Moving with a High Schooler-Concerned about her future

We are looking at a move to the UK sometime this summer. One of our biggest decisions has to do with schools. My daughters are in 9th grade and 7th grade right now. My husband's job would be located in the Leamington Spa area.  My concern is that I do not understand how the British schools work. I am worried that my 9th grader who is currently in a college prep type high school will be adversely affected by changing systems. I am most concerned about her ability to apply to colleges back in the states as we will probably only be here for a couple of years. I have searched for American schools but they only seem to be located near London and are very expensive. We can afford private school tuition but probably not that much. Any advice you can give me to help me understand how the schooling works or what I should consider before settling on a place to live?

Don't know anything about schools in the Leamington area.  Most people concerned about moving their kids back to US or applying for colleges there would go for the American dependents schools.  But they seem to be all in the London area and, as you say, pretty pricey.  Schools vary a lot from area to area.  Most start off with primary level at age 4 ("rising 5's") but then there all sorts of variations on the age level to move on to middle schools and high school.  Sometimes there are tertiary or 6th form colleges as well.  And there are church schools (chiefly Church of England and Roman Catholic) as well as state (public) schools.
I can tell you that my son made the move in the opposite direction at the age of your oldest.  He had attended primary and middle schools plus 2 years of high school (they started at age 11 in our city)  He was very apprehensive about the move of course but soon made some very good friends and got involved in sports, which was something not as heavily supported as an extracurricular activity in most UK schools.
The school day is longer in the UK as is the year.  Each school within a town or city is fairly independent, so if you have children at two different levels of school you might have one given a day off school but not the other.  Some schools are strict about uniforms and others only require certain colors or styles.  You will need to carefully check out the "league tables" for schools in that area particularly for the upper level schools. See The Good Schools Guide www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/

I have two kids, both high school age.  We moved when they were 13 and 11. 

IMHO and only from My Own Experience with my kids, academically, your 9th grader is coming at an opportune time.  If she is a good student, she'll really benefit from GCSE's (equivalent to 10 and 11th grades in ages).  The curriculum is wwaaaaay better than anything my kids would have had in the US or Canada and they even studied American history.  Gives a totally different spin after learning it in American elementary school! 

Also, with GCSE's and SAT's in some universities, that is enough for college entrance. 

As for A levels... that is a totally different ball of wax and we still haven't figured it out but I know my DD can get University credit for them if she decides to go to a Canadian University (we're Canadian originally).

Socially....  depending on how open your kids are, they might be just fine.  Mine were.  There is a certain novelty about having an accent.  It has served my DS well as he entered a totally new high school separate from his friends. 

Wow...been there, done that. My teens were a senior and a sophomore (10th and 12th grade) when we moved. It was a complete nightmare.
My senior daughter never got to finish school. Because she came over in November we could not get her into any course until September of the next year. She stayed home and watched her baby sister while I worked and had the odd babysitting job. Although she was the most excited about the move, she now often regrets it.

My son was a bit better...but not what he had in the US. In CA, he was in all honours courses, he was even to be the 1st 10th grader to take 2 AP courses in his school's history. When he came here, we had ALOT of trouble getting him into any school. he reason...he was considered Year 11 and would have stood for his GCSEs that spring. No school wanted to take the risk of lowering their averages...even though I now know he could have easily blown them away. In the end, the Catholic boys school...which is actually the best in the area...agreed to accept him...into Year 10, which makes him a year behind his peers now. And it gets worse...even though he was in the top track, the work was so far behind what he was doing in the US that he has gotten used to coasting. He spends more times with friends than thinking of his future and studying. I have written several other posts on here about my disappointment with the way that the system treats the bright students.

My suggestions...move as soon as your girls are out of school in the US. That will give you 4 to 6 weeks in the UK to try and locate the right school. Over here school does not get out until mid July. If you wait later then you could find yourself unable to find them a placement before school starts in the fall.

2nd...things are way different over here. In the US, when you move into a new district they MUST find a place for your child. Over here, it is all on you to find your child a school. That means you may have to phone around, travel long distances...or like us wait over a month with your child not attending any school. And complaining only makes things worse.

Consider other options...perhaps a good privae school or even home schooling.

Things is that if you stay 2 years then your 9th grader will have finished 2ndary school and gotten her GCSEs...which may mean absolutely nothing when you go back to the US. Yet she may well be very behind especially in Maths. My son got an A* in that subject and never even covered any of the advanced geometry or pre-calculus that he had been doing in the 9th grade in the US.

I don't want to be all negative...they will have the chance to see a different world view...and perhaps travel around Europe...that might be worth it.

