I've approached the IBO about the transferability of the IB and they have simply shrugged their shoulders, saying that they have no information on transferability. The IB school here says that children transfer in and out of the school all the time without any problem. Help!
Riled in Russia
The transferability of the two year IB Diploma mid-way depends largely on each school's policy. You have first to match up the courses as well as possible, and then it depends to some extent on the content and sequence of teaching in the courses. The IB courses offer a lot of flexibility in terms of content within the requirements (eg which novels one reads in the Language As) and the sequence of teaching of topics (such as in the experimental sciences) and so it means that the receiving school has to look at the syllabus of the sending school and figure out how much catch up/repitition would be required.
The many UK schools now doing the IB may choose to steer away from enrolling pupils half way through (essentially 3/5 of the curriculum must have been covered after the first year because IB exams are in May, so the last term is mostly review and exam taking), because of the difficulty for school and student bringing the student up to speed in such a fast-paced programme, and because the school's results do appear in the League Tables.
It may be that an international school offering boarding would be more flexible and let the student join the second year (say ACS, TASIS, St. Clare's or even Anglo-European which is a state boarding school) provided the courses match up.
One of the newer IB schools, keen to build up their IB numbers, might also consider it, but it would mean contacting each one.
Moving from the American system into the British system is probably one of the trickiest transitions of all, and success very much depends on the age of the student and on his/her ability and willingness to adapt and take on the extra work that will undoubtedly be required. It would be exactly like jumping onto a jogging machine already going at full tilt.
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