secretgardener

hi,

arriving in Australia on a student visa in either Jan 2009 or Jul 2009.We have a bit of a quandry with our son. He is taking his GCSEs in June 2009, we were going to wait until he had done them, then go over. He would then effectively redo 6 months in year 11. We were then expecting that he could go through to the next level of education (equiv uk year 12 /13 ) on the back of his GCSEs. A relative in Aus has pointed out that entry into year 12 /13 is based on succesful completion of year 11. Does anybody know if adequate GCSEs will sufffice?

If they dont we can always go in Jan.

thanks.

ezzie

I don't think you'll have an issue. This country is well set-up to accept transfers from other educations. Talk to your education office (where are you heading?) As long as his GCSE's are reasonable grades you shouldn't have a problem. The Australian system is based on encouraging kids to stay in school till they're 18 - very different to the UK system which tells kids they've served their mandatory education at 16. Conversely, we can't get anyone to tell us if our son's School Certificate will suffice for him taking A's in England. It's all too bloody hard in the UK. So much easier here - still want to go home though!

secretgardener

thanks for response. Heading for Fremantle, Perth. Sorry it isnt working for you.

quoll

Dont know about Perth but around here there are no prerequisites to entering year 11 other than a reasonable age. I have known kids who have dropped out of year 10 half way through but then decided to come back and start year 11 as if they had never been gone. They may have struggled but some have made a very good fist of it and completed year 12. Schools generally dont have a clue about GCSEs. All they care about is what the kid has achieved coming out of year 12.

Rosscarbery

Here in NSW the HSC (High School Certificate - roughly A level equivalent in that these are the results that matter to get into Uni etc.) is a 2 year course, Y11 and Y12. Have a look at the following website: www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au which will give you all the info you need. From what I can see it's a bit difficult (though obviously people must do it) to start after a certain point in Y11 as there are coursework and attendance requirements. It is also likely that your son won't have a huge choice of elective subjects if he starts after the "normal" starting point as the popular subjects are likely to be full.

Personally I would let him do his GCSEs, then come over and spend time finding the right school for him for his HSC. You could then either let him join in the end of Y10 to give him some time to get used to the new system, make some friends and be there at the right time to choose his Y11 electives (though the kids in his year would be doing their School Certificate at that point), or give him some time off. My son would have been doing his GCSEs in a couple of months if we had stayed in the UK (we moved last June); he's just started his second term of Y9 here. There is a very wide variety of ages in each school year - they are far more flexible here than the UK.

Rosscarbery

Sorry, just saw you're heading for Perth so not sure if the system is the same. There must be a board of studies for that area as well though.

ezzie

As you've recently come from the UK & have a son around the same age as mine (currently in Yr 10), what would be your advise about going back to UK school-wise. I'm flumoxed by the courses there and the apparent lack of importance placed on Yr 12 & 13 education. We can't get an answer as to whether the NSW School Certificate would be accepted for 'A's!
Tell me, how do you think the education system compares here to the UK. Is the work standard harder or less so? What's the general standard of behaviour in school classrooms?

Gems

Hello,
my son is in Year 11 here in WA.

He had good choice of subjects. His work is comparible with UK, it looks bloomin hard. He is getting pleny of homework and regular tests.

My son is academic and doing things like Physic,Chem, Maths,Calculus etc.
However his school offered subjects for those who were more creative or want a different route.

We let our son settle into Year 10 for a couple of months on arrival.(It was near end of school year)
Work was a bit easy as he had covered some of it. However gave him time to get more confident, make friends and settle in OZ. This worked brill for him and he is very happy here.

Once in Year 11 work was more like A levels and he now needs to work really hard. So glad we gave him time to settle in OZ first.

However you will need to get the right school. Like the UK good and bad schools around.

Gems