If you can afford it I would highly recommend sending the girls to a private school.  Class sizes are much smaller, bad behavior is NOT tolerated and these schools offers lots of extra curricular activities and sports.  The grade numbering is different here so your daughter who is currently in 9th grade would be considered Year 10 here.  At Year 10 here the children start a 2 year course called their GCSE's, this is equivalent to a high school diploma and is recognised by many American universities as such.  As she would be starting school in the second year of this course she may be at a disadvantage but it is not impossible.  I actually have a friend who has just moved here from CA with a daughter the same age and I believe she is getting along fine.  You would need to really talk to the schools and see what they say.  Your younger daughter will be arriving just in time to start senior school, if she is at a private school, the public/state schools start at Year 7.

At Year 12 those children who are academically inclined and who want to go on to university, start what they call A levels here.l  They usually choose 4 subjects that they study are great depth.  They have an exam at the end of the first year and then for the second year they drop one of those subjects and continue to study for another final year.  These A levels are usually considered by US universities as equivalent to university level classes and many will give credit for these classes, depending upon the end grade.  It will usually count as equal to one years worth of university credit.
My boys are currently Year 11 and year 12 and have always been at a British school so I can't compare the educational systems first hand but I do know that from the little bit of research I have done about sending my oldest to university in the States the British education is well thought of.
To check out the local schools in the Lemington Spa area you might want to go to www.upmystreet.co.uk   Also if you want a list of the private schools in the area we used a company called Gabbitas.  They provided us with a list of schools in the area we were moving to.  This service 7 years ago was free of charge but don't know if that has changed. 

I will talk to my friend with the daughter that has just moved and ask her what she thinks and will let you know

Thank you for your responses so far. We can definitely afford a normal private school tuition. As much as I would like to do the American Schools the location and price of those make it not much of an option. What will a private school do for us that the regular ones don't?  My girls currently attend Catholic schools and have done so their whole life.

Thank you for your responses so far. We can definitely afford a normal private school tuition. As much as I would like to do the American Schools the location and price of those make it not much of an option. What will a private school do for us that the regular ones don't?  My girls currently attend Catholic schools and have done so their whole life.

Just doing a quick search on the tuition fees for the American schools vs. the tuition fees for private schools in/near Leamington Spa, they actually seem fairly similar. For private education (whether American Schools or UK schools), you're looking at approximately £10,000 per child per year (for UK schools, it's about £3,000 per term - three terms per school year, so that's at least £9,000 in total per year and the American Schools charge between £8,000 and £15,000 per year).

I am British and was educated at a state school here in the UK (free 'public' school in US terms) - I got better grades than my friends who attended private school and a great education - I applied to Oxford University (although unfortunately was not offered a place) and went on to get an undergraduate masters degree from a good UK university (ranked in the top 20 now I believe), and then a postgraduate research masters degree from one of the top universities in the country. Earlier this year, I started a PhD programme in the US (although was not happy there and moved home in the end).

Personally, I don't feel that private schools are necessarily better than state schools. If you can find a good state school, then your kids should get as good an education as a private school would give. The main reason that private schools get such good results is because they only enter pupils into exams that they know will get an A or a B grade thereby making it look like all their pupils are amazingly intelligent! The national school curriculum is the same all over, so all schools should be teaching the same material.

I'd say the main benefit of private school would be smaller classes and possibly better behaved kids (although I know several ex-private school pupils who are incredibly snobby and stuck-up!).

I don't have highschool age kids....but I went to George Washington Univ in the US and they have a really high proportion of international/returning ex-pat students.  Most of the students who went to school outside of the US, either went to the American schools abroad or went to a school with an International Baccalaureate curriculum.  I got the impression at the time, that the IB curriculum followed pretty closely to the US system and easily transferrable for US University entry requirements.

I don't know where leamington spa is, but there is a school finder on this link.  I would assume most if not all of schools would be private.

http://www.ibo.org/

The main reason that private schools get such good results is because they only enter pupils into exams that they know will get an A or a B grade thereby making it look like all their pupils are amazingly intelligent! The national school curriculum is the same all over, so all schools should be teaching the same material.

I have to agree with this completely. If they select the students then of course they will have the highest results!

You can check out league tables here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/league_tables/default.stm All schools should be listed, public and private.

We have been mostly pleased with the education standards here. DS had to do a lot of work to catch up to kids his age, and we have experienced three different local authorities, each with it's own way of dealing with new students. 

I suggest that you check out schools on-line and then call up the schools you like best and ask to speak to the head teacher and ask any questions you have. I have found that heads here are really accessible and happy to answer questions. When we looked at secondary schools we even had a tour of a really great school by it's head, and it was gratifying to see how enthusiastic he was.

