Year 12 - Wants to drop 2 A levels & study only one A Level at college

Physics is a tricky one to even try to take out of class because of the practical element.

Be careful about how you phrase it - it sounds like you are trying to negotiate (very heavily) reduced attendance in lessons in 2 of her subjects, not dropping them at all. And you know that MH reasons are a valid reason for lower attendance. Unfortunately the fact she does so much else outside college rather weighs against her - isn't college her "main job" in a sense, and if she is not coping then within reason she should be looking to reduce demands on her throughout the week, not just stopping lessons. I totally understand it is not that simple and the outside stuff can be what makes college possible, but there may need to be a bit of give and take there.

Go through her timetable and look for easy wins. Eg if she has a light day can she skip that day entirely? If she has a particularly tricky day could she take a break from activities the evening before or after so she has more resources, or have a late finish/early start? Could you drop her or collect her once or twice a week to cut down on mental load of travel for her?

Another compromise might be dropping to 2 A levels and sourcing the 3rd separately, or doing it afterwards. Anecdotally I think colleges do allow this when it keeps kids in college. DD's friend who did this dropped a subject he was finding hard in Y12, and is now in Y13 doing Applied Science Y1 and Y2 simultaneously alongside Y2 of his other two. Absolutely acing it. The adjustment to college is hard but they grow up a lot. You might get further with college if she can be open to other ideas, rather than fixing on her proposed solution - especially given she hasn't tried it yet! If they set a lot of pre-work she will have a lot of the material anyway and you could try to negotiate her missing some lessons as long as she does the pre-work and does ok in assessments.

Make sure her MH is as adequately supported as you can. Hard with the high bar for CAMHS I know.

We have also been looking at school sixth forms rather than colleges, just because a smaller environment should be less overwhelming. She will probably be highly resistant to the idea of restarting Y12 elsewhere, or with different A level choices, but it is a more sensible option and less catastrophic than it will seem to her. Everyone gets 3 years funded for a reason - they are 16-19 colleges not 16-18, loads of YP will take a year off before uni anyway etc.

Lots of students have poor attendance due to MH difficulties. Would school be supportive with this- if she were to continue with the subjects but not attend 100% of the time.

To be honest I see school’s point of view.

I think she probably would (I was told that repeatedly about my AuDHD 12 year old and she has one) but time is against you so definitely good to talk practically at this stage.

Good luck with the Physics teacher! Sounds like DC is a good student so that will ease things hopefully.

She won't be allowed to skip tutor periods/PHSE. Schools and colleges are required to deliver a certain amount of it.

Much depends on your daughter's personality, OP. Is she a rather rigid thinker? I think the noise/sensory aspects are one thing (another option would be to switch to a smaller sixth form or college, possibly repeating year 12?)

But regarding not liking the teaching style/being in a group, would she accept this is the price one must pay for the free state education?

Tbh if she has subject specialists for Physics and Computer Science, that's fortunate!

If she's planning on university, she'll likely be in large groups there too, unless she's planning to go somewhere collegiate. So developing coping strategies would be good.

But it is on you to explain to her that this is nuclear and not helpful to go straight to an option this extreme. That’s the life skills element. DoE etc are all great, but the next bit is about helping her put what she’s learnt there into resilience in real life - which is not deciding that she’s just not going into college anymore, that she knows better than her teachers and that everyone should work harder to make what she wants possible.

There will be plenty of options that she can take up to make college manageable, it’s about exploring them.

Other than noise cancelling headphones have a think about:

• movement/rest breaks where she can go elsewhere if the college environment is too much (so she can pop out as needed)
• are her subjects delivered more than once? If so, are there timetabling changes that would work? E.g earlier or later lessons so when she gets to college it’s quieter, if there are form classes can she drop those, can things be moved so she has back to back lessons on some days and less time spent in communal areas if they’re tough?
• If they struggle with how something is taught, can they identify what’s hard and then work with that teacher to address it, in a quite specific way?
• are they fully aware of college campus, do they know about all the quite spaces, outdoor spaces, wellbeing spaces and so on / would any of those spaces help
• are there any learning mentors or similar, even peer mentors who could help her navigate things? Peer mentors in similar subjects could be good
• with the travel, does college have a transport bursary that might help with taxis sometimes?
• It’s probably a bit late to get an EHCP, does college offer a learning support plan or something similar? Check their website, both public and the intranet side of things your DC will have access to, and see if there’s any info/templates/requests there. If so, fill them out before your meetings with head of year or whoever.

