meljor

Hello, I wondered if anyone had kids in year 9 in Australia who had gone back to England and how did they cope with the transition.

My Eldest son is set to go back in Jan 2010 to apply for a career in the British army and my youngest son and I will be going with him as he will still need a parent or guardian with him, accommodation etc and whilst I know an aunt or uncle will suffice I would like to be there for him.

My youngest will be about to start year 9 then but the kids his age in England will have already started there GCSE's the previous September. I don't know what to do.

Anyone gone back with kids this age I would be really grateful for any advice.

cherry6

I cant give you any advice as of yet but I am going back on Monday with my kids, who are year 9, 8 and 3. I have no idea what the school situation there will be either, but my kids are so excited about going back that I dont think they are too worried. I will let you know as soon as I know if thats any help!

meljor

Thanks Cherry6, all advice welcome. Have a great time.

dingbat

Watch for the the residency requirement prior to joining. My son called and asked about joining at 18, as he is in the cadets here in Canada and is a dual citizen. He was told that he had to be resident in the UK for between three and five years prior to application, due to MOD clearances.

http://www.armyjobs.mod.uk/howdoijoi...uirements.aspx

meljor

Thanks, I have already emailed the army and they have replied with the conditions of entry and as a UK citizen between the age of 16 and 17 he is eligible to join without a period of residency as he only wants to be a soldier not an officer.

He just needs to have an adult who will support him financially and give him a home in England for a period of at least 6 months and at least 4 1/2 years on his passport, I will be getting him a full adult passport when he turns 16 the September so that is sorted.

We do not have dual citizenship, I wonder whether that was the difference with your case and ours?

Nu-Shooz

I took my daughter back to UK from Aus. She was 15 and just left year 9.
I took her back to the school she went to before we left.
She had missed 18 months of UK schooling, but she caught up with the work really well and took her GCSE's this year. She passed all of them

Best thing we did was take her back and let her complete her education in UK.

meljor

Well done her. I bet you're immensely proud .

Thanks Nu-Shooz you have given me hope.

dingbat

The Army Recruitment Officer mentioned the dual citizenship issue, and yes, my son was looking at Officer entry, so maybe that is what the difference is. The army also mentioned that some specific jobs are residency restricted due to MOD clearances though, but I guess there is plenty of tiime to wait out any residency requirements in another army occupation if it proves to be a problem down the line. My nephews are all in the army, and it was their CO who alerted me to the potential problem. Hopefully all will be well for your son. Best of luck!

meljor

Thanks,

Good luck to your son too.

tillysmum

Hi We returned to UK after a brief spell in Brisbane I will copy and paste a letter I have just e-mailed my MP who we saw yesterday about our situation which is quite unique!!!!!!!

Despite what the e-mail says we are still very HAPPY to be HOME

J was a pupil at S..... School and had been since moving there age 11 with her friends from primary school. She was popular girl with her peers and on the whole tried hard at school. She was forecast to obtain all her GCSE's at B/C grades.

In November 2007 our family moved to Brisbane Australia unsure how long it would be for but initially it would be for 3 years due to J... age (14 at the time,yr 10) and trying to reduce and negative impact on her education. Once J... had completed her Senior education in Australia we would then make a decision as to whether to return home to Saddleworth.

However, in April this year I was involved in quite a serious car accident (not my fault) which had a massive impact on our time in Australia and was instrumental in our return to UK. At the same time Nicks mum became very poorly and we started to seriously think about returning home and making enquiries re J... and schooling.

I contacted S.... School via e-mail and corresponded with Mr S.... who stated that if J..... was to return then she would have to return to year 10 due to the fact that many of the GCSE's are modular and therefore she would have to start at the beginning. I then had several conversations via e-mail and telephone with E at the education department of Oldham Council. We were advised that there where vacancies in year 11 and that school could not insist that J.... go into year 10 and agreed that J..... was best placed in year 11 with her peers.

It was also agreed that my suggestion, that in view of the problems regarding GCSE's being modular that it would be quite feasible that she undertake 5 GCSE's Maths, English Language, English Literature and two Science that were not modular and based mainly on final exams. We had discussed at length with J..... the implications of undertaking the GCSE's in one year and that she would have to put a lot of hard work in to achieve these. J..... was more than happy to do this and was looking forward to the challenge. I was advised by E to contact the education department on our return to Oldham and make an appointment with admissions officer.

So on the basis of this information we went ahead and planned our return in the knowledge that J.... return to S... school was relatively sorted. However, on our return we found a very different scenario unfolding. We arrived home mid August and met with M early September and were astonished to find that it was a strong possibility that School could and possibly would refused to have J....... back. This was confirmed a few days later when I had a telephone conversation with her old head teacher who was very understanding but reiterated the issues over the GCSE's being mainly modular and essentially starting year 10 again was the only option. This was a massive blow for us and J...... for several reasons was against starting yr10 and both Nick and I understood her reasons and supported her.

