Whoatemycheese

Hello all

Will be going to Fort Worth in July with wife and 3 kids. Daughter is 12, if I do 4 yrs, is the only sensible option to go for an IB schoolso she has a tangible qualification at 16?

Thanks in advance

petitefrancaise

You have obviously got a good idea of how difficult it is to match up education systems in different countries!

The IB diploma is studied in the final 2 years of high school or in place of A levels in the UK. That is a universal course of study that is pretty much the same wherever you go.

However, your daughter's age will put her into pre-IB classes and there is no international standard for that. It is intended to help the transition from the local (Texas) curriculum to the IB one and the Pre-IB curriculum is set locally by the school board.

So, at this stage returning to the UK with pre-IB classes under her belt may not offer her much more advantage than going to a very good local high school and doing pre-AP and AP classes. She may well have at least 2 AP exams passed when she goes back to the UK. That will help with UK university entrance since they accept AP exam passes.

Whatever, she does, she is NOT going to get an exact match in education that will facilitate an easy return to the UK.

If you definitely plan on your daughter doing the IB diploma in the UK then there might be a slight advantage to doing pre-IB in the USA. But, if A levels are on the cards then I'd say it probably isn't going to make much difference

FWIW - I moved a child internationally at 16 to the USA and it is not an easy thing to manage at all and it is very, very hard on the student as they try to fill in gaps in knowledge and cope with different teaching /exam styles.

Whoatemycheese

That's actually really helpful advice, thank you. I had thought at 16 there was a qualification with IB that was broadly similar to GcSE, that gives us something else to figure out then. Do you know how easy it is to take say English and Maths GCSE?

I'm also taking a 16 yr old, he will definitely take IB, and a 10 yr old who's super bright so I'm not so worried about him.

Thanks again

petitefrancaise

There you go. You have your answer.
Your schools are dictated by your address. So if your son is going to an IB high school then your daughter will be going there as well unless you move. You and she can make the choice in a couple of years when she starts high school. Pre_IB classes start in 9th Grade

petitefrancaise

for GCSE classes you could probably find online tutoring. I know you can, a friend of mine based in France teaches GCSE and A level geography to kids all over the world.
Or perhaps you could consider a crammer during the summer holidays before she starts A levels or IB if you really thought it necessary.

Is your son going back to the UK for university?

Whoatemycheese

Not if he can help it! 😂

I'm hoping he falls for USA and wants to go to college but at 18 he will make his own decisions, I'd of thought with IB and international experience he'd be reasonably employable back in the uk