I had tried many times in the past to get my head around the UK state school system for the high school level but it isn’t really until you’re in the thick of it that you begin to have a clear understanding of what your child will go through. It is intense. Much more so than what I remember from my high school years in America.

Even though I did a few AP (Advanced Placement) classes at my high school, I really don’t remember it being as structured as this. It certainly did not feel limiting as we took a very broad range of classes and never really had to choose in the same manner as my children have to do here in England.

As far as I can see (and I’ll update as we go), there are certainly benefits in that children can focus on core subjects that they enjoy and do well in. I think this is a great motivator. It’s also a solid starting point for when they go on to college (which is what I would term as the final two years of high school but here it is college and a completely different system) and have to choose a very narrow line of study. This then would help determine which University they could apply to as most of them specialize in particular and specialized courses. It’s all starting to make sense!

However, there are a few drawbacks (maybe it’s down to the particular school) in that there are only three language options. Italian is not one of them. And they have to choose between History and Geography – they don’t take both unless they choose the one not chosen for the main choice as one of their additional choices. And it does look like they might not get their first choice in the additional choices. We shall see about that. To me, this does seem quite limiting at this stage in their schooling.

My son is excited about computing, food tech and possibly business studies. He’s chosen French for his language and is doing double science. Of course they have to do English Language and Literature, Math, Science and PE (but PE is not examined).

What I am most impressed with is my son’s positive attitude, his recognition of the hard work ahead, his forward planning on how to tackle learning and studying (which is called ‘revising’ here) and his determination to do well.

He is way more prepared and way less scared than I am!

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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.

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What does GSCE and A level even mean? And what is the point of them? We have a friend whose 13 year old daughter studied so hard every day for months just to get a good grade on her GSCE exams. The few days before the exam results came out, she was so stressed she couldn’t do anything apart from be stressed. She’s 13! It made me feel very sorry for her. I have to say, I just don’t get it. Why? What’s the point? High School should be fun, educational of course and cover a broad range of subjects. High school here seems to make kids choose a very narrow pathway with no scope to try different things or have fun or excel in different ways other than getting good exam results. It’s unbelievable to me that kids don’t have to take English and Math during their final two years of high school and that they have to choose what they want to major in (their options) at University before they even get there. That’s crazy. I don’t like it! They are forced to make decisions about their future at such a young age and their education becomes narrower and narrower once they hit 11 and 12 years of age. However, with a son nearly at this stage and going to a British state school, there is not a lot I can do about it.

So what are the other options? International schools and some private and boarding schools in the UK offer the International Baccalaureate curriculum which sounds like a more rounded education. Their mission statement: The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

It sounds great, it sounds like hard work, and from what I’ve heard from parents whose children go to schools that offer IB, the system makes much more sense than the British State school curriculum that seems to be narrowly focused, limiting and exam centered.

In reality, for us, IB isn’t available in any of the State schools here in Worthing where my son is set to go to high school. Not even in any of the private schools here either (although no idea how we would ever afford this even if there was a private school here offering IB). It frustrates me to think he will be going into a school system that I don’t understand and don’t like. My husband of course does not share my frustration and doesn’t understand why I’m so worried.

Does anyone else have any concerns about this? What have you done, if anything? And am I right to even worry in the first place?

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Can anyone explain all this to me in a simple manner so that I can help my son understand the larger picture and what is in store for his future schooling. I would be much obliged! I’m sure other parents who are in my shoes would also be very interested to have a point of reference too so please post here!

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