My daughter Mel(15) asks"Dad, if we go to Oz after I sit my GCSE's, do I do another year in school over there, doing their exams?

Perhaps a better question would be, how much weight do GCSE's carry in the Oz job market?

Has anyone had this problem before?

My son went straight onto a Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) course in Melbourne - A level equivalent - after his GCSE year in uk, without any problems, they didn't even ask to see his certificates! He's not found the transition from uk to Australian teaching a problem either.

HI CHris and Mandy
There is a board here (details probably in Schools FAQ, or links???) that will convert GCSE results to year 11 results so you then just need to do year 12 for Uni entry level.

There is only one round of exams here, the SACE (SA cert of ed) done during years 11 and 12. In many ways, if you can get out here soon enough, your daughter would be best doing both years out here as it is reported to be VERY tough to jump straight into the different system here at year 12.

I don't know where GCSE's will get you for college or work, but for uni entry your daughter would need to do at least one more year here and it might be advisable to do 2.

Good luck!

Hi , Have a look here . You should find the answers you need .

http://www.ssabsa.sa.edu.au/


If you came and your daughter was 15/16 she could still sit years 11 and 12 and NOT be behind age wise . My daughter is the youngest in her year 11 and was 16 last week . Usually you will find that the Aus kids are a year older than their Brit equivalents (does that make sense ?)Basically they are on average 16 in year 11 and 17 turning 18 in year 12 .

Good Luck
Julie x

There is no equivalent to GCSE's here, so if kids leave school before year 12, they are regarded as having no qualification at all. Mel will probably be in year 11 until the end of next year (I'm assuming she's just started year 11). That is the first year of the 2 senior years of high school here. After that there is only one year left, namely year 12.

The GCSE's carry no weight whatsoever in the job market here, so I'm told.

For what it is worth I would encourage her to do yr 11 and 12 to get her SACE.
My son did this and he got pretty good GCSEs but he thinks he has learnt far more here than he did in the UK and he has also found a friend group, something I think is easier to do at school compared to at work
Sarah

Hi

We have just arrived with our 16 year old, we waited in the uk until he had finished his GCSE'S so he could finish school and have english qualifications just in case he wants to go back to the uk at any time.

He could have gone into the last part of year 11 here and had his GCSE'S transfered into his year 11 SACE score but we decided that he should go into year 10 for the last part of the year. This will give him 2 full years to study his SACE (the same 2 years it would take him to do his a levels).

He was reluctant at first to go back into year 10 but he is only a few months older that the rest of the children and it has worked out very well, he has a term and a half to settle into school and make new friends before the start of his SACE years.

We wish we had not bothered with his GCSE'S in the uk and come out to Adelaide and put him into school here as he has settled in so well and although it was tough for him going back into year10 it has been for the best.

Hope this all helps
Tortor

It as been the opposite for us.....sometimes i wish we had waited for Hannah to do her GCSE's....she was doing Ok at school and would have got some qualifications..


Instead, we decided to move before...arrived just in time for her to do the 2 year SACE course....

Unfortunately ....she left school 3/4 of the way through Yr 11.....found school here a real struggle. It wasn't for trying....she tried 2 high schools and just didn't settle.So she has left school with no qualifications...

She now works part-time and is hoping to got to TAFE full-time in February to study hairdressing & beauty.

lorraine

Gcses dont appear to be worth much in the workforce(correct me if im wrong).but they can go for yr 11 marks.
The only advantage I see of having your gcses is,that if things didnt work out ,your kid has got themm if you went back to UK.

I would just like to point out<in my opinion,that when you get to aussie schooling later on (yr 11,12),english education is not in front!. It maybe when there younger,but somewhere in between the younger and older years,it catches up .

Thank you all for your great replies. Melly has told me she would go tomorrow like the rest of us!

We had thought of going after her GCSE's but that might now change.

thanks again :D

Getting GCSE results into Year 11 SA results is s**t.

It shouldn't happen.

Year 11s in SA are doing work that is at AS level standard, not GCSE standard. So if you have your GCSE grades converted straight after you have done them and skip year 11 in SA and go into year 12, you have missed out a year of background info.

IE - ITS THE SAME AS GOING FROM GCSE TO A LEVEL WITHOUT DOING THE AS LEVEL FIRST.

[QUOTE]Getting GCSE results into Year 11 SA results is s**t.

Are you saying that someone who has just completed their gcses would be better starting year 11 in Jan 07 so they do the two year SACE?

Denise

Yes Denise, it's often been acknowledged on here that just doing year 12, while possible, is extremely hard.

The whole style of schooling here is different, instead of covering just 3 subjects to A level the SACE covers a broad spectrum in the same way that GCSE's do.

Yeah, sorry I should have said.

I would definately do the 2 year SACE. Especially if you havent completed AS levels.

I completed half of my AS levels before coming here. So glad I went into year 11, otherwise I would totally be screwed.