It had been suggested by M.. that WE contact other schools in the area that might be more 'accommodating and creative' in assisting J.... meet her goal of taking her GCSE's she suggested perhaps we try another local school though she did admit it was virtually a mono ethnic school. This was not an option, J..... was desperate to return to her old school to be around her friends and have that peer support at such a difficult time.

To say the least we were stunned and J..... was very distressed by the situation we where now in. We effectively had a child that wanted to go to school and learn who was being denied the opportunity to do so. Her old headmistress suggested that a local College may be able to help we contacted them and the answer that came back was a resounding no as she was under 16 and no funding for her age group unless of course we paid in the region of £4,000. I then proceeded to make many enquiries to local colleges and sixth form colleges in the area and received similar responses in that they don't take under 16's.

Eventually we found a full time first diploma course in horse care at an Equine Centre which was run by Reaseheath College in Cheshire after several phone calls it was agreed that J.... could attend even though she was under 16 the would make an exception for her. J.... had hoped to join the police service when old enough and then try for the mounted branch so this is how we justified to ourselves that the course would be a valuable experience. I contacted M... again to enquire about funding for the course £1079. I was informed by her that there would be no funding available for this course but went on to say that had she been on the register of a school then funding might have been a possibility! Very distressed I contacted V... at Connections with whom I had also had several conversations with and eventually she managed to come up with some funding, £700 towards the course but we would have to pay the remainder to Reaseheath which we have just done. So much for free education!

We also contacted the education department and enquired about a bus pass for J.... to get to and from Equine Centre in as it is 2 buses each way ie £2.80 a day bus fare. I was informed by a young lady a few days later that she had spoken to M... and as J.... had failed/refused to take up the place offered to her at old school but yr 10, then she was not entitled to a free bus pass, yet another knock back.

However we realised that J..... would still need to gain her Maths and English GCSE if she wanted to progress onto sixth form college so to maximise her chances we decided that she would study these in her own time and enter as a private candidate. With the assistance of her old head teacher have found a Maths tutor a Ms B she is a new Maths teacher to the School and visits J..... one hour a week at our expense of £20 and I have to add that she is very good and J.... is making excellent progress and is hoping to gain at least grade B.

Unfortunately we struggled to find an English tutor and it was only when I was ringing around schools and colleges to try and find a place for Jessica to sit her maths and English exams as a private candidate that through a mum of one of J..... friends put us in touch with a colleague of hers. The English tutor again is at our expense at a cost of £25 for an hours tuition.

Although J...... is now on a recognised course but because she is under school leaving age she falls under the home school officer S..... at the specialist learning centre in F, she holds the register for the children who have ELECTED not to attend school. Sue visited us this week to meet with J.... and offer some support and we discussed the problems many people have sitting GCSE's as private candidates and in her experience has never know anyone to secure a centre to sit the exams! She had even made tentative enquiries with her admin team at the learning centre if J.... could sit them there but apparently its too administratively difficult!!!!!!!

However, prior to her visit and in desperation and after being knocked back by at least 15 local education institutions I did contact her old school and spoke to the examinations officer and he has provisionally said yes but after what S... said I am now extremely worried that after all her hard work that J... will not be facilitated to sit these exams at all and lose her chance, even though it is slim of going to Sixth Form college. We have been advised by Connections that we are going to have to put a special case forward for J.... to go to Sixth Form as she wont meet the normal entrance criteria but that's a battle for another day!

Following our meeting with you yesterday evening J.... raised another point on the way home, she had picked up on the fact that you will be attending prize giving for the school, something that she will now not be able to do next year. Again she is the one being penalised through no fault of her own she will not be afforded the opportunity to attend the presentation evening like her sister did to get her certificates with her friends and proud family or even attend the graduation dance at school because she doesn't have a school.

What sort of message does this give to our young people, where is the justice in her situation? It really does grate when I know personally and professionally of many children with challenging behaviour whom the education department and social services have bent over backwards to help and facilitate their learning. What happened to the ethos of 'Every child matters and the more recent document 'The Children's Plan'.

It was only when we had moved to Australia that we became aware of the 3 year residency rule for qualifying for domestic university fees in UK. If the rule was different for retuning British Citizens then we might have tried to stay in Australia until J... had finished Senior school thus avoiding all the problems that we have encountered on our return. I have an acquaintance that has started an e-petition on the PM Govt petitions web site re unfair Uni fees for British Citizens it closes 29th October. I am aware from a British Expat forum that I frequent of several families who would come back home but cannot afford the International University fees. etc etc........


From what I can gather ours is unusual so dont let this put you off too much it still is the right decision

ann m

Bloody hell tillysmum !! What a situation to find yourselves in. What can I say, but best wishes to you and your daughter - and what a disgraceful "jobsworth" environment you have been up against. In the grand scheme of things, would you daughter just not consider doing Gr 10 again though, instead of all this uncertainty? Crikey - I feel for all of you. (Good clear letter though ).

tillysmum

Hi Ann
Thanks for the reply DD did eventually say she would do yr 10 again but we could both see she REALLY didn't too so we have continued with what we have now and to be honest we have a very very happy young lady, what more can we ask for!