To think that 4 G.C.S.E's needed to do business studies is ridiculous

How may excuses can you make up to justify his appalling behaviour and terrible results?

What!? That’s not what was implied. Are you normally one to add two and two and get five?

If your son is living in a deprived area this could explain his predicament. It’s not an insult to ask this question.

And it’s not a “slip up”. He was expelled.

He only missed two weeks on classes so it doesn’t explain his results. He either studies and retakes and sorts himself out or he changes his aspirations.

No 4 GCSE’s is not a big ask.

Yeah...y'see, whatever prank these cheeky scamps played might have been let go with just a stern bollocking if it weren't for the fact that they were dozy enough to plaster it on the internet. That was really, really stupid. It sounds like your son was a constantly disruptive pain in the arse who asked for trouble once too often and ended up getting it. He clearly doesn't like this brush with consequence but with a well judged boot up the arse it could be a useful inflection point. However with your talk of summer babies, Minecraft and 'they were just having a laugh' I suspect you'll both carry on thinking it's all the world's fault, and not his.

He deserved to be expelled then.

Oh... he's a switched on techy nerd, an aspiring chef and now a comedy genius .
Ffs op, wake up. He's been a lazy , spoilt bully. He's shafted his GCSE'S , he's bored in the lessons because it's not challenging enough?
No , he lacks discipline and guidance from his parents. Get to work , stop excusing his behaviour and attitude, you are responsible for this shit show.

There's some fibs/misconceptions/misunderstandings here.
Functional skills is not a gcse equivalent. It is lower. As part of his college course he needs to retake gcse English and Maths. Fact. If he does not pass them this summer he will have to retake them again next year. Fact.
If he wastes his time this year, the college may not accept him back next year. Fact. If he goes to another college next year he will still have to retake his gcse English and Maths. Fact.
I bet the courses that he finds boring are his GCSEs.
Your son lives with your husband, who works long hours. Who is supervising him? Who is checking that he is attending college? Who is checking whether he is running amok? Who is monitoring his friendship groups? Who is checking that he is completing his college work? I think we all know the answer.
Your son failed all of his gcses. I think we can agree that he made no attempt to pass them. No revision. No application to his studies in year 10 and 11.
He is only equipped to take level 1 business studies. fact. He needs gcse English and Maths in order to be equipped for Level 2.
Apprenticeships are usually only open to kids who have an aptitude or are pleasant and hardworking. Fact. There's no end of kids lusting for an apprenticeship. Employers can afford to be fussy. Fact. Apprentices cost money, employers aren't going to waste money on some kid with a poor record and generally cba. Fact. Teachers have no end of hard working kids that they are going to recommend before promoting your child. fact.
Best get in touch with the college to discuss all this. I think you are in for an unpleasant surprise.

How on earth can having 4 GCSE’s be a ‘high standard’ as it’s appalling, especially when kids typically do 10-12. And having grades 1-2 is dreadful. He needs to redo a year.

No, young people don't typically do 10-12 GCSEs as standard @ComeSnowoOrSnow
DD took 10 in 2016 before the GCSEs were reformed. I believe it is more common to do 9 or 10 but I am happy to be corrected.

During the last 2 months of term he attended a different school where he took the english and maths functional skills which we were told are gcse equivalent and liked by employers.

No, they aren't the same as grade 4 GCSEs. Employers don't see anything under a grade 4 as a pass.

What I find worrying is how little the OP seems to know about her son's education, and how little engagement she has had with it, even living abroad I would have thought that there would be more interest.

DD is a summer born and I had to nag encourage her to revise for her GCSEs, but she did knuckle down and did very well and has continued to do so at A level and degree level.

Wow.
Can you not see that at the age of 17/18 this is beyond unacceptable? Disrespectful does not even come close.

Your son does not stand a chance unless the three of you grasp the seriousness of this incident.

As for the low level disruption at school (which would have been very disruptive) and the attitude to studies and work - it’s not there for his entertainment, these are things everyone needs to do to get to the point of having options for work, whatever that may be. All work has boring and tedious aspects - they just need to be done.

You seem to be operating in an information vacuum. If your son and father aren’t able to provide the information, you need to step up and contact the college. Travel in person if you can and if not ask for a zoom meeting.

ask for guidance getting your son on an academic path to meet his goals. Be willing to accept that his initial
plan may not be possible, but they may offer a good second option that he could stretch towards.