Hi everyone

Read your posts with interest. My son Adam will be doing his GCSE's next year and will be 16 in July being one of the younger ones in his year. We are hoping to come out around September/October 07. Are you saying that rather than him going into year 11 and having 2/3 months there before commencing into year 12 he would be better to go back to year 10, starting year 11 in the January? He would then be 18 and a half when completing 2 years rather than 17 and a half, would this be around the same age as the other students leave? Also do they not do exams at the end of year 10 like our GCSE equivilant? :doh: :doh: Many thanks for any future replies :yeehah: :yeehah: Gina

Yes Blackcat, that's the suggestion. And no, no year 10 exams, only the one set of exams - or rather modules leading to the SACE, during years 11 and 12, largely continual assessment and any project handed in late gets zero marks ;)

IN a fair few subjects, year 11 modules have to be studied in order to take the year 12 module in the same subject so not having the basic background at the right level could be a big disadvantage as Limski says.

Definately a good idea to go into year 10 then do the full 2 years of SACE. Especially as it is only 2 months.

I will be 18 and a half when I leave school but that doesnt matter. I am the oldest in my year (by like 3 weeks) as the school ageing here runs from July to June (or something like that). They are a lot more mature over here so me being 17 and most of them being 16 doesnt really matter to me.

It doesnt matter how old you are when you leave, there isnt any hatred towards those who repeat or who are older. Year 12's just finished at my school today and the oldest there will be 19 in 42 days.

There are no exams in year 10.
There are 2 sets in year 11 at the end of the first semester and the end of the second semester with tests and assignments in between that count towards your SACE too.
Year 12 consists of just the big test at the end of the year, with assignemnts and tests throughout the year.

Liamm

Hi Liam :D

Thanks for your reply, you have been really helpful :dance: :dance: I understand what you are saying and feel better now! Where do you live and which school do you go to over there? We are hoping that Adam will go to Blackwood High if we can get a house in that area. Sounds like you have settled in really well. Anyway take care and thanks again :bouncy: :bouncy:

Can I have some help too please!! Our 17 year old AS level results were to put it mildly not very good last year, so she has decided to do the whole year again, Which is good as she hasn't given up.

On the other hand, this puts a bit of a spanner in the works as the orignal plan was to head out to Adelaide May 07 when she had completed her A levels, so she could take a year out. Now we'll be leaving the UK with her only completing her education to AS level. By that time she will have turned 18. Would she be considered too old to join year 12 or do you think TAFE would be her best course. She has already said that she doesn't want to go to uni. Our SIr Visa time starts in December so don't want to hang on another year and we both agree staying in the UK on her own is an option.

:help: :help: :help:

karen

Hi Karen

My gut response is that it's always better to have your SACE than not... kids who drop out of school before they get it have limited options. Having said that, I am not familiar with what TAFE has to offer.

As you are on a temp visa, schooling is available for your kids but further ed is going to be seriously expensive as you will have to pay for courses as an 'overseas student'. Also many courses are not available to overseas students. Definitely something anyone with older kids nearing the end of school, on an SIR visa, should be bearing in mind.

If I were you I would contact some TAFE's now and find out what is available, and what it will cost you.

Yes....Tafe will cost....probably more on a temp visa.

We are on a permanent visa and if hannah gets accepted for her course...it will cost us between $1000 - $2000... :doh:

I agree...its much better if the kids finish school rather than drop out....but depending on what your child wants to do...sometimes its better to just get on with your training for that trade.

For the hairdressing & beauty course, they only need to have finished year 10..plus some other things....which hannah has done..

Plus....sometimes it just doesn't always work out how it should...the big plan was for hannah to complete her SACE 2 year course....but it just wasn't to be.

Some kids make the transistion from UK to Aussie schools without any problems...others find it really hard especially at this age....Hannah was one of them...

lorraine

Hi Karen,

I'm not sure whether there is a maximum age that you have to leave school by. Your best bet about that is to ring up SSABSA probably.

Here is the link :)

SSABSA

Liammm

This is one area,where ,ok , youve gained opinions from this site (and they are just personal experience and opinion ),but you need to get on the phone and check with ssabsa and the schools themselves. In our experience,on the phone ,before we came ,they were in the main very helpful.

Saying that,because of the general consensus that they believe the Uk to be "advanced" in educational terms, they tend to say that gcses can be ratified at yr 11 stage,allowing someone to go straight to yr 12.


Im sure some people have done this, and some not.For us..............we, and Liam are Glad we did what we did, and he went back a few months into yr 11.
For others ,it may be different.

Everybody is different.come from different schools etc.

Cheers Liam! I will look at this and see if we can get to visit them when we come over in December. I think what I'd like to know is if AsS levels can be converted.

Will keep you posted.

Karen

Were hoping to come over in June/July/August 07, oldest son will have just turned 16 and finished his GCSE's, were not too sure where he will fit into school wise, year 10/11 etc but hes quite happy to stay in school for another 2 years in Oz, as he wants to go to Uni, but mainly as he knows its his best chance of making friends which will help him in the settling process.

Daughter will be just finishing year 9 then and isnt too happy about going 'back' into year 8, but not unhappy about not starting GCSE's... her birthdays in Sept so shes one of the oldest in her year here...