no problem, the courses do cover the whole syllabus and usually there are none school subjects like Media Studies, Sociology, Psychology, Environmental Science etc. too where everyone will be studying for the first time. My concern about that approach if he is academic is he may struggle to make friends amongst his peers - there is something of a difference between GCSE re-sit students and A level students but it depends on your son of course.

Not easy but it sounds like it is a forced choice and you just have to make the best choices in a difficult situation. An option I wouldn't consider but a possibility is for him to stay in Australia and board. It doesn't necessarily need to be a boarding school, the high school my son would have gone to if we had stayed had a lot of international students who boarded from age 12 with host families.

But won't they be half way through the gcse's courses in year 11 which is when he will start ? That's quite a lot of catching up but I hope ur right as it's very similar to my situation. He may have to go back year which would be ideal even though he might not think so.

State funded schools seem very reluctant to put children back a year - they quote the necessity for being with peers but I suspect it is a lot more to do with funding.

My son has gone back a year and mostly I think it was the right decision but due to the differences in the cut-off for the year (End of June in WA and end of Feb. in Scotland) he was turning 11 when other kids in his class were still 9 - that's quite a difference! And probably more so when he is 16 and they are 14...there are significantly more girls in his class and I dread to think.....

A child young for their year will probably be suited by it but a child who is already one of the oldest might struggle - it may even be worth looking at whether early entry to a FE College to take GCSE's would be possible.

This is an interesting post for us as we are in a similar position. We are thinking about returning to the UK possibly at the end of the year or the middle of next year. My son is 14 and will be going into year 10 in January in Australia. This is not an ideal time to move him but life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. I'm thinking of emailing the secondary school to ask questions about the best time to return and what they can do. My husband wants to wait until he gets a work bonus which is in April which will help us with the costs of going back. My son would return to the UK tomorrow if he could and do whatever it takes to get himself back into secondary school for his G.C.S.E's. The question I suppose is do we wait until he finishes year 10 in Australia or move him sooner. He is a clever Boy who has excelled in School here although I do feel that the education in Queensland is behind the UK.

This is an interesting post for us as we are in a similar position. We are thinking about returning to the UK possibly at the end of the year or the middle of next year. My son is 14 and will be going into year 10 in January in Australia. This is not an ideal time to move him but life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. I'm thinking of emailing the secondary school to ask questions about the best time to return and what they can do. My husband wants to wait until he gets a work bonus which is in April which will help us with the costs of going back. My son would return to the UK tomorrow if he could and do whatever it takes to get himself back into secondary school for his G.C.S.E's. The question I suppose is do we wait until he finishes year 10 in Australia or move him sooner. He is a clever Boy who has excelled in School here although I do feel that the education in Queensland is behind the UK.

Do you have very close family he could stay with if he went back ahead of you? It would be hard but may be his best option academically - just repeating what I said above though, GCSE's are actually not that important the for academically able.

Just as one example, this is from the Cambridge University Website... [h=4]GCSEs[/h]With the exception of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, there are no GCSE (or equivalent) requirements for entry to Cambridge.

GCSE results are looked at as a performance indicator, but within the context of the school/college performance.

Applicants have generally achieved high grades in subjects relevant to their chosen course, and most students who apply have at least four or five As or A*s at GCSE. However, there are always exceptions and one of the strengths of the Cambridge admissions system is its ability to assess all applicants individually.

This is an interesting post for us as we are in a similar position. We are thinking about returning to the UK possibly at the end of the year or the middle of next year. My son is 14 and will be going into year 10 in January in Australia. This is not an ideal time to move him but life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. I'm thinking of emailing the secondary school to ask questions about the best time to return and what they can do. My husband wants to wait until he gets a work bonus which is in April which will help us with the costs of going back. My son would return to the UK tomorrow if he could and do whatever it takes to get himself back into secondary school for his G.C.S.E's. The question I suppose is do we wait until he finishes year 10 in Australia or move him sooner. He is a clever Boy who has excelled in School here although I do feel that the education in Queensland is behind the UK.

If he wants to get back into UK education I'd send him - now! Have you got family or friends he could board with? I wouldn't be waiting. Aus education means nothing.

