Can you take A-levels with 4s or 5s at GCSE?

What about looking at an apprenticeship? More practical and interesting but still get qualifications

link to RGS info here
https://www.rgs.org/choose-geography/apprenticeships

Would the college bus be quicker or take just as long?

How early in year 12 would she turn 17? Any chance she could learn to drive and increase options or you give a lift partway to a bus/train route?

https://www.bca.ac.uk/subjects/

This seems to be near you. They may well run a bus. Next open day 3rd October.
Suggest you look at courses and go to see it together, even if you rule it out.

That's the same Business course we teach. It's divided into modules (schools can choose from a wide variety), some examined and some coursework. I think that plus a second BTEC plus the Geography A-level could work well if she can realistically meet the entry requirements for the A-level. How does she feel about fieldwork?

A level 3 extended BTEC diploma i think is less complicated than 3 subjects as assignments are a bit more structured so more even workload.

I agree BTECs sound a better bet.
My DD1 did T&T at level 3, and DD2 ended up with a level 2 animal care.

Find your local agricultural college.
Better a slightly longer commute than the wrong course.
Will only be 4 or possibly 3 days per week.

https://www.sparsholt.ac.uk/subject/conservation-countryside-and-the-environment/?f=full-time

Maybe too far, should be something nearer.

If she is up to it, some agricultural colleges offer boarding houses.

A grade C has not been fine for A levels for many years.

We had a student start A level in MFL with a C a GCSE at the school I taught at (this was about 12 years ago) and they had to quite after about a month as it became obvious they were going to struggle too much.

4/5 is pegged at an equivalent level to a C, yes. 7 is pegged at a similar level to an old A.

@HarveyLouis as others say and you agree, I really don't think this is a good idea unless, as PPs note, there is some concrete reason for the grades 4/5 such as very poor teaching or meltdown on exam day. My DD took geog A level with an A at GCSE (last year of letters) and was predicted a B; she had a disaster on one paper and got a C.

Nothing wrong with 4s and 5s at GCSE especially if they were gained by hard work by the student. But they are a better prep for a different kind of course. Is geography a choice bc she expects a better GCSE grade or bc she enjoys it? I would hunt around for possible college courses tbh. Is she interested in management and admin? A role in public services? Construction and the built environment? Land and wildlife management? All offered at my local college.

We would take 4s and 5s. Those kids can often get Cs at A level in our place (secondary comp). 4 isn't really advised, but they can cope of they do a mix of A level and Btec and we often have kids who are resittjng maths or Eng.

Geography is often more accessible than History or Eng Lit, but a combined course or Eng lang can often yield decent grades. You can learn some of the essays for Lang.

Does she have any idea what she might like to do afterwards?

It is normal at this age to not have the answer but important to start asking the question. Then you can start to rule out/ in different courses.

A levels tend to lead somewhere rather than a destination of their own. So to need to ask what is the benefit of doing this course? Sometimes the answer is to gain 2 more years in education, to grown up some more and to have longer to think things through (perfectly legitimate reason).

Hehe, maybe stick to Mumsnet then!

You and your chikx might not be ready for it but they do have halls for 16-18 year olds. My friends son was in them..

Who We Are - Capel Manor College https://share.google/Je1ItBhFoTSKs7B2x this might not be commutable from you and not all courses are offered at all centres, but just in case it's worth knowing about.

Have you tried making a long list of potential courses and asking ChatGPT to suggest options for you? It's not perfect - it "admitted" to me the other week it had forgotten about Thameslink 😂 but it could throw up options you haven't heard of.

@Ithinkhesamerdog I dont think so because the content for science and maths is MUCH harder now than in say 1996 when i did mine. But, its because the foundation level is so much easier that is scarcely harder than SATs.
The Higher maths is harder than probably the 1st year of my maths alevel.

The MFL is similar in that the foundation is so much easier. I did spanish gcse/alevel around 2008 and that was so much easier the H level than now.
I think anyone getting 6s is good (perhaps that is a B/C a 7 is very good though.

The variation across the years is unhelpful as so many old people are like gcses are sooo easy. And perhaps they were 20 years ago but not so much now!

For op though if say the dc got low to 100 on sats the school will only aim to be getting the kid a 4-5 at gcse so it could be they are capable of more. Certainly if now on adhd meds.

i think gcse geography there is potential for a parent to help the kid revise to get more towrds a 6.
Thats why weve gone geo vs history despite me having history gcse. As geo has a lot of short questions which are right or wrong and could see a lot of improvement..
My kid is y9 targeted 4-5 geo but higher 6-7 in a lot of other subjects. With adhd.
Mine though wants probably to do art alevel but only targeted 4 for that.
You can sometimes do alevels over 3 years?

(The link suggests post 16 providers can take EHCP students on fewer than 3 level 3 courses or equivalent).

What if my SEND teenager doesn’t get the grades they need for their chosen course? — Special Needs Jungle https://share.google/VhXGN4xwtqJyRVfgy this is a useful link although it's 10 years old so refers to letter grades for GCSE - I don't think anything legal has changed that would invalidate this advice but it would be worth checking.

I can't comment on EHCP as while I have taught a few students at A-level with EHCP, they've all been academically able. However, I do have students coming on to Economics A-level every year with 5s and some, through interest in the subject, get C or even B. I would have doubts about students whose highest grade is a 5 though and school would steer them to Business BTEC (which is a good course).

I think many schools, like my own, would like to offer more vocational options, but we struggle to staff them (it's easier to staff e.g. Geography A-level because you've got to staff Geography in years 7-11), we can't feasibly get enough work experience hours to offer the T levels and the government keeps threatening to do away with BTECs!

We've managed to widen our options by teaming up with a partner school, so students go off site for Health and Social Care and Sports Science BTECs.

I was mentoring a student this year who took two BTECs and an A-level and while she found the A-level very hard, she had at least finished the BTECs by the time of the A-level exams.

Something to be aware of is that schools and colleges generally require 3 level 3 courses or equivalent to be taken, although the EHCP may change that.

Yeah- I can see the commutes are tricky for you :(
Remember they're very rarely in every day on a college course- it's not like school hours.
Also, it might be worth considering moving straight to an apprenticeship?
Best thing would be to visit your local college and see what they can advise. Good luck and hope you find something!

Farnborough tech? https://www.farn-ct.ac.uk/courses/ (my son is going here in Septfor an access to higher education course after having to be out of education for 3 years)

BCA - looks like it has bus routes everywhere! https://www.bca.ac.uk/