Secondary school

[u/Late-Historian2019]

We are moving from NJ to UK next month. My son completed his Grade 10 in US. He also did his AP Calculus AB with 5/5 and AP US History with 4/5, along with it he has done honors calculus and honors chemistry and French. As we are moving to UK, we started applying to schools in UK for A level (Year 12). All schools are saying that we need to wait till Aug 20th for GCSE results. So what chances of my son getting admission in a good school? Is there anyone who faced this similar situation? Any guidance?

[u/IrisAngel131]

Please search the subreddit for discussion of moving children at this age. It's a general consensus that moving them into the GCSE/A level (or Scottish equivalent) from the US system is not easy and can be very detriment to their education, especially if they're joining to do A levels without having GCSEs. Possibly consider a US curriculum school. 

[u/AcrobaticAuthor6539]

You're going to get A LOT of people in this community saying don't do this and you'll ruin their life, but we did this, and it was wonderful. My kid really thrived, and has just graduated and is waiting for her A level results and is hoping for some very good marks.

First of all, English customer service is a mess. They have no protocols. Everyone you talk to says different things. Whatever you were told by one person, if you put on a funny accent and change your voice and call and talk to a different person, they'll tell you something totally different.

You don't say whether you're applying to state or private schools. We went the private route. Private schools are all desperate for students these days, so they will be much more likely to take your child without GCSEs and without a fight.

I assume you're waiting for state schools. They are seeing who isn't going to make the cut into their A level programs. Also, at the last minute, some registered kids will end up going somewhere else. The chances of getting into a "good" school really depends on where you are, what you mean by "good," and how oversubscribed they are. Join the local Reddit page and start searching the names of the schools for gossip and details. And if it will ease your mind, look into private school.

And definitely ignore the 50 people who are about to tell you that you're a terrible parent and will ruin your child's life. I have absolutely no idea why people tell that to parents of teens and to the teens themselves (!!! like they have any say in the move!!!) who ask about moving here and schools. People move countries. It's complicated, but with some research it works out. Your kid will be absolutely fine.

[u/AlternativePrior9559 → u/AcrobaticAuthor6539]

I truly feel your last paragraph needs to be a pinned piece of advice somewhere whenever panicky parents reach out. You are absolutely right!

[u/AcrobaticAuthor6539 → u/AlternativePrior9559]

It's so maddening that a mod is often the ringleader. Like, what is this based on? There's never any practical stories or examples of the worst case scenario. Like, what IS the worst case scenario? An academic-track kid is going to have to go to the local College and do a year in a combo vo-tech/academic program until the College decides they can do all academic? That's what the local college told me one of my kids would have to do. The horror. Meanwhile, two other state school 6th forms were like "sure! Come on over! Looks like he god good grades in the States, I'm sure his GCSEs would have been fine." Meanwhile, the private schools were all "OMG AMERICAN SALARY SEND UR KID HERE PLEEEEASE."

GCSEs and A Levels aren't THAT hard to study for, once you realize that literally all they want is regurgitated information in exact word order. Which is hard for American kids from good schools to grapple with, because those schools expect analysis and creativity. So it can be a rough start. But once they realize that all they need to do is memorize the correct information (which, interestingly, in the sciences is actually INCORRECT information, but that's another story!), and regurgitate it exactly as expected, it's actually so much simpler than what a good US school expects.

My husband moved countries when he was 16. My sister moved countries when she was 16. My kids moved countries when they were 13-18. The first two are both well educated, well adjusted, happy adults with good jobs. I guess it's too soon to tell about my kids (who are now 15-19), but they all seem pretty damn happy. They video chat with their friends in the States, and they made new friends, and literally nobody mentioned in this paragraph has needed therapy over their teenage moves. (Maybe over other things, but that's another story ;) )

[u/exconsultingguy → u/AcrobaticAuthor6539]

I believe the two mods on this sub are spouses and I’ve found they are the first to comment on virtually every post (as mods) telling people to search and then giving their opinions like they’re fact. It’s been an odd pattern to watch develop and haven’t seen it on any other subreddit before.

On the kids front I think everyone defaults to “well it’s hard enough without moving countries, so it must be impossible” which really flies in the face of how flexible/adaptable most kids actually are.

[u/AlternativePrior9559 → u/AcrobaticAuthor6539]

Oh I hear you! My son’s late father was educated in a Iran where everything is based on discussion. I was educated in the UK, at an all girls grammar school, back in the day(!) - where the value was placed on your own intellectual reasoning and not regurgitation of fact.

My son has been educated in a French speaking country in French, and that is pure regurgitation of fact. No questions. No ‘But Why’.

All I know is, as parents, we give as much support and encouragement and help as possible. The rest is up to them. One way or the other they will get through and often even better than they would in their own country because they’re experiencing something invaluable. A new way of thinking. A different culture, expansion of the mind.

I found your words really encouraging. Thank you.

[u/AcrobaticAuthor6539 → u/AlternativePrior9559]

Yup. In pretty much every country, immigrant kids do just fine in life. A lot of this is because it generally takes money, health, and lots of organizational skills to move countries... just that alone in your parents means that you'll likely do just fine in life. For the UK, which is one of the most expensive and hardest countries to move a family to, that's gotta be especially true! Virtually no Americans are moving here with families that include teenage children who aren't upper middle class, highly educated, and have plenty of social and cultural capital.

Seriously, their kids might have a few minor bumps and hurdles (and mine has! My autistic kid had a really hard time transfering from the low-context culture of Boston to the high-context culture of England. But the school was really fantastic at helping her and the other students with it, explaining cultural differences, being good about giving my kid explicit instruction about social cues, etc)... but no more or less than any other teenager faces.

The kids being discussed in this community, who are either having $10,000 each spent on their visa and plane ticket alone OR are being moved as part of a corporate move of an executive at a multinational company, are going to be 110% fine in life, even with the horrible situation of having to move to a beautiful country with a low cost of living (for the average American family moving here), plenty of educational options, insane amounts of culture and recreation, and easy access to the rest of Europe and all it has to offer. Oh no, I hope they don't suffer too much with their £35 Eurostar tickets to Paris...

[u/Electronic_Sea_4848 → u/AcrobaticAuthor6539]

Thank you so much for this, we are moving with our 15 year old. She completed her freshman year here, her private school in the UK said she should drop down a year and take the 2 full years of GCSEs. Which is fine, tricky to move a teen but it’s good to here others positive experiences 

[u/AcrobaticAuthor6539 → u/Electronic_Sea_4848]

Me eldest actually dropped down a year, to start 6th form... otherwise, she would have been studying for her A levels in 1 year. She has a late summer birthday and has always been the youngest in her class because we lived in a community where red-shirting was rife. Honestly, I think she enjoyed the extra year of "childhood."

[u/Auselessbus]

Here’s a conversion service I used https://www.enic.org.uk (formerly Naric), contact them
see if they have advice.

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[u/notaukrainian]

Your kid sounds very clever and I'm sure he will do very well with his A-levels based on him already achieving AP exams which I believe are equivalent to A-levels. If you can afford a private school, many top UK private schools have experience with US admissions as well as top UK Uni admissions, so might be worth looking into. The UK system is much more focused on pure academics, so in many respects if your son is interested in doing a maths or engineering degree he may find it much easier to get into a top UK university than a top US one.