Unfortunately our family live an hour away from where he would be going to school so sadly that's not an option. He wanted to stay on till year 12 in Oz so would be looking at doing A Levels in the UK then possibly University. Year 10 in the UK would have just started and if we could get him in early on in 2014 I think with some extra tutoring and catching up he'd be ok. I hear they have changed the way GCSE's are sat in the UK with less modules and coursework to one final exam. I think I will touch base with the UK school and get their opinion on it. I do not want to damage his education due to our decisions however I do not want to feel trapped in Australia because of this. If we stayed until he finished year 12 then my daughter would be startling year 9 and I feel for her it wouldn't be ideal to move her back to the UK as she has settled well into the Australian Education System and would find it difficult to adjust.

I am in a similar situation - my daughter is at the end of Year 10 and will start school in the UK in Term 2 in early January. The school she will be attending is near my sister so she is leaving Oz ahead of us just after Christmas. The school has been really supportive of her enrolment and we are picking subjects for her GCSEs that are similar to her Year 10 course work. She currently attends a Catholic School. It will be a lot of work to catch up but I believe she is capable of doing well particular as there is now less focus on coursework. Not an ideal situation, but she is so excited, particularly about attending a sixth form college next September!

That's promising news as my son isn't even due to start year 10 till January 2015 he's only just turned 14 and I'm really hoping to get him back to the UK by end of March and that's at the very latest. He would have missed 7 months of year 10 work (but that includes Xmas and half terms) but as there is less coursework I'm hoping that it won't be too difficult to catch up, of course I'm going to check with the school he will return to. If he needs extra tuition then we can help with that too. He cannot wait to return to the UK education system so is prepared to work hard.

My daughters circumstances were a bit different, but she had to move school for 5th form. She went to a private 6 form college that did GCSEe's in 1 year and a different board. She worked hard and passed them all, I think 7 or 8? So even though moving late is far from ideal, you can still succeed, especially if the school is supportive.

We moved back when our eldest had missed the first term of her GCSE courses. She had missed quite a lot, volume wise, but she worked hard and caught up (quite a lot of the work she did in her own time). She had gone back to the school she left the previous year, so all her teachers knew her and she felt comfortable asking for support where it was needed.

I would advise getting them back as soon as possible and choosing a school where they're not fazed by supporting kids who've moved at difficult times (some can be very intransigent and some brilliant). Try to stick with subjects they've done in Aus. Even things like geography can be transferred quite easily even though the content of the course can be quite different - our middle daughter used some source material she'd done in Aus for her GCSE which was obviously ok as she got top marks! History may be trickier as the exams are based on topics they've covered in class.

Ask the teachers to look for 'gaps' in what they've learned - even between the UK exam boards the syllabi can differ, as we found with our middle daughter's maths when she moved school at the end of year 10. She ended up going to her teacher's house at the weekend so the gaps could be filled!

If possible I would try to start at the beginning of year 10 to give them the best chance, but I know it's not always possible. The IB is a good alternative if your child is a good all rounder who is self motivated.

Im not sure what everyone means by coursework though. None of mine have done coursework. That hasn't been around for years afaik. They have done controlled assessments, all prepared for and carried out in school under exam conditions. There is no speaking and listening part of the English exam anymore though.

Apologies for spelling and grammar - am on my phone and need new specs!!

On 01/09/2014 at 21:56, mattster155 said:

That's promising news as my son isn't even due to start year 10 till January 2015 he's only just turned 14 and I'm really hoping to get him back to the UK by end of March and that's at the very latest. He would have missed 7 months of year 10 work (but that includes Xmas and half terms) but as there is less coursework I'm hoping that it won't be too difficult to catch up, of course I'm going to check with the school he will return to. If he needs extra tuition then we can help with that too. He cannot wait to return to the UK education system so is prepared to work hard.

SAME thing . I’m about to be done with year 10 and id want to be getting into the GCSE course . I’m a bit of afraid that I can’t because even tho I’ll be re-doing year 10 but I’ll be way behind due to not doing GCSE in year 9 but conintuing an Australian circullum . Please need help with this and if I could enrol or not . Thank you 

37 minutes ago, Afnan said:

SAME thing . I’m about to be done with year 10 and id want to be getting into the GCSE course . I’m a bit of afraid that I can’t because even tho I’ll be re-doing year 10 but I’ll be way behind due to not doing GCSE in year 9 but conintuing an Australian circullum . Please need help with this and if I could enrol or not . Thank you 

Your post doesn't make much sense. However if I have understood it correctly you're concerned about not doing any GCSE work in  Year 9? If so I wouldn't worry as the UK switched back to the old system. GCSE coursework and study is carried out in 10 and 11 only. All exams are taken you you're in Year 11.

