Kelshahall

Rete

This is the Welcome Inn for introductions only.

As you have asked a question instead, I have requested that your post be transferred to the USA forum for answering.

A lot depends on whether her mother is a USC and if your daughter is as well or if she needs a green card to enter the US to live and attend school. All this will be asked and answered on the US forum.

Twinkle0927

Noorah101

scrubbedexpat099

Not sure Mothers status matters, daughters does, is she a US Citizen?

Kelshahall

Kelshahall

scrubbedexpat099

What papers?

Kelshahall

scrubbedexpat099

Student visa?

Noorah101

if her mom is a USC, why isn't she one as well?

or does mum not qualify to pass along US citizenship, and is doing an immigrant visa for the daughter?

Rene

kodokan

petitefrancaise

couple of things to note from the OP's first post.
If your daughter is 16 and doing her GCSE's next summer, then she is not in her last year of secondary school - she can do her A levels - that will take 2 years anyway.
Since she will have only one parent in the USA, I'm assuming that the residency for school boundaries is satisfied by her mother living within those boundaries, but as Kodokan says, this should be verified with the school.
US high school students grades- they are given "credits" each year for the courses taken, the credits are cumulative and the kids can start accumulating these credits from middle school (8th grade). These credits are important for university applications and you would need to check that your daughter will be given credits for the work she has already done in the UK. Ask about out of district credit transfer.
Assuming all immigration issues have been sorted out - the next thing to consider is what your daughter will want to do after she finishes school? If university/college is on the cards ( and in the USA is SHOULD be) then look into the costs of that. The USA can be eye-wateringly expensive and has to be paid in advance.
Depending on the visa /immigration status for the USA, being here for 2 years can mean that she is no longer entitled to UK domestic fees for university in the UK. UK domestic fees requires 3 years residency prior to starting the university course. International student fees for the UK are more expensive and have to be paid in advance...Please tell us your daughter's proposed immigration status and we can advise better.

robtuck

I'll skip all the Visa stuff that others cover.

Our daughter transferred post GCSE's to Georgia 2 years ago.

First - check she qualifies for the school (usually location based and they can change catchment from year to year depending on numbers).

Second - get the school year dates quickly, they tend to start back before UK, so a risk of missing some months (that happened with us as we moved in September but it was 2 weeks later before we could enrol her).

Third - translation of GCSE's to credits and GPA - ask to meet the Counsellor immediately, get the certificates for GCSE's and begin working on getting the syllabus as well - Math for example is split into the various component subjects, like Trig, Geometry, Algebra etc. You may need to "help" them draw the right conclusions about what a single Maths GCSE equates to - be prepared to argue their view. The grading system is A-D then a fail, so the English system is going to be different. So you are looking to get credits - provided to say they completed a course, and a Grade, so that your child starts with a GPA as well. They'll probably give good credits in English :-) but your child is going to need to do things like American History, Civics etc. Worryingly, my daughter was top of her class in these subjects!

I can't speak for how it works in California, but my daughter was surprised by the approach to teaching in Georgia and still is (now at College). Much repetition, multiple choice answers and more time spent learning the definition of words than applying practicality to what they learn.

For 2 years time - some colleges would take GCSE's on heir own, so keep all those records just in-case. If they can do some AP classes, they will get ahead, and they are generally pitched at A Level standard - this is where it helps to get credits for the GCSE work, getting into AP classes requires previous study.

penguinsix

Hi,

To me the university issue is the biggest one on the table--what are the plans for university? In the USA or the UK? Is this part of a process to attend school in the states or basically an extended gap year before she goes to a UK uni?