newadventure

Hi

We have been over in South Carolina, Charleston USA for 2 years and had always planned to go back to the UK for our kids education in 2015. My eldest will be starting 9th grade then and its the choosing your GSCE options year in the UK. We also have a current 3 and 5 grader (they would be grade 7 and 5 if we go back 2015). However we love it here and are considering staying longer. In order to do this any thoughts on transferable education systems would be great and also experiences on staying on or going back also.

Questions

If we had to go back in the middle of our kids GCSE's - maybe our visa doesn't get renewed - how easy is it to slot back in

If our kids wanted to go to college in the UK after doing all their schooling here how easy is it to get in - would they be considered as foreign students

I heard that to be considered for college in the UK then the kids should try and take as many AP courses as possible. Is this true.

What about the Baccalaureate system would it help to follow that?


Any ideas where I can find out about any of this would be great

So many things to take into consideration and a difficult decision to make but we want it to be informed and welcome your thoughts.

mikelincs

Moving in the middle of GCSEs is probably not a good idea as the syllabus in each country is almost certain to be different, and they would be at a big disadvantage.

AFAIK, if you have been out of the country for 2 years is is highly possible that they would be classed as international students and have to pay the higher fees.

newadventure

Thanks for this.

Sally Redux

They will be classed as overseas students if they go back for university unless you can find a way to fudge it.

UK unis do seem to equate APs to A-levels.

IB would be a good idea if that suits the child's way of learning.

petrichor

I doubt any school would place a student in the middle of a two-year GCSE programme. Catching up on a whole year's work would be next to impossible, and some subjects have coursework deadlines that would have been missed (though GCSEs are now moving back towards final year exams).

If you have any choice in the matter, it would be better to move before GCSEs or before A levels. Usually children have to be resident for 3 years before they will be counted as home students and eligible for student loans at university.

You might consider online IGCSEs. A friend's daughter has recently started an internet course where she's in a virtual classroom with other students from around the world, all studying for IGCSEs.

zebra15

If it's helpful, here are some good posts on Mumsnet on this particular topic. Most seem to concur that moving in the middle of GCSEs is a bad idea.
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondar...A-levels-start

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondar...s/AllOnOnePage

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondar...-start-of-GCSE