On 23 July 2018 at 00:04, JetBlast said:

Your post doesn't make much sense. However if I have understood it correctly you're concerned about not doing any GCSE work in  Year 9? If so I wouldn't worry as the UK switched back to the old system. GCSE coursework and study is carried out in 10 and 11 only. All exams are taken you you're in Year 11.

I would just add that Education is a devolved issue in the UK. So what happens in England does not necessarily happen in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.... which can make it a bit tricky when giving or reading advice on the forum unless clear about the home country being referred to. T x

Quite a few schools we have looked at in Wiltshire are doing GCSEs over 3 years, even though it is indeed a 2 year syllabus. Its put quite a spanner in what we thought was going to be a well timed move for us 

I am another one in a similar boat...  My 3 will be in grades 9, 10 & 12 when we move back next year.  I am not sure what to do with the grade 12 girl...  We may just have to sit tight until she finishes her exams at the end of October instead of leaving at Easter when we wanted to.

On 06/08/2018 at 08:03, TazG said:

I am another one in a similar boat...  My 3 will be in grades 9, 10 & 12 when we move back next year.  I am not sure what to do with the grade 12 girl...  We may just have to sit tight until she finishes her exams at the end of October instead of leaving at Easter when we wanted to.

yes that sounds like it would probably be best for her

On 16/08/2018 at 22:00, catsndogs said:

yes that sounds like it would probably be best for her

We have actually decided to move before then.  She will redo what she has done in grade 12 here in 5th year over there then go through to 6th year.  By the time she is finished that, she will only have a couple of months left before she has sat the 3 years residency so that she can apply for university.  

TazG has the UK school allowed your Year 12 to "repeat" a year? I'm moving back in February with a current Year 9 -  but although her birthday falls just 5 weeks outside the cut-off date for Year 10, the school we're interested in has said she would have to go into Year 11 and sit GCSEs just a couple of months later. Another school says they will allow her to go back a year - but only if she passes the entrance exam. 

On 30/07/2018 at 14:15, catsndogs said:

Quite a few schools we have looked at in Wiltshire are doing GCSEs over 3 years, even though it is indeed a 2 year syllabus. Its put quite a spanner in what we thought was going to be a well timed move for us 

Where abouts in Wiltshire are you looking?

We are in Wiltshire currently although our eldest daughter goes to school in Bath. She is in Year 10 (started back last week), for her she started studying English Literature last year in Yr9 and will be sitting her GCSE in the summer term of Yr10 (if we are still in the country), for Science the subject is vast so it is taught over 3 years (starting in Yr9 also) but not sitting exams until the summer of Y11 (for her will be 2020) having said that one of her subjects (Business Studies) is 75% coursework. Teacher reckons she'll have most of it completed by the end of Yr10 so she'll have a whole year to study for the exam that is only 25% of the final mark!  

On 09/09/2018 at 20:06, horsemad1976 said:

Where abouts in Wiltshire are you looking?

We are in Wiltshire currently although our eldest daughter goes to school in Bath. She is in Year 10 (started back last week), for her she started studying English Literature last year in Yr9 and will be sitting her GCSE in the summer term of Yr10 (if we are still in the country), for Science the subject is vast so it is taught over 3 years (starting in Yr9 also) but not sitting exams until the summer of Y11 (for her will be 2020) having said that one of her subjects (Business Studies) is 75% coursework. Teacher reckons she'll have most of it completed by the end of Yr10 so she'll have a whole year to study for the exam that is only 25% of the final mark!  

Hi horseman, we are looking at the Salisbury area. Hoping to move July 2019 for Sept start, 6th form for daughter and yr 10 for son. One school wanted him to rpt yr 9, another said he'd be fine to catch up any 3 yr GCSEs. We have found a couple of schools now that are doing 2 yr GCSEs.... now just the headache of trying to apply from here and hoping not already oversubscribed 

thanks for that info, that helps explain some of what we've been told too 

Hi horseman, we are looking at the Salisbury area. Hoping to move July 2019 for Sept start, 6th form for daughter and yr 10 for son. One school wanted him to rpt yr 9, another said he'd be fine to catch up any 3 yr GCSEs. We have found a couple of schools now that are doing 2 yr GCSEs.... now just the headache of trying to apply from here and hoping not already oversubscribed [emoji31]
thanks for that info, that helps explain some of what we've been told too [emoji3]