Louisa1972 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Hi wondered if anyone can help please, I cannot get my head around this! We're moving over to Sydney next Summer 2025 from UK and my son will have just finished his GCSEs. He will be turning 16 in the September. I understand he would enrol in Y11 in Aus school years but would be starting the Y12 curriculum as they will be off on study leave. My concern is whether starting without a full Y11 will this give him enough time to cover everything he needs for HSCs the following year. I plan to match his HSC choices with his GCSEs but they will of course be different content. If I enrol him in Y10, he'll be 19 when he finishes and that doesn't seem right! If anyone can shed any light on this I'd be super grateful, I've tried to contact schools but limited / not helpful responses so far. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 If your son turns 16 in September 2025 and you arrive then, he will enrol in year 10 for the last 3 months of school 2025. He will start year 11 in 2026 and do year 12 in 2027. He will do the full year 11/12 program. You do realise that the school year in Australia goes from January to December? The cut off for NSW is end July so your son, turning 16 in the September before he starts year 11 will be right in the middle of his age cohort. He should finish year 12 at 18 years 3 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louisa1972 Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 Thanks so much Quoll, I was in haste - he will actually be turning 17 in September 2025! Yes I know re Jan - Dec, it’s not ideal timing but he has to finish his exams here in the July before we move. I’m an dual national with Aus / UK citizenship so no worries about the visa. Could you advise on his year groups if he is about to turn 17 when we arrive? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 4 hours ago, Louisa1972 said: Thanks so much Quoll, I was in haste - he will actually be turning 17 in September 2025! Yes I know re Jan - Dec, it’s not ideal timing but he has to finish his exams here in the July before we move. I’m an dual national with Aus / UK citizenship so no worries about the visa. Could you advise on his year groups if he is about to turn 17 when we arrive? Thanks! Ah, hes screwed then. He would be seriously disadvantaged by missing most of year 11 then popping straight into HSC - foreign country, totally different curriculum. His age cohort will have started year 11 in January 2025. Best option for him would be to leave him in UK to board with family or friends and finish A levels then move over for FE. Otherwise, he could look at TAFE for HSC - disadvantage with that is that the cohort are often not the kind of kids that are going to be great to socialise with and there may not be the breadth of subjects available. Other option of course is not to wait until hes done GCSEs - come at Christmas 2024. GCSEs are only going to be of any importance if he should go back so if there is any chance that one or more of you may not like Australia and want to return they’re good belt and braces then. There are “conversions” of GCSE scores available for credit towards HSC scores but if he’s trying for anything serious at Uni they’re not going to do him much good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) 8 hours ago, Louisa1972 said: Hi wondered if anyone can help please, I cannot get my head around this! We're moving over to Sydney next Summer 2025 from UK and my son will have just finished his GCSEs. Is there any chance at all that you could make the move this year instead? As you probably know, GCSEs are completely valueless in Australia (because there is no longer an equivalent quallification here), so he's going to be wasting a year studying for no benefit. Also as Quoll said, it would be stressful for him to miss most of Year 11 and just do Year 12. Though he may be able to do the same subjects, the chances of the curriculums matching are very low. In Australia, most schools go straight through from Year 7 to Year 12, but in NSW there are a few "Senior Campuses" that do just Year 11 and 12. Worth checking to see if such a thing exists where you're going. Here's one example (in a lovely part of Sydney, BTW): https://oatleysnr-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/ If he can't stay in the UK to do his A levels, I'd question the point of doing his GCSE's. Could he start studying for his HSC this year by distance education? I know very little about it, but I'd say it would be worth investigating. https://www.acc.edu.au/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-distance-education/ https://www.aussieeducator.org.au/education/online.html Edited February 7 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) 3 hours ago, Marisawright said: If he can't stay in the UK to do his A levels, I'd question the point of doing his GCSE's. Could he start studying for his HSC this year by distance education? I know very little about it, but I'd say it would be worth investigating. https://www.acc.edu.au/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-distance-education/ https://www.aussieeducator.org.au/education/online.html Good point re Distance Ed but I think you need to be NSW residents - in Vic you certainly did, and have a home school which said they couldn’t meet your needs. Doing GCSE and HSC at the same time could be very stressful. Edited February 7 by Quoll 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) 4 hours ago, Quoll said: Ah, hes screwed then. He would be seriously disadvantaged by missing most of year 11 then popping straight into HSC - foreign country, totally different curriculum. His age cohort will have started year 11 in January 2025. Best option for him would be to leave him in UK to board with family or friends and finish A levels then move over for FE. Otherwise, he could look at TAFE for HSC - disadvantage with that is that the cohort are often not the kind of kids that are going to be great to socialise with and there may not be the breadth of subjects available. Other option of course is not to wait until hes done GCSEs - come at Christmas 2024. GCSEs are only going to be of any importance if he should go back so if there is any chance that one or more of you may not like Australia and want to return they’re good belt and braces then. There are “conversions” of GCSE scores available for credit towards HSC scores but if he’s trying for anything serious at Uni they’re not going to do him much good. Edited February 7 by Quoll Need to read more carefully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 1 hour ago, Quoll said: Good point re Distance Ed but I think you need to be NSW residents - in Vic you certainly did, and have a home school which said they couldn’t meet your needs. Doing GCSE and HSC at the same time could be very stressful. If you're going with the state system then I agree, there are restrictions. However I believe there are private schools which will offer HSC by distance ed. I was suggesting he do that instead of the GCSE, not as well as, obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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