moving2nyc

Hi

We are relocating to NYC in July 09 and have 2 girls age 11 and 15. I am a little concerned about schooling for our 15 year. From a timing point of view there is no problem regarding the 11 year old. However our 15 year old daughter has just joined year 10 in the UK system and studying a 2 year course for GCSE qualification in Spring 2010. Does anyone know of any school she could join to finish her GCSE qualification. The main reason for wanting her to do this would be because if our move to the US was only for a few years and she returned back to the UK she would have no qualifications to integrate back into the education system.

I have looked at the British International School and they finish at 14 and do not continue on to High School.

Any suggestions?

Englishtart

Would you be willing to let her finish her school in the uk, and stay with relatives if possible? That may be the best thing for her. She could come to stay with you guys during holidays?

If you are transferring here through a company, you might even ask them to cover her flight expenses? wouldn't hurt to try.

Jerseygirl

Do you realise if she wants to go to a UK university you will have to pay International Student Fees? A student must live in the UK for the 3 years preceeding uni to qualify for home fees.

Englishmum

There is an exemption though for expat families who are on postings outside the EU. The parent must prove that he/she is on a temporary assignment on a non-immigrant visa (eg. for the US L1/L2 or H visas). Some universities ask for more proof than others (the admissions office for the University of Southampton wanted more proof than other unis that my daughter had applied to).

They are looking for proof that one still has strong ties to the UK - for example a rental agreement if you are renting out your house in the UK, my spouse was also paying NI contributions, we still had bank accounts (offshore but UK High Street names).

I've known of families (mainly with oil companies such as BP and Shell) who've been on continuous overseas postings for many years in the Far East, Middle East....Texas... and they still managed to get 'home status' fees for their kids.

Englishmum

AFAIK there is no provision for GCSE or IGCSE in the US, so you have few options;

1) As already mentioned, perhaps your daughter could stay with a relative until she completes her GCSE's.

2) Your daughter transfers to a boarding school in England (mine did for her 'A' levels and the company paid towards the fees and for trips to stay with us in the school hols).

3) Your daughter abandons her GCSE course and goes into the US High school system.

jackattack

My daughter is only two so haven't had to make any real education decisions yet but I feel it looming already and it's been too long since I last did A levels so this might be a little dated but...the first thing that springs to mind is the IB (International Baccalaureate) system.
I think that some UK universities must take IB students since I've heard of some private schools in the UK having switched over to using this instead of A levels. Do you have any idea which universities your daughter might attend? Perhaps contact them or look them up on the web and see if they accept IB and then see if there are any IB curriculum schools in your area.

Bob

4) find a school that follows international baccalaureate....there's a few knocking around the US that do IB

Bob

They all accept IB....it's a standard international curriculum....makes it trickier to figure out the uni requirements if you apply through UCAS, but either way, they'd all accept them.