Do you have to do science and ict?

[Mrsrobertduvall]

Dd is yr 10 and has amongst other things, severe anxiety. She is doing well in other subjects, not hugely academic, but ok.
Science and ict fill her with horror. She does not understand the work and goes into panic mode. The school are excellent, have provided extra support but it has made no difference. She goes into meltdowns at test time, has run away and self harmed.
Now I couldn't care less if she takes these GCSE's. She is not going to pass them. Why prolong the agony for the next year and a half? (ict is a one year course)
I cannot see the situation getting better...it is destroying our family life as well.

[sue52]

Could she take combined science? It's less intense than taking the 3 separate subjects.

[Mrsrobertduvall]

That's what she's taking....she's ok with the biology, it's the physics and chemistry which is beyond her.

[Colleger]

To avoid anxiety you could tell her that she doesn't need to do the work or answer any of the test questions. Once the pressure to succeed has been removed then she may relax and eventually make some progress.

[startail]

Can she manage geography or history?
Honestly, biology and basic chemistry is less scary than some of that.
Take a trip to your local library and get the librarian to show you the usbourne, DK stuff aimed at Y6-Y7. No maths, no equations just lots of interesting things about how the world works.
Find non fiction books about animals she likes, how castles are built, simple physical geography rivers, earthquakes volcanoes. It doesn't matter. Just ensure it has lots of pictures and a good narrative, the less it feels like a textbook the better.

How the heart and kidneys work, how oil is refined or plastic is made have a logical story to them. If you think of them like that rather than as lots of facts to forget they are much less scary.

As a dyslexic with no short term memory it's French vocab. that gets me running for the hills.

[IndigoBell]

Same answer as to the 'Does my child have to do MFL' thread.

If you're on the SEN register school can make any reasonable accommodations.

ie nothing is compulsory.

[startail]

Yes, but science is a core subject, like English and Maths.
MFL are not. Some schools wanting brownie points for getting pupils through EBAC and those that have MFL as a specialism may say they are a compulsory choice, but in law they aren't.
I would have thought for anyone to opt out of science they would have to be at the very bottom of the ability range and have a statement.

[startail]

I am not belittling the OPs daughters anxiety.
As a student I suffered anxiety induced migraines that felt like I was going to die. I spent years thinking I had something physically wrong with me before I plucked up courage to go to the Dr.

What I am saying is that without referral to the proper psychological services she is going to have a very difficult job.

Also I am biased, I am a scientist and don't feel the OPs daughter should simply give up science and close the door on so much that is wonderful about our world.

[ragged]

Would she be better taking single biology?
I think she should soldier on with the ICT, sorry, but even a C will be well-worth having.

[kritur]

In the 6 years I have been teaching science we have only ever had one student who wasn't entered for the exams. She was very low ability and was never going to get even a G, mainly due to extremely poor literacy, she could barely read. Even with a reader and a scribe she couldn't score because her literacy had stopped her accessing a lot of the curriculum. That said she still turned up to lessons and did the content, she just didn't take any exams. These days she would probably be on a BTEC/OCR nationals and would likely get a pass equivalent.
It would be extremely difficult to 'drop' science as it is compulsory on a national level (rather than being a school requirement if you see what I mean?) ICT isn't compulsory but it isn't particularly difficult and most students should get a C or C equivalent. Could you get a tutor to help build her confidence?

[sue52]

My daughter's school does half an ICT GCSE. Is that an option?

[Mrsrobertduvall]

THanks for replies.
The school won't let her do the half gcse ict.
They don't offer single science.
The chances of her getting a c for ict are a pipedream.
She has got a referral back to a psychiatrist in March so we will have to see how she gets on.
She already has a maths tutor, who is also going to help her with spreadsheets.bschool are giving her one to one science help but it is making no difference.

[ragged]

I imagine that no ICT is better than a