Yr12 been asked to de-register

[Reminder]

Friend's DS did well at GCSE and started 4 A-levels. Tough ones, Maths and Sciences.

He's the first in the family to have ever done well in education, she left school without taking any exams, so "the system" is a bit of a mystery to her.

Anyway, her DS wants to go to Uni but his first term in sixth form has not been a success. I think mainly because he didn't fully understand the amount of work required, rather than lack of ability. He did badly in the first tests and school have said they don't think he should continue. They have suggested that he is removed from role now (which means he doesn't lose funding for this year?) and starts again in September.

School have said he can continue to go to school and attend classes but won't be officially "on role"

So, lots of questions:

• Is this good advice?
• Are they right about the funding?
• What happens if he continues as is but still has to repeat this year?
• How will he motivate himself when he knows this year doesn't count?
• Won't he be bored (uninspired) next year if he's just repeating classes he's already done?
• Would it be better for him to do something else and go back in Sept? Work? Volunteer?
• Would it be better for him to do A-Levels somewhere else - a new start?
• Is it usual for children to be in school but not on role? School say there are others in the same boat.
• Will he count as in f-t education for child benefit etc?

What advice would you give him/my friend?

Friend knows I'm posting BTW

[MoreBeta]

What kind of school is this?

Is it a very high league table school. Some schools are known to 'manage' their pass rates at A level by weeding out pupils. They do this by either asking them to leave the official role as here or allowing them to carry on to do exams but taking them privately so not appearing in the official results for the school.

Is this happening in this case? Seems to be very early to make this decision though. Should he not be given some study support instead if he is bright but just messed up on workload.

[Reminder]

That's what i think is happening More but what can he do about it and is it necessarily a bad thing if they don't think he can pass?

Its a good school in our area but results nothing outstanding on a national level. ie they look good against the other schools in the immediate vicinity but there are far 'better' schools elsewhere in the county. Ordinary comp

[MoreBeta]

My feeling is this is just far too early to be talking about taking him off the role. If he is struggling with workload in hard subjects he may just have chosen unwisely, it may be he is disorganised, it may be that something is happening in his personal life or maybe he needs a work space making his own at home.

Just effectively putting him in the bin is not a solution I would not be happy with this if he was my son. I would want the school to be proactive and find out why an otherwise bright boy is suddenly not doing as well as expected and to take some action.

I guess his Mum is not confident in demanding that but I think she should not just accept what she is being told. She needs to find out why this is happening at least before making any decision. It is not good enough for the school to be managing its league table position like this and washing their hands of him.

[Floralnomad]

Lots of people struggle with the jump from GCSE to A level , his parents need to go in with him and speak to the head of sixth form about the way forward , perhaps dropping to 3 subjects to lessen the workload .

[Whyjustwhy]

I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable will be along shortly, but I think there have been changes to 6th form funding.
I know that previously students could get 3 years worth of funding for A levels/Btec etc so if they changed their mind (or were struggling) at the end of the first year they could still get funding for the whole of a new 2 year course.

I don't know if this has been affected by the recent changes. But if so, then the school are looking out for the boy by protecting his funding so if he wants to start again in Sept he will still be funded.
I suggest your friend arranges a meeting with the Head of 6th form, perhaps you could offer to go with her?

[Kez100]

My daughter is in year 13 and had a lot of friends who changed courses last summer. A mixture of reasons but generally they were struggling on their year 12 course/did badly in AS levels. However, they all were encouraged to see year 12 through and not give up but make an informed decision over the summer.

So, I am not sure what is going on here. I would go into the sixth form and talk to them about it. At this stage a restart in September would seem sensible but why give up on year 12? Try his best and see what he gets in AS. I know some degrees don't like this but they tend, I thought, to be the majorly academic courses which it sounds unlikely to be on his radar anyway.

[Kez100]

Obviously if it is funding then that makes sense but I thought there were three years of funding available anyway at level 3. I'm surprised the funding hasn't already been paid on this year bearing in mind we are half way through 2013/14!

[titchy]

Agree with kez. They do get three years to do A Levels or equivalent. Re-starting in September may be a sensible suggestion if he is really struggling, but I would suggest rather than jump straight to that, he tries a) dropping one subject and seeing how that helps, or b) dropping two and replacing with an alternative e.g. BTECs.

When you say he did well in his GCSEs, how well? A or A* for Maths and Science? In which case he shouldn't struggle all that much, no more than anyone else in any case and maybe the college can identify why he is struggling so much. Bs or less and it may be that the jump is simply too much. He should certainly carry on though, drop one (or even two) and aim to take some AS this summer.

Then if his AS results have bombed look at alternatives, which might included starting A Levels again, or changing college, or changing course entirely.

[Reminder]

All As at GCSE

He did ask to drop one subject. School said tgeycfelt that wouldn't help, the students rarely use the extra time to study. Although there are students at the school'doing 3 they haven't really had a proper answer about why it's different for him.

Is the school lying re funding then? Ultimately if thus is the school's decision, is there anything that can be done?