elty

I wonder if anyone can offer some words of advice.My son is in year 10 at school here in the u.k and obviously has his exams next june.Now here is the dilemna.We were planning on coming to oz at xmas but if we do he will miss his exams.Do we come out at xmas or wait until he has done his exams in june.The thing that is getting me stressed is that if we come out and for unknown reasons don,t like it and come home he won,t have any qualifications at all but if we wait until he has done them over here and then come out to oz they won,t be worth anything in oz(or are they).He is more than keen to stay on at school in oz to do their equivalent but obviously i don,t want him to end up with neither.........any advice would be very appreciated......got a headache now!

why

having met a lot of people recently who have come out to aus with older kids. talking to them it seems to me better to stay and finish exams, it's worth it for the sake of your childs future. down side will be arriving in winter, so stay for uk summer then come about aug/sep ready for australian summer. hope this may help

Gems

Hello we are in a similar position.

Our son is in year 10 also. But we are moving in a couple of weeks. So he has done one year of his GCSE work.

What I found out is that he would go into Year 10 now and choose some subjects for next school year.
He will start in the new school year: January 2008 the 2 years study in subjects he chooses(supposed to be similar to A level standard) this will enable him to go straight to Uni once he is finished. Oz has extra year at school.

So for my son this works out good. He wont have missed any of the vital Year 11 work.

Basically Oz are more interested in the Year 11 and 12 study, and GCSE are not needed.

You can go to Uni or go on to apprenticeships and college course. More options.

Basically I decided the GCSE were not really that important if you are intending to stay in OZ.

I think you can register your GCSE's in OZ but not sure whats involved.

GEMS

Gems

PS, my son wants to go to Uni so would need the year 11/12 course work.

GEMS

elty

Thanks for all your replies.
Gems,if we came over next june would my son then be behind in his year 11,12 coursework and then have to go back a year.
The thing is that we really want to make a go of it in oz and are desperate to succeed but who knows what the future holds and if we fail for any reason i don,t want him to miss out.......our medicals are booked for august so we will have to enter oz a year from them.

jdraper

We have the same problem. Our son is in year 10 too. We are going on a student visa, with my husband starting his course in July 2008.

Andrew will have done his GCSE's but have to either catch up with work or go back a year!!!

The school say it depends on his GCSE results (which he won't get until August!!)

He wants to do A level equivalents too and possibly go into RAAF!!

tracey.d

I promised my daughter that if we hadn't sold our house and she had started her GCSE coursework then I would stay here until she finished. I didn't think it was fair to her to let her do all that hard work for nothing.

I have done exactly that and am glad I did so. She really appreciates it too. The 2 years have gone really quickly to be honest. I have also decided that I will wait and let her go and collect her results with her mates. Whats another 2 months

But, that's me and my daughter and what's right for us may not be right for the next person. The best thing to do is talk to your son about it and weigh up what's best for the whole family. Good luck

Oh, the flip side of it is, I originally promised my older daughter I would stay for her final year and she turned around afterwards and said she wasn't coming any more My youngest hasn't got a choice, I'm not staying any longer. But, he's only 11

Sandra

What state are you moving to? Schools are state driven not federal and it may well depend on the school policy as well as to which year and what level they are happy with.

School year will depend on his age. Schools do not do an extra year here in NSW. There are four years 7, 8, 9,10 and then they do School certificate which is not actual results and such more a statement of achievement and not very useful. HSC in NSW is the A level somewhat equivalent they take two years 11 and 12 to sit this and it is course work and exam based, they need to be sitting around five subjects in this. The HSC has different bandings one of which is a UAI (Universities Admission Index) http://www.uac.edu.au/admin/uai.html

You need to get the specific information for the state you are moving to and discuss this with your son. Just because they are year 10 in the UK this does not mean they would be year 10 here. Some schools are not that happy with chilcren moving into School certificate years half way through. Write to a couple of schools especially if you are considering private and check there admissions policy. Some private schools have a different age criteria than the state schools which would make a difference to the year they may enter.

Sorry if I seem I am going on a bit but you need more detailed information on this important time in order to let you and your son make a decision.

Hope it all works out well.