Exnorthumbrian

We are both from NE , OH is a real Geordie whereas I am a Northumbrian. I have been in OZ since 1974 .Both of us married Aussies (both mistakes but then we would have never met over here!) and we have second families . Now we feel the pull of UK family and wanting to travel and experience Europe after hard business lives.
We are hoping to sell our house near Melbourne before end of 2017.
The thing is, both kids are happy at their school. They are happy to move to UK -they see it as a challenge to enjoy.
Daughter is good at Japanese - so would hope to find a school for A level Japanese ( not so easy in UK) and my son is pretty easy going. daughter is turning 18 in December ( she was held back in primary school) so she is one of the oldest in her class already.
Does anyone have advice on how their education would go? I presume daughter would have to start A levels from scratch at a college and son would have to start A level in Sept 2018.
I am 66 and still working in IT in Melbourne ( yes I know I should be retired!) and OH younger at 55 with lots of business skills.
In terms of what we will do there - not sure - we both run small food businesses and we would hope to continue that in UK .
I think we both want to go NOW and feel that waiting another 2 years before they both finish will be too late. By then our daughter will be at Uni here and may not want to go to UK.
We both hold UK passports.
I see a lot of advice on going back with younger families - but not much when it is in the difficult end of school years.
All advice and comment would be really appreciated.
Ex-Nothumbrian (Ponteland)

Spacecake799

Your children are at awkward ages for moving back but if you stay and your daughter starts Uni or gets a boyfriend that could be it.
Our son left NZ at 18 after he had finished his schooling. He couldnt get domestic fee status so he went to 6th form college for two years and did A levels. When he finished those he went to uni.

Our daughter got a bf in NZ and therefore decided she couldnt leave. We stayed until she started Uni there.

Our youngest came back and should have started in year 9 but we put him back a year and he started in year 8.

Just take the plunge and do it, if your going best to make that move because the longer you stay the more likely they are to want to stay there.

Good Luck

Exnorthumbrian

Thanks for your experience - we would go now -IF we could sell the house. Unfortunately,all our capital is tied up in it and we don't have enough cash to just go and hope for the best.

holly_1948

If your daughter has any secondary school qualifications that are in any way comparable to A levels then most Universities will accept those instead.

But if for any reason she doesn't and since she will be 18 years old then she can do Open University instead of A levels. The OU academic year is the same as the calendar year. OU does not seem to have courses in Japanese. If daughter is talented in languages she could become polyglot by doing OU (and working part time at anything that has a Japanese flavour perhaps).
See Q30 - BA (Honours) Language Studies - Open University Degree
There is no reason why she shouldn't do two or three years with OU and then go on to a conventional University afterwards if she still feels academically oriented. The whole idea of OU is that you work enough to earn money to pay for University fees. But working full time and doing OU at maximum effort (three year ordinary degree) leaves little time for anything else in your life.
Ask me how I know :-) lol
Holly BA(Open)

HKG3

You and your wife may wish to consider applying for Australian citizenship before returning to the UK if not already done so.

Your children may be entitle to British Citizenship - get them their British passport now before planning the move to the UK. People 16 or over will be issue with a 10 year British passport. Please see link below for details -

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

BritInParis

Make sure everyone has British and Australian passports before you leave if they don't already.

moneypenny20

Don't forget that your children would need three years UK residency before starting uni and not being clobbered with international fees. Thinking of my kids, moving them at those ages sounds like a recipe for disaster but kids are like opinions, all different. Saying they're happy to go and actually arriving at new schools in a new country and being happy are two different things.

Whenever you move, your kids will move away at some point. Staying so they both finish education and risking them falling in love and staying is no different to moving back, having them experience education but then deciding to move back to Aus. Shit anyway you look at it. Then again they may be more than happy to go now and remain happy there.

Good luck whichever way you decide. (I wasn't attempting to sound negative, honestly ).

rackcatt

In a very similair situation. Daughter 19, graduated in Dec from yr 12. Had a BF and didnt want to leave.. bf has no gone !!! yippee never like him so thats a bonus !Son half way through year 11 and just started a traineeship in Engineering.
We were home 4 weeks ago with our 2.5 yr old girl. none of us had been back since 2012. We loved it and saw things in a different light. Until we had run in with the inlaws !! They offered us a job and a home attached to theirs. I was screaming on the inside NO ..this will never work. Now hubby has a job offer in Uk with more money than inlaws offering and we need to accept it or decline within 2 days. Were are in turmoil, just cant decide what to do (((

holly_1948

At risk of being accused of tedious repetition -
Open University is a solution for almost anyone (over 18 and living in UK) who is bright and motivated and whose education and/or background does not fit the mould.
(Or who previously dropped out of higher education, for whatever reason, and is ready to try again). All thanks to Jennie Lee (Baroness Lee of Asheridge).

rackcatt

Thanks he can look into tht when hes 18.
Is there somewhere that can transfer Oz school results to Uk that you know of ?