Request to UK Schools for my son to go back a year

[PatrickA]

Hi everyone,

We looking to go back to the UK (Kent) in June and my son who is in year 9 here in Australia will be going to secondary school in UK. 

We would like my son to start at year 9 in September 2018 in the UK. We feel he will struggle  if he started as a Year 10 as he would have only done half of Year 9 before he heads back to UK.

Does  anyone have a  sample email that they can send us when they wrote to schools asking if their son/daughter can go back a year….want to know how to word the emails to the school requesting the reasons why we want our son to go back a year?

How flexible are the schools in the UK with allowing kids to go back a year?

Thanks in advance

Patrick

[MelT]

We are returning at the same time and have already secured a place for our son (who is also in Aus Grade 9) at a private school in Kent. He starts grade 9 at the new school on the 6 September. I think the schools are open to being flexible as the syllabus has changed for the GCSE's. It is best to contact the schools directly. I contacted initially by email then by telephone. We finalised the choice of school (with visits and taster days) on a mad planning trip to the UK last month.

[Martinbjulieb]

Hi @PatrickA we have done just this only last March. Our children had just started years 7 and 9 in Australia when we moved at the beginning of March. Obviously the schools were more than half way through the school year here so we wanted to put them back a year. HOWEVER, had we known before we left Australia that school places are approved by local councils and if you want to put a child back a year it has to be approved by them, we would have instigated the process before we left. So the temporary school that they went to when we arrived whilst we were living in a holiday rental and waiting for my husband to find a job could not let us put them back a year. For the remaining term they stayed in their appropriate year and then once we moved to our permanent home we were able to address the matter properly, made easier as we chose an Academy school which have their own say in such matters and it was not a problem at all. So, in September our son started year 9 again but our daughter started year 8 (her correct year) as it was agreed that she has more than enough time to catch up. So if you know where you are moving first approach the school to see what their admissions policy is, ie is it done through the Council or directly, if it is done through the council I would say that you would need their approval to put a student back for a year. PM me if you want anymore info. 

Good luck.