I'd suggest talking to your dc and explaining that what they want will not be possible due to funding and the lack of EHCP, but suggest you both have a meeting with tutor, and SEN coordinator or other appropriate staff to see what alternatives are possible. There may be an alternative study centre for example - ask what provisions are in place for any students that have ASD - would they be willing to let your dc have the same. They may agree to say one lesson a week, with the rest of the timetabled lessons spent self-studying.

This post nails it. What you’re asking isn’t possible.

Can she work more to identify specifically what her issues are, and then you can work with her and college to address them?

Finding travel too much? Why? Is it too busy, too loud, too complicated? If it’s too busy, is there a different route or can she leave earlier to be on a quieter route? Too loud - has she got good noise cancelling headphones? Too complicated - work on her life skills.

hates the noise? Again, noise cancelling headphones or speaking to senco about a private study space.

And so on. I mean this kindly, but the option you’re proposing is really quite nuclear, and doesn’t help her build the life skills she needs for whatever comes next - uni, apprenticeship or work.

EHCPs don’t cover studying at RQF level 4 or above in any form.

EHCPs stop at university (just adding that in case OP isn't aware). Not sure re higher level apprenticeships (bearing in mind subjects suggest pathways like Engineering).

I want DC2 to have some flexibility without this document.

This is unreasonable. The college can't operate outside the system.

They don’t cover university, but if necessary, EHCPs can last until 25, or 26 in some cases, so even if 3 tribunals were needed to get a good EHCP, it isn’t too late.

Would your child consider a closer college ? Perhaps one which is smaller?

£660 at UpLearn x 2 courses for the Maths and Physics = £1320.

£2,560 at Wolsey College (online) for Computer Science (which is what I assume you mean) (other colleges are available).

Say £300 x 3 for independent exam entries = £900. Probably take a fair bit of shopping around.

= £4,780.

National funding per 6th form student £4,843 (per year).

Not exactly comparable (UpLearn isn't like going to school) but gives an idea of what private cost would be.

Realistically, although not impossible, unlikely an EHCP could be secured in time because of tribunal delays.

The other issue is how one would sort a UCAS reference privately. Tutor?

I think I'd go for what adjustments the school could make, but if DC is doing well but just doesn't enjoy class, they may not see the need.

I don't think anyone thinks teenagers learning in groups of 20 or 30 is the most optimal way, but it's what you get in state as we need economies of scale.

I teach A-level and do let students like this, study independently in class if they're able to be mature about it.

I've only taught 3 out of maybe 700-800 who were.

The college is unlikely to allow what you/DC2 want without an EHCP.

Have you spoken to the SEN department at the college? There may well be a quieter area DC who struggle with the main independent learning area can use.

It's the EHCP document that gives the flexibility though, they need that evidence go back up the adjustments when it goes so far against what is set out in policy, without it they have to stick to the government policy.

So either start the EHCP application asap, or take her out and educate her at home and pay independently

Ok well lots of ppl have explained that she needs to be there full time to be a funded student. Which means not all day every day, but studying a full timetable is three A levels.

I agree tho with a pp - she doesn’t want to drop two A levels does she; she wants to continue to access the expertise of the staff and the college as an exam centre. So are there adjustments that can be made - she still studies her three A levels but yes, is allowed to be elsewhere for some lessons? She would still need to be in the building tho I think.

You need to contact the college and talk to them about reasonable adjustments, not ‘dropping’ subjects. She doesn’t want to drop them, she just wants to stop attending lessons in person, is that right? So you need to work with the college to find alternative study locations, adjustments to the classroom, that sort of thing. They may be able to help especially if there are Sen needs. Maths normally has workshop sessions where students can drop in for help which might be more to her style. There might be a library she can work in, provided she goes to the lesson to mark in for attendance first. I don’t think they would be very happy with just not turning up though, unfortunately travel time is something that we just have to suck up and that doesn’t change (see also, every wfh-to-office thread ever…)

Cross posted with you @Deyjxh

Self study is impotent for A levels anyway so it’s good that enjoys that.

Am I reading it right that you expect the college staff to mark her work and enter her for exams, while getting no funding for her? Not likely to happen sorry.

Yes the college is funded for full time students, ie three A levels. So if she dropped to one they would get no funding.

How do you see it working with her studying from home? If it would be possible, ie wrt fees, coursework etc, why not all three at home?