Darren-Debbie

Hi All,

looking for advice or anyone who's had experience of taking a teenage daughter(she'll be 15 when we arrive (hopefully) late (Sept-Nov) 2009) to Aus. our concern is her exams, she will have one year left to do in the uk for her GCSE's, if we wait a year and go late 2010, she will have her GCSE's. are GCSE's worth anything in Aus or would it be better to go earlier (09) and give her more time to study for Australian qualifications?

the school year runs from Jan-Dec in NSW or so I'm told, would she have a full year to complete her education and would the work done in the UK be taken into account.

Any help would be much appreciated

quoll

If she isnt ever going to re-engage with education in UK or even want to work in UK until she has completed her education then GCSEs arent really worth worrying about. If she is going to stay in Aus it would be better for her to come and enrol in year 11 in Jan 2010 (the year runs from Jan - Dec) as long as she turns 16 before the end of July 2010 (to be with her age cohort). That way she will do the two year HSC course during years 11 & 12. The most important thing is that she does the full two years because if she arrives part way through year 11 then she could be disadvantaged because she would miss part of the course and it is a coursework plus final exam process.

Once she has completed year 12 and done the HSC she will get a university entrance score (if she does academic subjects) and a year 12 certificate which is all she will need to venture out into post school options.

Bottom line is that no one is going to give two hoots about her GCSEs once she gets here but they will worry about her HSC marks!

ABCDiamond

The Office of the Board of Studies provides Statements of Equivalence (to New South Wales school level awards) for secondary education qualifications from other Australian States and Territories or from overseas countries.

Statements of equivalence are provided for employment and some training purposes.

Statements required for university entrance must be obtained from the Universities Admissions Centre.

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au...uivalence.html

Darren-Debbie

Thanks Quoll,

that was exactly my line of thought, she will be 16 in April 2010, so she should be able to start year 11 in Jan 2010 and do the last 2 years at school, the apply for higher education (uni etc) or have Aus qualifications for the workplace.

Thanks ABC,

so if all else fails and she misses the start of the school year in Jan, she can still take her GCSE's in June 2010 in the uk and then have them converted to the Australian equivelent.
if we take that option and she gets her GCSE's, would she still have to attend school in Aus for the last 18 months of the Aus education system.

Thanks Again

quoll

I dont think there is any conversion of GCSEs because the HSC is a defined course and the outcome at the end of year 12 is equivalent of AS or A levels not GCSEs. You do get some credit for study done at the same level ie AS or A level (well you do in ACT, the NSW HSC is a whole other ball game because it is a much more defined course with end of course examinations) but there are often disadvantages to that because the curriculum will be quite different and if you are faced with a course examination at the end of it, you could be disadvantaged if you havent done the whole course. She could always start year 11 in 2011 and just be that bit older.

ABCDiamond

The minimum school leaving age in New South Wales is 15. (This is not the same in all States)
Two webpages that may be useful are:
Leaving school after Year 10: http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/leavingschool/year10.php
Leaving school after Year 12: http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/leavingschool/year12.php

It would be worth contacting them to check on the conversion.
I recall that my wife had her overseas qualifications converted to the NSW HSC equivalent, but hers weren't the British exams, and it was some time back.