What are the weaknesses they observe? What changes do they need to see from him? What do they recommend you do at home to support him?

you need to be much more proactive because your window to help him is closing.

OP you come across as the sort of person who thinks the world owes him one, so I suspect he’s got more of your attitude than you realise. He sounds like a brat who needs sitting on and straightening out and you sound like an incredibly passive parent.

You get out what you put in.

When I was at college, 4 GCSEs was the requirement for any level 3 course. I did a vocational course. If he doesn't have/get four GCSEs he can do a level 2 course and do level 3 the following year, it doesn't matter that much.

If your son had been an adult at the time, he could have been charged with a hate crime.

One of our teenage pupils called a teacher "a black b*tch". The only reason that the exclusion was only temporary was that our Scottish LA does not allow permanent exclusions.

ETA If the victim had been another pupil, the perpetrator would have been transferred to an Off-Campus Behaviour Hub. Racial or religious discrimination directed at specific pupils is taken seriously.

Four, so they have lowered it?

You always needed 5 GCSE to go to college when I went.

With 5 Cs and above for 'academic' studies/A-level (including Math & English) and 5 of mixed grades for 'vocational' studies sometime requiring English/Math at a 'C' or sitting the colleges own equivalent test.

10 is the standard number of GCSE sat by a school child so 2 is really under the norm. It's rare if you attend a school to be enrolled for less than 8 unless your on an alternative program or SEN. Usually you HAVE to take 3 minimum because you are required to take English (lang & lit which is 2 awards) and Math, its also standard to be made to take at least 1 award in Science and thats before adding in any 'choices' of classes.

Honestly the 'requirements' exist for a reason. I was on a uni class that I really wasn't really qualified for as it required advanced A-level math skills and I barely have basic GCSE level math skill and it was awful feeling like the dumbest person running full pelt just to be at the bottom. I was the top half of my class in most other classes but that one class I was miles behind everyone and its exhausting trying to keep up and knocks your confidence.

Sometimes 'requirements' aren't just suggestion but really are there because you will struggle hard if you don't have the same basic understanding as everyone else on the course. At higher levels they don't stop and derail everyone to go back to teach the person who doesn't know how to do say radical equations when everyone else knows, they just power on and your expected to learn it yourself out of class and catch up. If you fail you fail.

OP I’m sorry to say that it is quite serious, and this can’t be minimised. It’s on TikTok-your son when applying for decent jobs will be searched by potential employers and this will come back on him regardless of the role he played. He needs to look at the rest of his behaviour and social media presence. He’s also got to really seriously think about his future plans. Speak to careers adviser at college and think about how he can redeem himself. He needs to be doing some volunteer work at the very least and build up his social skills and soft skills. This absolutely will help him in that redemption! He and you cannot just be so flippant about his actions

This was abusive behaviour

So he participated in racial abuse, and you dont understand why he was pxd?
Did he do level 1 or 2 functional skills 2 is gcse equivalent 1 is not. If he had done year 10 and 11 GCSE it would be really unusual for the school not to allow him to sit them, they would have already entered and paid for his papers. We had a pupil escorted to his GCSEs by the police he was still allowed to sit them in a isolated room.
I think you are hugely underestimating how serious this is.
He needs to knuckle down and try his best.

To permanently exclude a pupil is actually quite hard. You have to go through a panel meeting with governors and the school have to prove their case. So it must have been pretty serious.

You aren’t doing him any favours by minimising his behaviour.

I would be talking to the college about what they advise. Sounds like DS needs to knuckle down and do some work, sometimes it is boring!!

Did they stay friends after these boys burst into the prayer room, filmed this kid being humiliated and broadcast it all over the internet? Or did that perhaps kill off the friendship?

And you're STILL excusing it?

I hope for your sake you don't live in an Islamic country although I highly suspect Dubai.

Racism. Yep. That'll get you expelled.

Of someone in prayer?

Bloody hell.

Doesn’t sound like it. You are massively minimising this.

Having read all of the responses, what do you think is his best way forward and how will you handle it?

You said it was all over tiktok

thats not horseplay. Racist bullying & you are playing it down like its nothing

Jeez

Of course it was bullying.