15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

I hope someone can advice us what to do as it seems that we are going round in circles. We are due to arrive in Perth in the first week of July next year(2007) our son will have just finished his GCSEs. Does he start school when we arrive? does he join at year 12 in the following January? or does he go to TAFE. Baring in mind that his aim is to study psychology and philosophy at some point. He is not interested in a vocational qualification and he wants to go to university. We are at our Witt's end now as we feel that his future is at risk if we cannot find a good solution........HELP!!!! please :confused: :confused: :confused:

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

ok...I am probably not the best person to ask ( been so long since I was at school ) however, if you son is 16 when you arrive (or in the year he will be 16) then I think that is year 11. School starts at the beginning of the year in Australia, so he would be going into school halfway through year 11.

If he wants to go to university then I think he would be best of going into year 11 half way through and sitting his mock tee's (in WA we call them tee's (tertiary entrance exams) and then going into year 12 the following year and doing his proper tee exams.

Also, he could apply to his university's to do his degree and they would use his TEE (or aussie equiv) to accept/not accept him.

Schooling can be very different there and when I went (although I was a lot younger) I found they were doing stuff I had already done but were also doing a lot of stuff that they had already learnt which I had no clue about.

Good Luck :)

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

Hello there

I was a high school teacher in Perth until 2005 when i moved to the UK for a two year stint, so i know a bit about the system. Your son will go into year 11 mid way through. Year 11 results do not count towards your uni entrance score, only the score your son will get in year 12. He will choose 6 subjects, of wgich at least 4 subjects should be uni entrance ones, but it is best to choose five. Only english is complusory and he will need to get at least 50% in english to get into uni. he needs to aim to get around 70-80% in his courses to get into a psych course. He should check with unis in WA to see if they have any pre-requested subjects for a psych course, though I don't think they do. Year 12 is the big test for students and year 11 is important, if only to get the students in the right mind set for their exams in year 12.

Hope this helps.

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

Hi ..Im in the exact same situation ..My daughter will be 16 when we arrive ..we have already enrolled her into yr11 ..it all goes on age in oz..our son who will be 13 when we arrive must go into yr 8 ..
I have secured places for both of them in the same school ..
My daughter wants to go to college also ..it will be hard but with support from the school and at home hopefully it will be ok ..We were going to leave Ireland in Feb at the start of the oz school yr ..but then thought it would not be fair on her leaving ..as she studyied for the past 3 yrs for exams ..
Its a hard choice ..

We are planning arriving the 3rd wk in June ..
Best of luck

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

Ever taught at Woodvale Senior High School???? :D

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

Hi. Useful thread for us too. Our son is also sitting his GCSE's in June, last one being 15th and then we intend on flying to Brisbane around 19th. Where are you going?
I was concerned on what to do also, and in the end thought this would work out alright by letting him do his exams and then go. He will need to do an extra year or two by the sound of it.
Our daughter is going to be 13 just after we get there so will also be in year 8.
Difficult whatever year I suppose.
Best wishes J and J

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

Our 15yr old will also be finishing his GCSE exams the first week in July.
We have been told that he will go into Year 12, but that was for Queensland. I was in touch with a very knowledgable guy who works for the education department, he now keeping in touch with us too. Our son will probably be going to mountain creek.

This guy has confirmed that our son will do his certificate in 18months and will start uni 6months earlier than he would in the UK. A lot of pressure I know but apparently they are capable.

It may be worth contacting the education dept as we did. It certainly alleviated the pressure that us parents go through to support our kids with their education.

Good Luck

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

thanks everyone for your replies very useful and appropriate advice. I think James will benefit from entering the school system in year 11 both for intergrating and settling down purposes as well as getting a feel for the aussie education system. But I will look at the education authorities website if they have one.
As he will be going back to school are there any in the northern suburbs of perth that we need to avoid? Also not sure about the idea of enrolling both my son and daughter in a school before I have visited it...any thoughts?

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

This may help:
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/

or

http://dmoz.org/Regional/Oceania/Aus...lia/Education/

you may find a link that may help.

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

just been reading your topic my daughter is 16 and will be sitting her gcse's in june 07 and leaves once there finished if we moved out to wa will she be classed as finished school and be able to go to college or get a job or will she have to do more time at school.

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

Hi there
I think the easiest way to view it from a brit perspective is that year 11/12 here = A levels there, so you have to do something after gcse's before you get into Uni regardless. Thats if you want to pursue an academic career. You can follow vocational routes or take apprenticeships earlier if you want, same as in UK.

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

thanks for that dont think my daughter would of been very happy if we came out there and she had to do another year or more at school.

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

Ever taught at Woodvale Senior High School????

No - I hear it has got a reasonable reputation, certainly haven't heard of it being a bad school.

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

As he will be going back to school are there any in the northern suburbs of perth that we need to avoid?

Balga SHS and Greenwood SHS.

Re: 15year old doing GCSEs please help!
 

I also heard that Beldridge SHS should be avoided, no direct experience though just word of mouth. Mixed reports of Clarkson SHS again no direct experience just word of mouth.