TheFiveOfUs

Hi,

Am hoping someone can help. My son is in yr 10 at school at the moment so he doesn't take his GCSE until June 2015..... But he is 16 in December this year. Does this mean he will have to take his exams this year if we move before December...if that makes sense school years run January to December in NZ don't they?

Thanks

Justcol

he'll move back a year, my sons birthhday is december and the school years here are out of sync eith the uk
so he'll do his ncea's next year which are pretty much all assessment based

TheFiveOfUs

Ahh...brilliant thanks so much! Was worried, it's going to be hard enough for him!

bourbon-biscuit

Hang on, my daughter went from yr 10 in the UK and in the UK summer hols she moved to NZ where she went into year 11 and took as many NCEA 1 standards as possible. She turned 16 in November. A kid turning 16 in December will surely be in year 11 here because on 30th June s/he will have been 15. 30th of June is cut off date for age. See the wiki article if you're unsure. No idea where JusCol gets the impression your kid would go back?

MrsFychan

some schools are fairly flexible, have a chat with the Head, maybe get an assessment from current school and recommendations from current teachers, look at what work the new school is doing and take it from there.
Not the same age but my daughter born in July was yr 6 in UK and they put her in year 6 here just because she had gotten to know someone in yr 6. It was a 6/7 year so she could of easily gone in as yr 7 but not really knowing at the time we just went with it. In the end we moved her from yr 7 to year 9 as she was bored and her assessments had her more than capable of moving. College was amenable after a chat and she is back on track now

j19fmm

Agree with talking to the Dean of Year at the new school. We were given the option to stay or move up. Both of my children moved up a year, and are glad they did. They say the work is more in depth than they studied in the UK but found it fairly easy to catch up.
DS (aged 14 and 5 months when arrived) went from end of year 9 in UK to mid year 10 in NZ.
DD (aged 16 and 5 months when arrived post GCSE's) went from end of year 11 in UK to mid year 12 in NZ.
Both have now successfully moved up to the next year.

Justcol

Arrived in NZ in June having just completed his 1st year of A levels, equivalent to yr12 in NZ
Started at high school with the rest of the kids his age in Jan at the beginning of yr12.
That to me is going back a year compared to where he was in the UK

TheFiveOfUs

That's brilliant, thanks for all the advice! I think I will hold off with the worrying and speak to the school when we have a date to move.