# Moving to UK with a teenager



## johnf61 (Dec 6, 2008)

Hi - I am considering a move to the UK in the next several months. Specifically we would be moving to the Portsmouth/Havant area for a temporary assignment of 2 - 3 years. My question concerns my daughter who is 14 and in the 9th grade here in the US. Does anyone know how she would be placed in the British schools? What are our options as parents in this area?

Thanks for any insight.

John


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

johnf61 said:


> Hi - I am considering a move to the UK in the next several months. Specifically we would be moving to the Portsmouth/Havant area for a temporary assignment of 2 - 3 years. My question concerns my daughter who is 14 and in the 9th grade here in the US. Does anyone know how she would be placed in the British schools? What are our options as parents in this area?
> 
> Thanks for any insight.
> 
> John


I dont know how it relates to US John, but higher school here is normally from 11 upwards, and they are taking 0 level equivilent iirc at 16, A leval at 17 - So I'm guessing it will be a lot of hard work for her.

The area you are talking of is a lovely area to live in my opinion, my sister lived there for some years and I always enjoyed visiting.

You need to contact the local education authority here: Education and Learning in Hampshire


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## sunspun (Dec 20, 2008)

johnf61 said:


> Hi - I am considering a move to the UK in the next several months. Specifically we would be moving to the Portsmouth/Havant area for a temporary assignment of 2 - 3 years. My question concerns my daughter who is 14 and in the 9th grade here in the US. Does anyone know how she would be placed in the British schools? What are our options as parents in this area?
> 
> Thanks for any insight.
> 
> John


She would be in her 10th year . I ammoving to that area soon as well but currently I am in the north. I have a 12 year old girl who was to start junior high in california or sixth grade. Here she is in year 7. Its been a tough adjustment but she is doing fine. MAKE SURE you have copies of her work, grades, etc so she is placed properly. My daughter was a gifted student in CAlifornia and got placed low because i was ill prepared. I had to do alot of work to get her to the top classes (where she is quite bored and not getting a quality education currently). Her grades are good. SHe is a hard worker.My other girl is 10 and her primary school is very good. She will be attending high school next year, same school as my 12 year old..its age 11-17 for secondary schools. Hope this helps! My husband is a loyal Portsmouth football fan!


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## cheesehead7 (Nov 8, 2008)

sunspun said:


> She would be in her 10th year . I ammoving to that area soon as well but currently I am in the north. I have a 12 year old girl who was to start junior high in california or sixth grade. Here she is in year 7. Its been a tough adjustment but she is doing fine. MAKE SURE you have copies of her work, grades, etc so she is placed properly. My daughter was a gifted student in CAlifornia and got placed low because i was ill prepared. I had to do alot of work to get her to the top classes (where she is quite bored and not getting a quality education currently). Her grades are good. SHe is a hard worker.My other girl is 10 and her primary school is very good. She will be attending high school next year, same school as my 12 year old..its age 11-17 for secondary schools. Hope this helps! My husband is a loyal Portsmouth football fan!


We are moving to the Leamington Spa area in 2009. I have a 14 year old and 12 year old. I have been told that my 14 year old who is in 9th grade in the US will have to go into Year 10 for the fall term. Technically they are going to place her back a year because of the GCSE program. I don't really understand it that well. We will only be there about 2 years and I am really concerned about the transition back to the US and whether or not she can return to finish school in the same grade as her friends.


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## sunspun (Dec 20, 2008)

I have the same concerns. My daughter wants to attend Stanford.I am hoping that in Chichester she will receive a better education. We are still trying to figure out how things work here...but I think she will be fine We had planned on possibly going back when My daughter starts highschool (california) which would be when she is 14. We shall see!


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## ElissaH (Jan 14, 2009)

cheesehead7 said:


> We are moving to the Leamington Spa area in 2009. I have a 14 year old and 12 year old. I have been told that my 14 year old who is in 9th grade in the US will have to go into Year 10 for the fall term. Technically they are going to place her back a year because of the GCSE program. I don't really understand it that well. We will only be there about 2 years and I am really concerned about the transition back to the US and whether or not she can return to finish school in the same grade as her friends.


I have a similar concern. I have two daughters in 7th and 10th grade. They have autumn birthdays, and are a year ahead of where they should be because of previous expatriations. We have been told that British schools are very strict about placing children based on date of birth, but it is important to us that they graduate when they are planning to now. It is especially important for our older daughter, who will most likely finish school in Britain. It would be devastating for her to still be in high school when her friends at home are starting college. Any helpful insights or experiences?


