UK20054

Hi All,

We are discussing an opportunity to relocate to Melbourne with my current employer. My older one is currently in Year 10 in the UK, so will be sitting her GCSE next year. I wanted to find out what would be the impact on her schooling if we end up relocating in the next few months when she has completed her Year 10 but not completed her GCSE. Do any of the members have any experience?

The work opportunity is quite lucrative and will be hard to turn down but at the same time, I don't want to jeopardize kid's schooling at such a key stage. One option is for me to go ahead, and the family moves after completion of my daughter's GCSE but it will be a struggle financially as I will need to manage expenses in both the countries for at least a year.

Many thanks if anyone can offer any advice, please.

carcajou

Are you planning / do you hope to be in Australia for a while?

If so, bring the kids with you. They will need an Australian qualification, GCSE doesn't mean a thing here. Remember that in Australia the school year starts in February.

If this potential move is temporary, and the plan is to be in the UK long-term, then you should investigate either leaving the kids in the UK, or seeing if an international school in Melbourne can help you.

UK20054

Many thanks for the quick response. We are looking at it as a long term move, potentially permanent one. I am just not sure on the timing of this opportunity as my daughter would be sitting her GCSE next year. What year would she get admission in, in Mel? What would be her next key qualification (something like GCSE)?

carcajou

If it is a permanent move, you need her in an Australian school doing an Australian qualification.

The main qualification is the Certificate of Education that students get at the end of Year 12. There used to be a junior certificate they could get at the end of Year 10 but that was abolished some time ago.

If they are university bound, they take "ATAR" courses in Year 11 and 12. There are exams at the end of both of those years, that get put into the hopper and at the end of Year 12, an "ATAR score" pops out that is hugely influential in what university courses they can take. The schools try to steer the best students into ATAR and the others in to general courses, but there are no pre-requisites, the school can't refuse a student from taking an ATAR course if the parent demands it.

Joining ATAR courses mid-stream is very, very complex and complicated, and does not usually lead to good outcomes.

The GCSE has no bearing on anything here, and you will probably struggle to find schools that even know what it is. Having her stay in the UK to do that, is only valuable if you are planning on returning to the UK.

quoll

I guess if there is any chance that you might be returning to UK then leave her there to finish A levels. If there is no chance then as long as she starts year 11 when she is just 16 or just about to turn 16 then she will be OK with the Australian system. Personally I would be leaving her there because you dont actually know that a) you will like it and b) permanency might not be forthcoming (easier said than done these days) and if she is faced with the prospect of landing in UK with only Aus yr 12 scores (they dont travel as well as A levels in the opposite direction) and not having been resident in UK for the 3 years prior to the start of Uni she will be up for international fees even though she may be a UK citizen. If she were to get A levels then she would have a choice of Aus or UK unis at the end of it.

GCSEs mean diddly squat in Aus but of course they are important in UK.

You might want to consider her social connections as well - is she in a good school with good friendships and extracurricular activities? If so, you might find a friendly family that she could board with and then just visit you for the holidays for a couple of years by which time you will be sorted with whether it's going to be permanent or not.

In Vic the cut off date is April 30 so you might want to calculate which year level she will be going into because it might well not be Year 10 - a year 10 child will have turned 15 by April 30 of the year that they start year 10 (which begins in Feb as has been said) so a year 9 child will have to have turned 14 by April 30 etc. Kids with birthdates close to the cut off often choose not to start until the following year to give them some maturity.

verystormy

On what visa? Normally, an employer sponsored visa is a 482 but because Australia has closed its borders to none residents and citizens you can’t enter on that. It is not expected to open its border for the remainder of the year at the earliest

Beoz

Case by case exceptions.

https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/t...restrictions-0

UK20054

To all those who have replied to my question - many thanks for your extremely valuable advice. It does offer me a good understanding of what is the difference between education systems, and what are the crucial timings if we are to make this move. It looks as if we should be really quick in making the decision, and try to land in Melbourne by Christmas if we are to relocate. This will help our elder one to start Year 11 in Melbourne.

We are looking at this as a potential few years relocation if not permanent. I am sure we will like Melbourne because I have spent 3 months towards the end of last year in the city for a work assignment. Soo let's see how this all goes. Re' visa, I am told this will be a 4 years sponsored visa, with a potential that the employer 'may' support direct route to Permanent Residence after I've completed 6 months' stay in Melbourne - fingers crossed.

