Dd crying upstairs - poor predicted grades at A level

If learning support has assessed her as needing extra time in exams, then you need to make sure that course tutors are aware and that this is given in class assessments - extra time needs to be established as a "normal way of working".
Are there any practical support activities within the college that could help e.g. essay writing workshops or similar?
It's a bit difficult to tell if it's the subjects that aren't a great match or the sixth form itself. It may be possible that there may be History topics that she would prefer later in the course so check out what she will be covering later on. Would there by opportunities to swap subjects at the end of Y12 or even swap now. dds sixth form college offers both BTEC level 3 and A level biology for example and students do seem to swap over later in the year.

I have found Carol Dweck's work on Growth Mindset really helpful. If she is saying that she's stupid then it would be worth getting her to look at some of her videos on YouTube.

It may sound silly, but it would be worth encouraging her to do some meditation or mindfulness practice. It is the best way to deal with Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs - I like the acronym ). It might also help with her focus. A lot of young people struggle with focusing because they've grown up with the internet and instant access to distractions. If you can't focus then you struggle to learn.

My girls did the easter revision courses or something similar mentioned above.
Some of my sons' friends moved to state schools for 6th form. It can work out fine for some.
Mine stayed and in fact although A level is a big jump mine have preferred just doing 4 (and in upper 6 3) subjects as they could ditch subjects they did not lie a GCSE like French.
Is it worth your daughter skipping rest of year and returning to a small private school for sixth form and starting A levels again if she isn't doing too well where she is?

She sounds a little like my DD who struggled initially with the step up to A Levels from GCSEs and also moved from small private to large 6th form college. She has slow processing speed and had extra time which made a big difference to her.

What we did was:
Found tutors to do an hour a week with her on her weakest subject.
She also used this website www.khanacademy.org/ which has some excellent self learning help. (DD was doing sciences).
She did a week's Easter Revision Course - both in Year 12 and in Year 13 here:
www.oxfordtutorialcollege.com/easter-revision-courses/about-easter-revision-courses

Not cheap, but very good, and had the benefit as counting as the residential week for her Gold Duke of Edinburgh award.

It worked out fine, she got A*AA and is loving her course at university. It sounds like she needs a little extra focused support to help her gain confidence. Good luck.

My dd2 left 6th form at Christmas in Y12.She worked full time in the coffee shop where she had her Saturday job.She then started in college doing different A levels.She's had offers from all 5 of her chosen universities.She had feed back on her personal statement from two of them who said they recognised she had taken time out and realised what she really wanted to do.

I agree with lots of the other - push to talk to the school and find out more about how she's assessed. If she's only in first year of A-levels, there's time to get a lot in place for her. If they're any good, the school will want to know how she feels about it all and to help. I wouldn't worry about having moved her - her old school sounds pretty grim.

I agree with so many other posters, that a LOT of pupils struggle with the massive jump there currently is between the GCSEs and A-levels.
(I think this is a lot to do with the overhaul of GCSEs that is happening).

She is only 1/4 of her way through the course. Now is the time - as you have asked the school for - to go in and get a really clear picture from all the subject teachers exactly what she is struggling with, and how she might be able to put it right.
I have been overwhelmed at the kindness, support, and amazing amount of time my dd's A-level teacher have given to her (in Yr13) after she struggled in Yr 12. Even if they weren't lovely generous people - which they are - they actually need the grades to be good for their own performance management targets, and the school does for it's league tables etc., so it really is in everyone's interests that your dd does well.
Please reassure her she is not stupid, and indeed is not even unusual in finding the jump incredibly difficult. That's even for dc without any processing difficulties. If that has been established, then the support needs to be there for her.

I got mostly A-Bs at GCSE. ( 2 Cs). At A-level I suddenly struggled and couldn't get my words out sufficiently to do well in some subjects. I got B, C and E (!) at A-level and had to resit the E to get into uni. At uni I really struggled until I went to student services. I was assessed and diagnosed with dyslexia. It made such a difference, not just the extra time in exams but student support to help me learn how to get organised, how to structure essays, how to approach exams (I.e. Read the question 10 times before you answer to make sure you've understood it, do a spider diagram of how you plan to plan to answer the essay at the top of the page so that a. You can refer to it to keep on track and b. If you do run out of time you can still get credit for the plan!). I went from getting D's/failing and resitting to getting Bs!

Seriously, if an issue has been identified, I would persue a formal diagnosis. It could make a big difference to her and boost her confidence. She's obviously not dim if she got good GCSE results but translating your knowledge to paper from A-level onwards takes a different level of skill that doesn't always come instinctively. There's still time to help her turn this around.

