International EU student in a UK secondary school

[spanners45]

Hi All,

A bit of a curved ball. I have a friend from Spain who would like to enrol one of her children (aged 15) to study here in England for an academic year and has asked me to help. I have had a look online but it seems rather confusing at first glance so, while I carry on scouting the internet, I wondered if any EDFers have had experience with this or know of someone who has and could point me in the right direction.

Hugely appreciated.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi, I think it would be very difficult to do this with a 15-16 year old as this is year 11, GCSE year. If they are 16 before 31st August it may work for them to do a one year course at a 6th form college, depending on their interests. I don't know anything about the Spanish education system and whether a Spanish 16 year old would have any formal qualifications equivalent to GCSEs. There is Christ the King Aquinas College which is a 6th form college and LESOCO (Lewisham Southwark College) which is a further education establishment in the local area. 6th form colleges tend to be more structured and school like than further education colleges so may suit your friend's child better.

Renata

[landsberger]

What kind of course are they looking for ?

[spanners45]

Thank you all. I think my friend is just keen to have her daughter to live in England and attend an English school in the hope that this will improve her language. Like you, I am concerned about the GCSE exams and the timing of it all as it is so different to the Spanish curriculum.

I will pass all this on. Hugely helpful, thank you.

[Saffron]

Would a private school offering alternative curriculum (Intern'l Bacc, Steiner, etc) have more flexibility? Or offer any financial schemes for exchange students?

[landsberger]

spanners45 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thank you all. I think my friend is just keen to

> have her daughter to live in England and attend an

> English school in the hope that this will improve

> her language. Like you, I am concerned about the

> GCSE exams and the timing of it all as it is so

> different to the Spanish curriculum.

>

> I will pass all this on. Hugely helpful, thank

> you.

It may be worth them coming after 16, to be honest, where I think they would get the best of the education system that is most similar to the Spanish experience. A highly academic atmosphere with a strict uniform policy might seem superficially attractive to someone as some kind of proto-Hogwarts experience, but the first year in a sixth form would perhaps ensure they didn't have such a torrid time of it.