If you want to send your children to a Catholic State school, you need to start making enquiries now.  Most church schools become oversubscribed, and in order to get your daughter a school for September you would need to jump through some hoops.

Do a google search for the RC schools in the area, then look at their admissions procedure.  Most will demand an address in the catchment area plus a recommendation from the local priest.  As you are moving in from out of the area, then you will probably have to get a letter not only from your local school but from your local parish priest to confirm that you are regular attenders.  You will be expected to attend the local church once you arrive, in order to guarantee your daughter a place in the school.

With regard to the benefits of state v private school, I am not sure which would be better as every child is different.  But don't take the place in the league tables as the bee-all and end-all of everything - as has been said, many public (and grammar!) schools 'fix' this.  Read the Ofsted report, and talk to the head, and your children, before making a decision.

Vicky

Personally, I don't feel that private schools are necessarily better than state schools. If you can find a good state school, then your kids should get as good an education as a private school would give. The main reason that private schools get such good results is because they only enter pupils into exams that they know will get an A or a B grade thereby making it look like all their pupils are amazingly intelligent! The national school curriculum is the same all over, so all schools should be teaching the same material.

I'd say the main benefit of private school would be smaller classes and possibly better behaved kids (although I know several ex-private school pupils who are incredibly snobby and stuck-up!).

The operative word being IF.  There is little to no guarantee that she will be able to get her children into a GOOD STATE SCHOOL.  With high school aged children why would she want to risk their education on a big fat IF because the other side of that is having them attend a horrible state school of which I am sure there are many.

Yes private schools are selective but they don't ONLY enter A and B students for exams as there are plenty of children that get C's or below.  Yes the school curriculum is the same so theoretically all of the children should be learning the same things but if your children are in a school with unruly children it must be very difficult for the teachers to actually teach.  Private schools are not bogged down with all of the state bureaucracy and are actually able to take action against unruly children.  

As far as snobby and stuck-up I am sure that you can find plenty of that in State schools as well.

 

Like I said, my son went to a RC school...the best in our area. And he would have fallen SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO far behind if he had to return to the US. When we had the hiccup with our visas he was very very worried he might have to return to his father. Mind you...I think that for the average student in the US and the UK there probably aren't huge differences.

But if I read the OP correctly and her daughter is considered GT (Gifted and Talented), then the UK system is a huge step down. Your daughter will not be able to return to US AP courses...no way. On the other hand, the variety and world/global view here when dealing with subjects such as history & religion is nice.

If you plan to return to the US, I would highly recommend that you closely monitor your children's progress and compare it to what they would be doing in the US. Use correspondence courses to keep them up up to date. Travel to give them an education they will never forget.

Like
But if I read the OP correctly and her daughter is considered GT (Gifted and Talented), then the UK system is a huge step down. Your daughter will not be able to return to US AP courses...no way.

I'm not so sure that it is all that doom and gloom.  A level classes here are considered for college credit in the US so must be  equivalent to US AP courses.  If I compare what my 16 year old son is doing here with what his 16 year old cousin is doing in the States, he is way ahead, so the comparison isn't always apples to apples.

Again another reason for private education as they tend to push the children to their full potential and beyond

Like I said...differences are small for average kids. But the UK has nothing even vaguely similar to the US AP system. In the end, my bright son learned to do nothing but coast. Our high school in America was in a poverty striken, gang invested, inner city area. But for the two to three dozen really bright GT kids even they had a powerful selection of AP courses that demanded their best work and rewarded them for giving it. Those kids had as good a shot at any ivy league university as the ones across town at the posh school. As a mother I seriously miss that...and if the UK offered something similar then Oxford and Cambridge would not be having such difficulty finding well qualified students from the working class and minority communities.

Like I said...differences are small for average kids. But the UK has nothing even vaguely similar to the US AP system. In the end, my bright son learned to do nothing but coast. Our high school in America was in a poverty striken, gang invested, inner city area. But for the two to three dozen really bright GT kids even they had a powerful selection of AP courses that demanded their best work and rewarded them for giving it. Those kids had as good a shot at any ivy league university as the ones across town at the posh school. As a mother I seriously miss that...and if the UK offered something similar then Oxford and Cambridge would not be having such difficulty finding well qualified students from the working class and minority communities.

Ok, I just have to say, it's not like this everywhere in the US. My small-town high school wanted nothing to do with gifted students, offered no AP classes, and actively discouraged academic ambitions.

I could have learned to coast, but I didn't--I worked my butt off and ended up with a Ph.D. from a Research I university that's one of the best in my field, and I've held postdoc positions at two Russell Group unis in the UK.

Your mileage may vary.