Advice Needed! Yr10 DD extremely bright and getting bored in school!

[CholeLuna]

Hi :)

My DD is in Yr10 (15yrs-old) and is very bright, she is at the top of her maths, science, german, geography, music ect. She wants to do Engineering or pure maths, hopefully going to Oxbridge. She dose struggle with english as she is dysgraphic - but after she sent the whole summer pre-learning the GCSE module she's now getting an average of a low A, which is incredible for her :)

The problem is everything they give her school is way below her ability, e.g in maths she is currently teaching herself the further maths A level spec, but in school she's just starting the GCSE stuff.
I keep phoning and going into school to talk to teachers, who keep promising to give her more challenging work, but they never do.

The only subject she seems to enjoy in school now is Computing as the teacher gets her to do more advanced work, or help teach the lesson so she can practice explaining it to get a better understanding herself.

We're both stuck on what to do now, she's always joining clubs and reading outside the lesson - but it's getting to the point were school almost seems like a waste of time for her :(
I would homeschool her but I have to work from 9-5, and can't afford a tutor or to send her to private school :(
So, any advice on what to do?
Many thanks :)

[HolidayCriminal]

Most 15yr olds are bored of school.
She's only got 13 months, she'll have to grit teeth & hang in there like the rest have to?
What sort of 6th form do you have lined up for her?
A lot of GCSEs are impossible to do as a home-schooler (or so my home-schooling friends tell me).

[Au79]

Contact Potential Plus. They are very helpful.

But it is very hard to get schools to do either anything, or more than lip service. It sounds like you haven't had her bored in school that much before? Or is it just peaking ATM?

We have barely started thinking about GCSEs and much of the work at school seems entirely exam-driven, with no open-ended work and strictly prescribed answer to be regurgitated. The subjects that my dd is dumping for GCSE no longer matter and she feels are just a lame-duck waste of her time-she had zero choice in any subject in years 7 8 and 9. Who wouldn't find that dull?

Also lots of people will tell you it's her problem at this age. I got told that when my daughter started secondary aged 11 and 5 days. No mention if the fact that if she looked sideways never mind complained, she got a detention or demerit which really upset her. Plus got bullied. Parents are pushed out and marginalised. She feels very isolated by her peers and several teachers don't like her-I didn't believe her at first, but now I do. I put it mainly down to being to bright and unable to always hide it. She's in year 9.

[CholeLuna]

Well, we know we 're going to be moving to Birmingham in about 13/14 months time, so I think we're going to try and get her in to one of the king Edward's schools, which should be a lot better for her :)

And in regards to her getting bored, I know most teens get bored around this time - but I think it's more then that, in school she is being give c/b standard GCSE tasks to do, when at home she is getting A* on practise A level papers and I just wish they would recognise that in some subjects she could be taking her Alevel this year not her GCSE next year :(

[CholeLuna]

Au79,
aw no that sounds pretty rough, it must be horrible for her - it's totally vile how teachers often dislike kids just because there bright and sometimes end-up 'giving them more work to do'. They should be nourishing smart kids, not making them feel like being bright is bad.
Luckily, for us anyway, this hasn't happen for my DD, but that potential plus still looks really good so thanks for the link :)

[Au79]

It sounds really grim for her- what does she think about homeschool? Are GCSEs really impossible in your area? Or online? Maybe get in touch with Local homeschoolers, they will know the ins and outs. If you are going to move anyway maybe she would be better off. Do you think she is ok to leave alone at home?

Sounds like she is motivated enough to work at home, at her own pace, so why waste most of each day at school? If she chooses her own time to do the GCSE work perhaps she would prefer the evenings-it doesn't have to be school hours. What could she do in the free time?

I'd love to know what you find out!

[Au79]

Cross posted but if you call potential pluses they will also know about homeschooling for bright ones at this level.