Many thanks for all your help. Much appreciated

christmasoompa

Could you not ask your company to delay it until next June time when she's done her GCSE's? It could be a while before travel restrictions ease anyway, so wouldn't mean them waiting long.

We're in a similar situation, also got a Yr 10 sitting GCSE's next year and been asked to move abroad, we've just told them we won't go until next summer as we won't disrupt her education. Although she'd be going to a British School so perhaps more important that she gets those GCSE's than if she was moving to a whole different education system.

quoll

If your daughter has aspirations of further education this is going to potentially be a very expensive exercise. IIf she starts Uni in Australia she will be paying international fees (no loans etc) if you are still on your temp visa (make the assumption that you will, and anything else will be a bonus) And then when you return to UK she will have to pay International fees for Uni even though she is a British citizen because she won’t have been resident for 3 years immediately prior to starting.

carcajou

That may work in other countries, but would cause complications in Australia. If she only comes for Year 12, the universities will only use Year 12 to generate her ATAR score - she won't be able to input British results to compensate - and if she does worse than expected, maybe because she will have one year less experience with the ATAR system than all the other kids, there is no recourse. If you have Australian domestic results, they don't allow you to pick and choose whether you want your international or domestic results to be considered. Year 12 students also don't attend the whole year, they only attend 3 of the 4 terms so these exams will come up very quickly for her and she will be at a pointed disadvantage.

GCSE's mean absolutely nothing here, if the plan is for Australia to be permanent and the daughter is on board with that, they need to do everything possible to enroll in time for Year 11 to start.

I think it would be very complex and complicated if they can't meet that deadline (or the border doesn't open etc) and I would not at that point enroll without a very thorough conversation with the high school's ATAR coordinator first. The latest goss is that the border may stay closed for tourism and leisure into next year, but business travellers and students may start to get allowed in before then.

Quoll's comments about expense also need to be taken under serious consideration.

I would proceed with preparations for a quick move but at the same time also investigate options for her to remain behind if that turns out to be necessary.

abner

There's been a whole lot of hyperventilation on the thread about how difficult this all is, but it ain't necessarily so.

Your Plan A seems to be that your daughter will enter a Melbourne-area Year 11 program next year, i.e. late Jan 2021. Unless you have plans to return to the UK immediately thereafter, there's no point in her sitting GCSE exams; the immediate educational objective becomes a high VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) score, which in turn translates into an ATAR (Australia Tertiary Admission Rank) standing, which is the primary qualification for admission into Australian universities generally, including the 8 "sandstone" ones (broadly, the best ones here). If a transition back to UK (or other) for post-graduate education is desired later, a solid Australian baccalaureate from one of the top 8 unis will do the job.

Where to achieve that high VCE depends a lot on things you (understandably) don't detail in your OP in this thread. While I don't want to infer too much from your "quite lucrative [opportunity]" characterisation, I'm guessing at an income level that corresponds with an expectation of using private school options, and family location in a relatively 'leafy' inner Melbourne suburb. (I'd note in passing that there are also top-rank VIC-state selective-intake high school options for Years 9 -12, but your daughter has missed the normal exam-based intake for those.)

If that's the case, our family's recent circumstances have roughly intersected with yours. I'm willing to compare notes, if you like, but only via PM.

UK20054

Many thanks for all the discussions and useful information. The best option, as it sounds, it to try and move as quickly as possible subject to borders being opened for migrants who are relocating to Australia. abner I will PM separately to get your thoughts as you seem to have gone through similar circumstances. Many thanks all, once again.

Amazulu

There's a lot of that on BE unfortunately. There are posters on here who's only contribution is to encourage people not to migrate to Australia

Bizarre I know but:

the troubadour

At the end of the day few really care if people make the decision to migrate or not. What they do though is provide information to be considered, if the effort is worth it or not.
I doubt if anyone is not going to go ahead on the info on here. It may just though provide food for further thought, for the potential migrant, to reflect on, do additional homework
on specific issues relating to them and formulate a more informed decision.

The business of immigration, is that that a business. A rather expensive one at that. Old clichés that may once have represented aspects of life in Australia, are hardly relevant in this day and age.
Australia is hard work. Coming as a single mother is increasing the load considerably. But issues of a legal nature have been clearly pointed out, rightly so, explaining the difficulties before leaving base.