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## GVW (Jan 30, 2009)

Hi, 

At 14 in UK schools, children start studying for their GCSE exams. They generally study 9-10 subjects for a period of 2 years before taking exams at the age of 16. The fact that you are looking at moving partway through the year may mean your daughter is kept back so as to complete the full 2 years of GCSEs. It would depend very much on what she has previously done in her school in the US and the UK school would probably require her to take an assessment of some sort before placing her.

Hope this helps.




johnf61 said:


> Hi - I am considering a move to the UK in the next several months. Specifically we would be moving to the Portsmouth/Havant area for a temporary assignment of 2 - 3 years. My question concerns my daughter who is 14 and in the 9th grade here in the US. Does anyone know how she would be placed in the British schools? What are our options as parents in this area?
> 
> Thanks for any insight.
> 
> John


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## 123me (Apr 28, 2009)

*education for teenager*



GVW said:


> Hi,
> 
> At 14 in UK schools, children start studying for their GCSE exams. They generally study 9-10 subjects for a period of 2 years before taking exams at the age of 16. The fact that you are looking at moving partway through the year may mean your daughter is kept back so as to complete the full 2 years of GCSEs. It would depend very much on what she has previously done in her school in the US and the UK school would probably require her to take an assessment of some sort before placing her.
> 
> Hope this helps.


This is a great post. I am moving to the UK next June, 2010, with my daughter who will be 15 then and will have finished grade 10 here in Canada. She turns 16 in October. Will she have to do "O" levels, or will she go staright to "A" levels?


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## 123me (Apr 28, 2009)

johnf61 said:


> Hi - I am considering a move to the UK in the next several months. Specifically we would be moving to the Portsmouth/Havant area for a temporary assignment of 2 - 3 years. My question concerns my daughter who is 14 and in the 9th grade here in the US. Does anyone know how she would be placed in the British schools? What are our options as parents in this area?
> 
> Thanks for any insight.
> 
> John


John, I am very interested in your post. Did you get some good information? I am in the same position with my 14 year old daughter.


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## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

123me said:


> This is a great post. I am moving to the UK next June, 2010, with my daughter who will be 15 then and will have finished grade 10 here in Canada. She turns 16 in October. Will she have to do "O" levels, or will she go staright to "A" levels?


O levels don't really exist now. They are now called GCSE. Rather than study various subjects for 2 years then an exam, more of the marks are now made up by the coursework carried out in the 2 years. There is still an exam at the end of the 2 years.

To go on to A level, you need a pass in the subject GCSE first.

You then need sufficient A level passes to enable you to enrol on undergraduate cources.

Hope this helps you


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## 123me (Apr 28, 2009)

Okay, so GCSEs are O levels...okay I understand that. I am more curious about her age and what grade/level she will be in for September 2010. I am thinking she will be in her second year of GCSEs..and if so how difficult will that be having missed the first year.

Her birthday is October 1994, which means in September 2010 she will be 15.


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## tracya (May 2, 2009)

my son came to the UK with me 6 years ago, age 12. he was in pretty dismal schools in swindon and then we moved to birmingham when he was 14.
my big mistake was thinking that schools here work like in the US, in that your local school district has to take them. i went to the school i could see from my house and asked to register him. the secretary looked at me kind of funny and said "there is a waiting list but i'll take your details" i thought that meant waiting a few weeks? after a few months i found out that they would never have a place for him, they were "oversubscribed" by 10 students. 

long story short, i appealed and was offered one school that has the worst truancy rate in the country. all the while i was paying $300/month for an online US high school program. i also learned that "homeschooling" in this country translates to playing video games all day, i was offended to hear professionals implying that my son must be a behavior/truancy problem if he was not in school...they lost the point that we had moved and were new to the area. 

the good news?? i was assigned an education support worker who quickly realized that my son was very bright, gave him an assesment test and referred him to a private GCSE program which the council paid £7000+ a year for him for the two year program. he got back on track and is now completing an international baccalaureate program with plans to return to the US at the end of the month and start a US university program in sept. 

for anyone planning to have their kids return to the states for university i highly recommend an IB program. most admissions offices are somewhat familiar with it and should be able to translate the scores.

good luck to all...this has been a real struggle for me and i am glad it's over!!!


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