All the country seems to be celebrating GCSE results, I am not!

My Gosh posters here are horrible! so its ok for some parents to come here and talk about their overachiever kids but not okay to show disappointment and ask for help to better your situation? if you have no advice for her, read and move on! you do not have to type on your keyboard, silly much. It's not your child and you can aim or be happy with your children's low grade she is not and what makes you think her child isn't also feeling same. If you can't help keep your opinions to yourself.
@reasonableme I'm sorry about your disappointment and as a parent share your pain as I would feel bad as well if everyone around has better results, we all want our children to do great and have the best opportunities offered to them. Keep contacting the school and seek advice on how best to deal with the situation or career adviser. Good luck and hope for the best for you and your dear child.

Hi ReasonableMe,

I understand why the results are disappointing, and why you would be upset - education is much more of a partnership with our children, than when we were studying many years ago.

If you can find somewhere appropriate for your daughter, she will still have lots of opportunities. Good Unis take BTechs, as other posters have mentioned and if your DD goes down the A level route, there are more courses than ever available through clearing. This year, St George's offered a number of places for their Medicine degree.

I think you guys need to accept her results and deal with the challenge of finding her a place for 16-18. Recriminations for the school can wait.

In the mean time, I find that gin or wine tend to help.

Good luck!

I'm sure you could sell the guides. You might have a local FB selling group, and see if someone really local would like to buy them, so no postage and you both get a better deal out of it. Or different people.

Ozy

I wonder if I could sell off the unopened CPG revision guides and raise enough for a bottle of gin????

Ozy even..!

Oxz dear god that made me laugh! Yes to piles of pristine revision guides omg......

And if she's interested in cyber law is she into coding? Computer science? If any interest at all do everything to persuade her to look at that route. We're facing a massive skills shortage in this area. Plus there are VERY few females applying - there will be selective descrimination for uni courses, jobs etc.

If you can tell us where you are in the country maybe someone can help you?
for example Strodes in Egham your dd could do A levels or BTECs - see p12 on this year's prospectus

here

The private schools have quite difficult sixth form courses - typically they start with 4 A levels, they do an EPQ, they do voluntary work / DofE Gold. They're aiming for top university courses, there are definitely easier routes to good degree courses.

hitting them over the head soundly with a pile of unopened CGP revision guides

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink! Come to think of it, I can send you a few pristine CGP guides if you want an even more satisfying thwack sound!

I do feel that more is expected of teens these days. The pressure ramped up after the government sent delegations out to the Far East to see how the game of education plays out there – and then decided to introduce similar standards here, forgetting that most teens over here are not really prepared for the exacting lifestyle changes required to reach those giddy heights.

I'm sure I did a lot of daydreaming and still managed to do fine but there has to be a moratorium on mooching for 16 year olds these days if they want to do well and it makes me rather sad.

@unsaltedmixednuts It's very hard to be gracious towards the high achievers when your own DC got mediocre results.... It took me a good few days to be able to say sincere congratulations to my high achieving nephews and niece but I've got there....
What I found particularly difficult was people glibly saying "Oh A Levels aren't everything"/ "Oh University isn't for everyone"/ "He could do an apprenticeship"... whilst their own kid has sailed through and IS OFF TO DO A levels and university , and they have never in a million years considered an apprenticeship.
I felt like hitting them over the head soundly with a pile of unopened CGP revision guides.

Ozy it's really hard isn't it when you are surrounded by children who did so well and their parents are so pleased. These are all people I have been close friends with for nigh on 16 years but I now feel isolated from which is horrible. They have all been lovely and very supportive, it is me feeling like this (my DS has no idea I feel this way). I can't believe it was a whole week ago that we were all waiting in anticipation for results day.

That unforgettable Thursday .

Parky that is really good to hear

My DS has just completed a BTEC L3 Extended Diploma in Computing and is now off to Reading University. A levels are not the only way.

Ours does applied science, computing, business, hospitality, health and social care, sport, tourism and art and design.

Oh yes, cantkeep I was agreeing with you really. My DS2 will be taking an HNC this year at our local college and the transfer to HE has been a bit painful! (EHCP stopped, having to apply through UCAS, having to take out a student loan and get DSA etc)

Ellen, apologies, I realise that I got my terminology / courses mixed. The point about the local FE college was that it offered a HUGE range of courses by subject, including Btecs and apprenticeships, for a whole variety of different age groups and abilities.

If DD was in the position that OP's daughter finds herself in, with school 6th forms not interested, it is to the FE college that i would be applying, starting with the subject and then working down to the highest level course she had the requirements for, if that makes sense?

Some of our local school sixth forms offer some limited BTEC options, often Health and Social Care or IT or engineering but often only 1 x A level's worth to fit in around other A levels.

The college of further education is the one that offers lots of BTEC options. HNC and HND is actually higher education but colleges of FE often offer those more vocational courses as well to older students.

Here, it isn't '6th form colleges' that offer BTecs and similar, but primarily 'FE colleges' [called things like 'name of region college']

6th form colleges locally are primarily like school 6th forms but exist where schools are relatively small / widely dispersed and it makes sense to have a single 16-18 academic provider. Most 6th forms are in schools (some 6th forms are disproportionately large relative to the school because they essentially function as 6th form colleges for a group of schools). They mainly offer A-levels.

Regional colleges offer apprenticeships, BTecs / HNDs etc etc and access to FE / HE courses.

Ours dropped Applied Business A Level because of stupid league tables so now does . We do not have a wide range of vocational options in my very large state secondary :especially for boys along traditional gender lines. We do have child care and hopsitality but none of the range locally at all, not even at the sixth form college in town.

"I am also looking at sixth form colleges"

Given what you have written here you should only be looking at 6th form colleges. I think most state schools don't offer BTECS, and only offer A levels. I don't know of any that offer anything other than A levels.

I'd be really surprised if there are state school 6th forms that don't do any type of btec!

Ours doesn't.

My dd just got into Cardiff with a btec. It is the top rated uni in the country for her course

He won't go to a friggin Russell Group.... but plenty of decent universities admit students with BTecs

RG unis accept btecs. My dds friend is off to Birmingham and another to Cardiff. Both did btec level 3 diplomas

Cyber law as a discrete study option on an undergrad course is difficult to find. Cyber security, for example, is widely available in undergrad form. Broadening out options is helpful because there are plenty of universities with add ons to computing. They don’t require high A levels grades and other qualifications are welcome.

My heart goes out to you OP. I haven't RTFT yet but wanted to respond. I was a bit disappointed with my son's results. They weren't a disaster but he DIDNT try so I can't help thinking, what could he have done if he had just tried....

He failed one, got a couple of 7s, a couple of 4s and the others were 5s.

Anyway, he made the grades to stay on at school sixth form ( small classes, very good results) for A levels but not in the subjects he wanted to do. We had to make a fairly swift choice between staying at school sixth form to do the A levels subjects that would take him, or go for BTec (or similar Cambridge Techicals) at FE college.
He's opted for FE college- Cam Technicals equiv to 2 A levels and one A level- which will be a challenge for him. He certainly hasn't given up on university. He won't go to a friggin Russell Group.... but plenty of decent universities admit students with BTecs.
It's been hard hearing about everybody else's 9s and A* - school friends and family members- and facing up to the fact that my child is nowhere near as interested in academic pursuits as i was. I get you!