Applying for secondary schools from abroad Post Reply

[monaco]

we are considering an expatriation to China for 3 years. Our daughter is in year 3 so she would spend her year 6 there.

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of whether a pupil abroad can apply from there to secondary schools knowing that it'd be difficult to do visits or interviews being so far away ?

Do schools allow for these kind of situations?

Any advice or info gratefully received.

[Pud1]

It depends whether you're thinking of state schools or independent? For state schools I'm pretty sure you need to be resident here to apply. I would imagine you would be ok for independent schools but I'm sure other people will know more and will post. You could always ring the schools. I'm sure they'd give you the information you need.

[Mrs.AAA]

Monaco,

I'm a teacher in an international school, so from first hand knowledge yes you can and should apply EARLY and from abroad.

Presumably your daughter will attend an international school while you're in China? If so, please read up on all of the int'l schools - carefully. There are so many in China and the best ones fill up very quickly. The HR of whichever multi-national corp should help you with this (again, assuming you're going there through one). Otherwise, get onto the expat forums for the specific city and start reading up on the opinions of the schools. Class sizes should be a HUGE indicator as to quality of school - and ratio between nationals vs foreign students. You will also need to ask about teacher turn-over and again are teachers nationals vs English mother-tongue. Check facilities too.

ALL permanent expats & soon-to-be expats looking for schools need to apply early to get their student into the best schools. There is a MASSIVE gap between the best and the not-best schools. There are few in-betweens, unfortunately when it comes to international schools. You need to choose the schools you'd like your daughter to attend, get the applications, request your daughter's current school to fill out the teacher reference letters, send her transcripts and have it all sent as soon as you're sure you're moving. Some parents in fact do this before their employers have confirmed a transfer 100% because of the competition to get into the best schools. International schools are accustomed to this.

Interviews (if they even do them) will be done via Skype. Again, something international schools rely upon often for hiring staff even.

Good luck and remember to go online and READ up on the best international schools and be scrupulous. Don't just consider the British International Schools - consider the American and IB curriculums too. Some of the best quality ones are based on those two curriculums and are the most competitive when it comes to university placements, etc. If she is of IB quality, definitely consider enrolling her into a school with the IB curriculum as it has some serious merits (I'm biased though because I teach IB History and really believe in the independent learner - not the "must memorise test questions to get a good mark").

I hope this has helped in some manner.

Good Luck and enjoy the adventure! The international schools communities for young people is exemplary when you find the right school. Young people thrive and become world-class citizens ... it's really an amazing environment at their age to experience.

[Mrs.AAA]

Monaco,

I gather I've misread your post. Sorry for the confusion.

I don't think a school in the UK would exclude your daughter's application because she is abroad. There are a few families at my school who applied to both state schools and independent here in the UK from the US because they were uncertain where they wanted to send their children prior to arrival into the UK. The schools (in Surrey) had no issue with the fact that they were at the time still in the US.

Again, if you're working with an MNC, I'd speak with the HR as that's a big part of their job is to help repatriate you too.

Sorry again for the misread...

[monaco]

Our daughter is in an independent school yes and that's the likely route we would go for her secondary years as well.

MrAAA thank you very much for the insights.You are right that with the current technology, it's probably easier to do remote interviews. Not sure about school visits though !

I have no idea if our daughter is of IB quality as she is not even 8 yet. I do like the idea of it (also because I am French). Another question on this: if she goes to an American or IB school in China, can she easily return to the English curriculum / independent schools system when we're back in the UK?

Any other insights or experience for parents or teachers would be very welcome.