"A" Level Study
#1
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Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 1
"A" Level Study
Hi,
I've been living out of the UK for around 18 years mostly in China and am happily married to a Chinese wife with whom I have 3 children.
The 3 children are all UK citizens but have never lived in the UK and are currently attending local Chinese schools in the city where we live (Suzhou).
Our oldest son will complete his Chinese Middle School exam in June this year which is roughly equivalent to the first year of GCSE and we would like to send him too the UK to do A Levels (as well as qualify with 3 years residency for University application in the future).
I have a couple of questions:
1. Will he be eligible to attend a state 6th form college or school to carry out A level study ?
2. What are the entry requirements for 6th form in the UK - will the Chinese middle school qualification suffice ?
3. Are there any organisations in the UK who arrange home stay accommodation whilst he would be studying for A levels (age 16-18) ?
Any information gratefully received !!
I've been living out of the UK for around 18 years mostly in China and am happily married to a Chinese wife with whom I have 3 children.
The 3 children are all UK citizens but have never lived in the UK and are currently attending local Chinese schools in the city where we live (Suzhou).
Our oldest son will complete his Chinese Middle School exam in June this year which is roughly equivalent to the first year of GCSE and we would like to send him too the UK to do A Levels (as well as qualify with 3 years residency for University application in the future).
I have a couple of questions:
1. Will he be eligible to attend a state 6th form college or school to carry out A level study ?
2. What are the entry requirements for 6th form in the UK - will the Chinese middle school qualification suffice ?
3. Are there any organisations in the UK who arrange home stay accommodation whilst he would be studying for A levels (age 16-18) ?
Any information gratefully received !!
#2
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,294
Re: "A" Level Study
Hi,
I've been living out of the UK for around 18 years mostly in China and am happily married to a Chinese wife with whom I have 3 children.
The 3 children are all UK citizens but have never lived in the UK and are currently attending local Chinese schools in the city where we live (Suzhou).
Our oldest son will complete his Chinese Middle School exam in June this year which is roughly equivalent to the first year of GCSE and we would like to send him too the UK to do A Levels (as well as qualify with 3 years residency for University application in the future).
I've been living out of the UK for around 18 years mostly in China and am happily married to a Chinese wife with whom I have 3 children.
The 3 children are all UK citizens but have never lived in the UK and are currently attending local Chinese schools in the city where we live (Suzhou).
Our oldest son will complete his Chinese Middle School exam in June this year which is roughly equivalent to the first year of GCSE and we would like to send him too the UK to do A Levels (as well as qualify with 3 years residency for University application in the future).
I have a couple of questions:
1. Will he be eligible to attend a state 6th form college or school to carry out A level study ?
2. What are the entry requirements for 6th form in the UK - will the Chinese middle school qualification suffice ?
3. Are there any organisations in the UK who arrange home stay accommodation whilst he would be studying for A levels (age 16-18) ?
Any information gratefully received !!
1. Will he be eligible to attend a state 6th form college or school to carry out A level study ?
2. What are the entry requirements for 6th form in the UK - will the Chinese middle school qualification suffice ?
3. Are there any organisations in the UK who arrange home stay accommodation whilst he would be studying for A levels (age 16-18) ?
Any information gratefully received !!
3. No. Either you will need to pay for him to be a boarder at a private school, or he will need to stay with a relative in the UK who will look after him.
Last edited by formula; Feb 14th 2016 at 10:27 am.
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,114
Re: "A" Level Study
State Boarding Schools' Association - SBSA
Another point is whether you will consider moving to Scotland. British Citizens resident in Scotland for three years can receive free university education.
Student Awards Agency For Scotland
#4
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 1,664
Re: "A" Level Study
#5
Re: "A" Level Study
Sorry for the long post.
1. Yes he is entitled to 6th form education - but is his written English good enough or will he need help?
2. Entry is GSCE or equivalent. If his english is not good enough or the standard in China is lower, he can still do the a levels but he may struggle.
3. Yes there are organisations, but do you trust your child to strangers? Perhaps state boarding school is better? Or relatives?
If you think that sending him to UK to study will make him exempt from LEA -then you are mistaken. I know of British friends living in Malaysia who sent their child to boarding school from age 14. When it came to University, she still had to pay overseas fees as her family were ordinarily resident in Malaysia and her only purpose for being in UK was education.
For University Fees here are the rules from UKCISA - Main purpose of residence
For many categories of the fees and Student Support regulations, you have to show not only that you have been ordinarily resident in a particular area, but also that your main reason for being there was not to receive full-time education.
You can check this for yourself by asking where you would be ordinarily resident, if you were not in full-time education. If the answer to this is in the same area, full-time education is not your main reason for being there. For example, if you are an EU national and your only reason for being in the UK is to receive full-time education, but when you are not in education in the UK you live in Belgium, you can show that you are not ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area (part of the relevant residence area for EU nationals) mainly for full-time education.
If the answer to this question is that you would be somewhere outside the EU, the main purpose for your residence in the EU is to receive full-time education.
1. Yes he is entitled to 6th form education - but is his written English good enough or will he need help?
2. Entry is GSCE or equivalent. If his english is not good enough or the standard in China is lower, he can still do the a levels but he may struggle.
3. Yes there are organisations, but do you trust your child to strangers? Perhaps state boarding school is better? Or relatives?
If you think that sending him to UK to study will make him exempt from LEA -then you are mistaken. I know of British friends living in Malaysia who sent their child to boarding school from age 14. When it came to University, she still had to pay overseas fees as her family were ordinarily resident in Malaysia and her only purpose for being in UK was education.
For University Fees here are the rules from UKCISA - Main purpose of residence
For many categories of the fees and Student Support regulations, you have to show not only that you have been ordinarily resident in a particular area, but also that your main reason for being there was not to receive full-time education.
You can check this for yourself by asking where you would be ordinarily resident, if you were not in full-time education. If the answer to this is in the same area, full-time education is not your main reason for being there. For example, if you are an EU national and your only reason for being in the UK is to receive full-time education, but when you are not in education in the UK you live in Belgium, you can show that you are not ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area (part of the relevant residence area for EU nationals) mainly for full-time education.
If the answer to this question is that you would be somewhere outside the EU, the main purpose for your residence in the EU is to receive full-time education.