Gail5

This may have been posted somewhere on here before but I can't find anything so apologies for repeating it. I hope someone can advise here though:

Those of you who have emigrated with your teenagers while they were in the middle of their A levels - were they able to carry on with their studies? how did they cope? did they find it difficult to adjust? did they do well or did the move disrupt them at all? My son wants to come with us to NZ but reckons he should stay here till after he takes his A level exams (not till 2011). I'd rather he moved at the same time as us but I'm a bit worried it would be too difficult for him and a bit unfair. Would love to hear from anyone who's gone through the same.

Thanks in advance

Gail

Wooly_Cow

I think I previously poste don this some time ago but can’t find it.

I got a job offer to start in the August of 2008. At the time our eldest was in the middle of her two year ‘A’ level studies. She was doing very well at a great school. We looked into doing ‘A’ levels here in Wellington.

Firstly whilst there are ‘A’ level course these are run on the Cambridge system and are only available at a very few school schools. In Wellington that was only the private schools. I believe that Cambridge ‘A’ levels and IB are gaining more favour but they aren’t common courses.

In any case I did contact Samuel Marsdens School and ask about the ‘A’ levels courses. Between the difference in school years (in NZ they start in Feb.) and the difference in course material and the already assessed course work, they advised my daughter would have to go back to the start of the two year courses. This would have meant her going ‘back’ 18 months!

The standard course are NCEA Level 2,& 3 but again she would have had to go back as this works on a credit system and her GCSE’s maybe could have ‘bought her’ NCEA Level 1 credits but not Level 2 and 3.

In the end we bit the bullet and I started work here without my family for nearly a whole year. It was a very tough time BUT I made some of the best friends I have ever had, the family stayed strong for each other (my beautiful wife and I still adore each other) and my clever daughter got straight ‘A’s in 2009 and secured a place at a great university….unfortunately in England but that was her choice and she could have gone anywhere with those grades including New Zealand (where she still might eventually)

So short answer is there is no easy solution, sorry to say, but things can work out really well.

Wooly_Cow

Just another point. My son moved at the start of his GCSE’s, and because of his age had to skip forward to the middle of the last year of NCEA Level 1. He missed over half the final years course work and some of the credits…and he had to leave his long standing girlfriend. But much to his huge credit he worked hard, and not only caught up but ended up with a Merit overall plus the extra 20 credits he can carry forward to Level 2 and got Excellence in several subjects. He still of course misses his friends and girl friend but has got good new mates here too.

Justcol

Our son moved out with us when he was half way through his A levels.
He had sat his A/S level at the end of his 1st year at college.
He was disapointed with the choice of subjects available to him in NZ
and while he had done well in his NCEA's in hind sight (a wonderful thing)
it would have been better for him educationally if he had stayed and
completed his education in the UK.
He stayed in NZ for 18 months and the moment he finished his final exams
he was back on a plane to the uk. He does not wish to stay in NZ and will
go to uni in the uk.
He is a typycal uk teen, into music and city life. NZ was never his cup of tea
as there is no social whirl and bed at 10pm was not his thing.

Flatcap

Hi Gail,

We had the same quandry as most folk wanting to come out with teenagers. Our daughter had just started her GCSE's at a very good school in the UK when we decided to make the move. We didn't understand the NCEA system at all, therefore decided to postpone coming until after she'd taken her exams.
We finally moved out here in November (08), and decided to use some of our house equity to pay for a private school that offered International Cambridge As/A Levels (just in case she wanted to try for Oxford). It's much cheaper to go private than it was in the UK - ours is $18,000 yr - so for two very crucial years, we decided it was worth it.
The alternative was staying for another two years in the UK and risk her not wanting to come with us in the end (plus, we'd have been too old!).

It's worth looking into. If your son has to go back a year to re-do his As levels, he may also benefit from better grades. I remember reading somewhere that the International exam course is a slightly higher level than the UK one and more internationally recognised. (some private UK schools are also starting to switch to them).

Hope this helps - I really feel for you and what you're going through, it's tough being a parent!

Jan n Neil

I agree with the advice above to finish A levels somehow. I work in tertiary education here in NZ and think that A levels are probably a better grounding in pre-Uni subjects than level 3.

Jan

dorrick

Still a lot of contoversy re NCEA - so for people from UK who might want to attend tertiary institution in UK,might be better to look at schools who do Cambridge exams - several state schools in Auckland offer Cambridge - to a lesser extent IB is also offered.

Gail5

Thanks for all your replies.

Another question now though. My eldest son started uni in October. He's not sure yet if he wants to move with us when we eventually go to NZ - any of you had kids in uni here then moved to NZ and continued their studies?

Thanks again

Gail

Justcol

No but i would strongly recommend that he finishes his degree in the uk.

Wooly_Cow

Hi Gail

Like I said before our eldest thought about going to a Kiwi university before choosing an English one.

The bottom line is that you really can't start one course at one universtity and then jump into another course at another uni carrying 'credit', not even in the same country. There are some cases where this may happen but it would be so dependant on course and content.

If he started an English uni and then wanted to come to a Kiwi one...expect to start again.

Regarding the costs, if you have PR he would be clasified as 'local' and pay accordingly. If not you would pay international student fees