kiwicominghome2020

We have a 14 year old son who is currently in Year 9 at a UK selective Grammar school, and will be starting Year 10 here in September. We had hoped to move to NZ next month, but Covid-19 has had other ideas! We're now looking at moving in December 2020. I know from checking, that at his age he would be going straight into Year 11 in January/February in NZ, which obviously is a big year for exams and assessments (NCEA Level 1). Several people have told me that they think the NZ Year 11 curriculum is easier than UK GCSE's - particularly for maths and sciences - and so the fact that he will be moving up two-thirds of a school year, and straight into an exam year, should be OK. But is that true? Has anyone else had experience of moving a child who will only have done just one term of Year 10, straight into Year 11 in NZ? He's a bright boy, but I'm worried that he will struggle. Any insight into the two school systems / curriculums would be much appreciated!

Purrball

Your son may feel ahead in some subjects and I would probably concur with maths and sciences, some languages also. Demotivation can also be a risk, if so. However, any area like social sciences or similar Kiwi-specific may involve a lot of revision and catching up in NZ history, civics, economics, Waitangi etc.

https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-...ocial-sciences