The short answer
You can move between curricula mid-year, and families do it every year. What transfers depends on the phase your child is in and how far through the year you are — the earlier in the year and the earlier in the phase, the less is lost.
Parents apologise when they ask this, as though changing their mind is a failure. It usually is not. A year spent in the wrong programme costs far more than a switch does.
The honest question to ask first
Before you change anything, work out which of these you are actually dealing with, because they need different answers:
- The pace is wrong. Your child understands the work but cannot keep up, or is bored and coasting. This is often a pacing or placement change, not a curriculum change.
- The foundations are missing. Your child cannot do this year’s work because they did not get last year’s. This is a remedial question — see what to do when your child is a year behind.
- The pathway is wrong. Your plans have changed — you are emigrating, or you have decided against an international route. This is the one that genuinely requires a different curriculum.
Only the third is really a curriculum problem. The first two are solved inside the curriculum you already have, and switching will not fix them.
What transfers
Work already completed and assessed does not evaporate. What matters is whether the receiving curriculum sequences the content the same way.
- Between CAPS variants — CAPS, Remedial CAPS and Special Needs CAPS all follow the national curriculum. Moving between them is the smoothest switch there is, because the content is the same; the pacing and the support change.
- CAPS to Cambridge, or back — these sequence topics differently, particularly in mathematics and the sciences. Expect gaps in both directions. In the Foundation and Intermediate Phases this is usually a term’s catching up; from Grade 8 onwards it is materially harder, and in the FET Phase it should be treated as a serious decision rather than an adjustment.
Timing
Three rules of thumb, in order of how much they matter:
- Earlier in the phase beats later. A switch at the start of Grade 4 costs less than the same switch in Grade 6.
- Earlier in the year beats later. Term 1 and the start of Term 2 are the natural points. A switch in Term 4 means the year’s assessment record is split across two programmes.
- Never mid-FET without advice. From Grade 10 the subject choices, the assessment record and the examination entry are all interlocking. Speak to the school before you decide anything.
What it costs
Fees differ between curricula and between grades, and there may be administrative costs in changing. Do not guess at this — ask the office for the actual numbers for your child’s grade and the month you would move, so you are comparing real figures rather than assumptions.
What to do this week
- Write down which of the three problems above you actually have.
- Ask the school for a placement view — where is your child genuinely working, per subject?
- Ask what the switch would cost, and what would have to be repeated.
- Post in the Curriculum forum. Families who have switched in both directions will tell you what the first month was like.
This article explains how moving between curricula works in general. It was written in August 2026 and is reviewed every six months. For the current position — dates, fees, availability and anything specific to your child — see choosing a curriculum, or ask in the forums and a member of the team will confirm.