jawood67

Best of luck ajcooper. It sounds like a well thought out sensible plan. At least going into YR9 is the year prior to GCSEs which will help. we are definitely pursuing our son starting year 10 in Sept in UK (would have started yr 10 in Jan) - so going back a little but the only way we can do it to enable him to complete his 2 yr GCSE course.

Hi Martinbjulieb - that is really helpful and very similar to our situation. Whilst your son would be almost 17 when finishing Year 11 ours would be 17.5yrs. It is certainly something to pursue. Out of interest, what part of the UK are you? Also, is your son in a government or public (fee paying) school? Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Thanks Ali and Snifter. Great advice on next steps. We do have an area in mind and schools so will start to contact them now to discuss our situation and see what they would be willing to consider. Ali, I totally agree with the social aspect and it's something my husband and I have discussed as very important to establish in other ways if not at school i.e. sports clubs (he likes many sports but particularly football, mountain biking and would dearly love to get into motoX).

Hi there - It is very likely that we will be relocating back to the UK in Feb/March 2018. We have a son in Yr 9 and a daughter in Yr 4. Whilst less critical for our daughter as she has time on her side to settle in, we are trying to work out what will be the best option for our son considering his age when entering the UK school system in 2018. He does very well in some subjects but struggles with working memory issues which means subjects such as maths and english literature/comprehension are more challenging for him. Generally I would say he is an average student in these subjects but in other areas which have a more practical or creative component (creative writing, hard tech, sports) he does well above average. We are considering giving notice to finish school at the end of Yr 9 (Dec). We then have 3 options we are looking at and would appreciate your thoughts:- 1. Start studying GCSE English, Maths (+maybe 1 more) online from Jan 2018 and have some home tutoring in this area up until we leave Australia. Continue 'home schooling' with he aim of completing 4-5 GCSE's ahead of the Sept 2018 Yr 11 start. He would be 15 (turning 16 in December). This would mean of course being accepted by a school to enter in the final year and reaching agreement about which GSCEs he would need to complete before enrolment. 2. Jan - Aug 2018 - home school/tutor to brush up on weak areas and enter Year 10 in Sept. He would be 15 (turning 16 in Dec) which would make him older than his classmates (i.e. must be 14 on Sept 1 to enter Yr 10). He would be 16 starting Yr 11 and would finish his GCSEs at 17.5. Again, would all depend on finding a school that would accept this arrangement which might be impossible. 3. Start Yr 10 March 2018 and combine with home tutoring to catch up. Whilst I see the benefits of getting him into a school environment quickly my fear would be that he would be under immense pressure which is why I put the option to home school/catch up in a one-one environment ahead of this. He is very likely to 'overload' based on the challenges he has (not officially classed as a learning difficulty btw). My head is spinning. Is he even destined for A-levels/Uni? Do GCSEs even matter? Any other options/thoughts? Thanks in advance for any experience/advice you can offer. J