I suspect change of school is irrelevant. The step up to A level would be the same regardless. Alpha tutors do good Skype tutoring. We used for Chemistry to maximise chances of A* grade. We used for our second sons Physics too as he was being taught by a maths specialist.

Young people feel under a heavy pressure to get good grades at A level when in reality it is not so important in the scheme of things. She only needs good enough grades to get into uni (if she WANTS to) unless she is aiming for medicine or one of the other high grade requiring subjects. Over the years no employer has ever taken any notice of my A-level grades but needed to know I had a relevant degree or experience.

There are many tracks to a career and they do not all involve A-levels or a degree. If her current route is leaving her feeling "stupid" then she may be in the wrong place and taking the wrong route for her. There is a big jump between some GCSEs and A-levels and it may be she should be looking at an apprenticeship or NVQs or something more vocational.Whatever - it needs to be something that makes her happy and that does not undermine her self-esteem.

She needs to increase her self-confidence and self-esteem more than she needs to acquire bits of paper at the moment. She at least needs to know she is not locked into this route and that she is not trapped. Focusing all the efforts on her educational or other "deficits" does not offer her a route out if that is what she wants. At least knowing it is there might help her to feel less anxious about it all.

I feel sorry for teenagers - they are asked to focus on exams when they have a lot of other areas of themselves that they need to develop and deal with. It is not an easy time.

You could ask the learning support person to speak to her subject teachers and ask them to factor in extra time. It should be perfectly possible to have it for the mocks, that should be part of the mock exam process.

I had a similar problem at A level. Straight a's at gcse, down to c's and d's in as level, back to A's for a levels. I found biology a struggle because I was an essay subject person so I was answering things wrongly for a science subject. I think at this point she's just finding her feet, things will improve as the year goes on

RS and History are subjects that require clearly thought out extended essays- difficult for someone with processing issues. It's a shame that there isn't anything formally acknowledged about her difficulties.

A tutor may be able to help with structuring written work. Has she tried mind mapping? That can help.

Why do you need something in writing regarding the extra time? As long as she gets the extra time that's all that matters isn't it?

An A/B student would typically be looking at C/D grades at this point in the year, with B/C achievable by the end of year 13 with a lot of work.

Get the tutor to give her exam technique and essay structure tuition to start with - that'll help enormously.

Is she y12 or y13?

What were her GCSE grades? Mainly A*/A or A/B or lower?

You need to re-contact learning support re the extra time. Why does she qualify? Did she have it for GCSEs?

Could you get a tutor to explicitly help with essay structuring?

If she is y12 she can 'restart' in September, maybe elsewhere. A number of teens take 3 years over 6th form for various reasons.

I would make sure you get something in writing from Learning Support to make sure she gets all the extra time she is entitled to, It will be helpful for her in terms of planning answers etc if she has the extra time in any mocks/tests so that she gets used to how long she actually has. I know from friends' DCs' experience that teachers don't always remember that certain pupils are allowed extra time, so your DD may have to remind them at the start of the test.

Re a tutor, as others have said, on line tutoring is a possibility. Or, if the problem is that you live so remotely that a tutor won't come to your house, could DD go to the tutor's house in a more central location? Say near her school. Or at the weekend when you could maybe take her.

Please tell her not to panic, she has only done one term so far. It sounds like she needs to learn how to structure an answer to get as many marks for History, this is achievable. Speak to Learning support to see what is going on and if she can have some time with them to discuss strategies. And yes you can get tutored online these days.

I don't have any direct experience of your situation, but just wanted to suggest getting more information about the assessment that was done. There must be a basis for offering extra time. For example, could the problem be dyslexia? I am married to a dyslexic, and essay writing was always a particular sticking point at school. Regardless of what the 'problem' may be, I think it's very reasonable to ask what practical strategies could be used to help.
I really feel for your dd as I recall the pressure you feel about exams at that age, as if absolutely everything in life hinges on an individual result. If you can, maybe remind her that in reality there is no great rush. Let her know that you will support her in getting to her goals, it just might be that you both need to use some different strategies to get there.

I would say tell her:

1. at school there is a lot of pressure to do well with grades from some quarters, but grades do not = success in life on any measure (overall wellbeing, financial, emotional intelligence).

2. get a tutor assessment of where she's at in each subject even if you have to travel for it.

3. on the basis of that decide whether she needs more tutoring and in what and also if she needs a fresh start and to repeat year 12 again and do different/same subjects. Also if she needs a new school

4. does she need Ed psych assessment (I'm not clear on why she's getting extra time)

Has anyone actually taught her how to structure an essay?

mis lots of tutors will do Skype sessions- don't let that put you off!