Secondary school A Levels AY or BC
 

We find ourselves considering an offer to relocate to Abu Dhabi, at one of the most awkward times in our son's education.

He is in lower 6th about to do ASs in 2015 and we would be looking to move January 2015 ahead of the exams

We are looking at Al Yasmina & Brighton College. Both may well accept him.
Would anyone be able to advise the strengths and weaknesses of either. We would want the best school to be able to transition him academically & socially.
He's a decent student but would need to be pushed to gain A grades at A Levels.


I presume Brighton is smaller and may be more able to deliver targeted mentorship, but may be limited by a smaller student body
Do the teens mix by school groups or do they socialise irrespective.
Where would the best place to live be for him to quickly meet a group of friends?( We're from the UK)

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Secondary school A Levels AY or BC
 

Speaking as someone who moved schools in januaryof lower 6th, don't do it, or repeat the year.
It was 20 yrs ago, but all my grades dropped a point eg a become b, in he final a level exams.
Changing school, making friends, working out how the school works, changing syllabus, all took its toll.

Re: Secondary school A Levels AY or BC
 

Believe me, this would not be our chosen path.

However, if we do indeed come to Abu Dhabi, does the choice of school affect social mobility ( that sounds a bit pretentious, Aplogies ), basically do 16-17 year olds mix irrespective of school group? Sometimes things can be a bit cliquey in the expat world.

Again, any info' is much appreciated

Re: Secondary school A Levels AY or BC
 

Not really an expert, but in general I'd say BCAD has the better reputation of the 2. That being said, their 6th form is new, and so they have no A level history (I have no idea whether AY does). Many parents take their children home for A levels, either moving themselves (or one of them), or sending them to board, so I have heard people speculate that the children who remain are often below par, and so UAE A level results will never match the better UK schools.

There are loads of cliques over here, but equally so many expats that one can often just ignore the cliques. There are some lovely parents and children and BCAD (I'm not saying there aren't at AY, I just don't know any), and equally some horrors. A teenage child of a friend of ours, non-British, just moved there and loves it - says the children are far nicer, politer, keen to study than at his previous (non-British) school.

Re: Secondary school A Levels AY or BC
 

al yasmina is more established and older where by bcad being a selective school is only a few years old, and the sixth form is new this year so you will be guinea pigs. there are other places that do alevels etc such as the most established school in auh. you will find that in the past you had no choice but to send them back to uk either for seniors or alevels but now there are choices, but its down to individuals because of home status and tutition fees etc. the kids that come to sixth form are far from under par compared to uk schools, in fact they do better here, some kids do go back only because there is much more choice of subjects in uk schs compared to here... also if you are not good at exams then you have to go back to do btec etcs which are few and far between here, although bsak is thinking about them in the future, as they are a non selective school and cater for every child across the whole spectrim. bcad has no history yet as its new. you will find that the sixth forms of all schools are growing very fast so they are not all going back to study in uk. i wouldnt really move half way thru but at least alevels are split, but it will depend on which exam boards and subjects whether you can just slot in if a place is offered here, otherwise you will struggle as they will not accept you. they do not like taking any student part way thru any of the gcse or alevel courses. i would look at yasmina if not a a student etc as bcad is a selective sch and you may struggle there, but really you would need to apply and then take a tour if you can they are very different.

Re: Secondary school A Levels AY or BC
 

if you only have 1 more year i would leave the kid there and let them finish the course. if you come out you will loose your home status for uni etc.