USAGypsies

We are now starting to play with the idea of returning before we get our citizenships. It's not completely decided, we are just trying to live out each senario in our heads as I am sure many of you on here are doing/have done.

Our son is in 10th Grade and is 15yrs old. He will be 16yrs next May. If we remain here in the US he will not graduate until Summer of 2010 (if I've worked that out right). Yet in the UK, all of his friends from before we immigrated will be finishing senior school next summer and starting 6th form in Sept 2008.

IF we do move sooner rather than later, we don't want him to end up with no graduation at all from either country! Has anyone else been through anything similar? Or know what our options are as far as him earning his graduation/finishing high school/senior school level?

Elvira

Look at the International Baccalaureate. A lot of UK sixth forms now offer this, and it is becoming more widely accepted by universities. I believe it is easier to switch from a US high school education to a IB than A-levels.

Englishmum

I agree with Elvira.

Also it might be a good time to go home next Summer. For your son to be eligible for the UK student tuition fees instead of the more expensive international student fees, he will need to be resident in the UK in the three years preceeding his university course. (If you're returning to Scotland he won't need to pay tuition fees!).

He could do two years at school or sixth form college and then take a Gap Year; my daughter did this - she worked part-time and then went trekking in India and the Himalayas and qualified as a Home student for tuition fees purposes.

If you are going to be in the London area (or even Aberdeen) he could perhaps go to one of the American schools...but the fees are likely to be steep.

Twigstar

We also have a 10th grader who does not want to return to the UK at all. We have been here 4 years and she has never been to secondary school in the UK. I have looked at the American schools in the UK to enable her to finish with a graduation high school diploma. These schools are private and are about 11,000 GBP We toyed with the idea of going back as well but have decided to stay until she graduates in May 2010. I do not think she could do GCSE's without all the prep work and would it be fair to expect them to change to that level of education in one year?

USAGypsies

Thanks everyone, I really apprecaite it. You've given me a place to start.

loopylorns

I looked into the high school diploma, it is equall to 5 GCSE's at c+.

Not very good for a 18 year old wanting to go to Uni. You need the AP or IB to go to uni in the UK from what the Uni told me, so Elviras suggestion would be bang on the money.

We decided not to take the risk and came home.

dingbat

My daughter did AP's from the States on top of her Canadian Grade 12, as the Grade 12 wasn't worth the paper it was written on, outside BC. She got into Uni in the UK with the combination of both AP's and an AAAAAB offer with her Grade 12 subjects. It was a tough sell though, so if you stay I would get the IB courses under your son's belt, or do as she did above if you have any intention of returning to Europe.

USAGypsies

Hi Elvira,
I just sent you a PM.