DS wants to repeat Year 13

I don't know if repeating year 13 is still a thing, it certainly was at my grammar school.

However, I think the blithe comments on here about getting a job and then doing an access course are unrealistic. Adult education options are getting more and more squeezed and it is getting to the point that if you don't get your A levels at 18 you can forget it for the rest of your life which is ludicrous. If you are going to work until 67, why do you have to have everything sorted at such a young age? The Open University isn't really an option anymore as it has become so expensive, although there are online options for A level which are not ridiculously expensive.

Further education really needs sorting out - urgently.

User, the thing is that him having 7, you not giving number grades, the subjects not being combinations that are usually possible are all unusual....as was you first saying his absences were coded C, then saying O. It all seems to imply either a lack of understanding, or a lack of transparency, about what has really gone on.

Others will know better than me whether Us are shown on certificates or only on results slips.

“It worries me that you say he keeps crying and saying he wants to die. I would say that means he is feeling very lost and scared.”

Could he be depressed? Being depressed is a serious demotivator

“1. Have a look at his GCSE results. My guess is he took triple science and isn't telling you the grades he got in Physics and Chemistry.”

I think this must be the case. State schools offer double or triple science, not single sciences. How did you not know this?. Did you not go to the options evening? As far as I know only private schools offer single sciences. If you were as interested in your son’s education as you say you are you would have seen the paper with his results on and seen his GCSE certificate. Did the school not do a certificate presentation evening? I am surprised that you never took the trouble to understand the new number grading system.

As far as I know, unless there is a particular problem, year 11s take 9 or 10 GCSEs, so I feel that your son has been less than honest with you

The next year will be tough when all of his friends go off to university. DD took a gap year and found the first few months hard going until she found a job.

The comments from the teachers here are spot on. A levels are way harder than GCSEs. Your son did OK, not brilliantly, but has a respectable set of GCSEs. DD took A levels in subjects that she achieved A*s in, but still found them hard going. Yes she did get all As at A level but it was nose to the grindstone all the way.

Going forward, all is not lost. It sounds like your son isn’t university material – yet. There is no reason why he can’t get a job, and then do an access course when he feels ready, then go to university.

I am older than you. I sat my O levels in 1975, but I still took the troubles to understand the current education system so that I could support my daughter.

What is the course he wants to do at college? His a level choices seem bit random - especially if he is interested in law and criminology (although did that interest come later). What made him pick his choices for gcse and a level. When I look back I realise I chose mine by what my mates were doing and teachers I liked. Not a good method.

If your DS got number grades for maths and English GCSE's I take in you are in England, and therefore your DS' statement should have been transferred to an EHCP, has it? EHCPs don't have to end at 19. They can make provision until 25, not usually at mainstream schools but elsewhere, unless they go to university/start work (but not apprenticeship) etc.

Did you really not discuss any of this in the annual reviews? When was the last one?

Does he realise that you can't just 'repeat' Year 13? He really needs to know that simply isn't a thing. The fact that he is still saying that suggests he still doesn't quite understand.

It's won't have been school policy to only enter fro one science, or not enter for Lit. He's failed three GCSEs whether you want to hear that or not.

He still has the rest of his life ahead of him and this is a stumbling block he needs to make into a stepping stone. Life is full of disappointment and your success comes from how you choose to deal with it. As the saying goes, calm waters don’t make a skilled sailor. Does the school have a careers officer or maybe even a teacher he really likes. Would he open up to someone outside of the family. From what you have told us it doesn’t sound like he communicates to easily with his family.

So can you answer the questions about them? Why no Lit, what happened to Ch and physics? I suspect he failed those three - probably didn't turn up.

You keep saying you're an involved parent, but everything you post points to a kid who has pulled the wool over his parents eyes, who has been having problems for a lot longer than year 12. And now you think if he's give another chance all will be well.

You have got your head so deeply in the sand here you're ignoring everyone's advice and hoping for a miracle. The reality is likely to be yet another wasted year and you posting again next summer. You need to be formulating a plan with him NOW, not waiting for the inevitable. School or repeating A levels at college are NOT the answers. You need to address the root cause of his issues - but are refusing to do so. Many of us suggest it's because he's not as academic as you say, that he's struggled. But you're ignoring that totally. And he is the one who will suffer with your head in sand attitude. You're not acting in his best interests.

And you still haven't answered my gym/phone questions!

He has even said himself that he doesn't really want to go back to school - he just wants them to leave the door open in case at the end of the summer holidays he feels he needs another year there.

The arrogance is mind blowing. You need to take control of this OP, and point out just how far he is taking the school for granted.

Quite possibly a year out would do him a world of good, a chance to take himself more seriously and learn responsibility and really think what he would like to aim for.

In the cold light of day there is no reason at all why school would want him back even if they could. You need to make a plan B together with your son so that you both can move forward. You are going round in circles atm. Starting looking at the possibilities without the blame. Have you asked him what he wants?

@user20 so if you’ve now seen them, what are the grades for maths and English? Why is there only one science and what happened to English lit?

It’s not possible to help without knowing the facts. The GCSE grades may be irrelevant to you but if they are his most recent decent grades (which they will be, given the A Level issue) then they are totally relevant to his next steps.

I think the best thing is just to help him move on now. Get a job to earn some cash and have a think about what he might want to do moving forward.

How old are you that you can't understand GCSE subjects? It's not so different to when we were at school.

My DS is sitting A Levels this year and GCSEs are completely different to when I was at school. We did individual sciences for a start. Maybe try not to be so rude

OP you must stop making excuses for your son's behaviour and attitude to school and exams.

He also needs to stop making excuses for his cavalier attitude and you need to stop accepting those excuses.
He chose to skip school and do no work so now his choices are limited. His own fault.

Yesterday I mentioned starting by looking at his GCSE results because your son has clearly been very shady about school related issues. The certificates won't tell you if he's failed something so you need his results slip really.
How old are you that you can't understand GCSE subjects? It's not so different to when we were at school.
Combined Science is a Biology, Physics and Chemistry Course that results in 2 GCSE. Triple Science is a Biology, Physics and Chemistry course that results in 3 GCSEs. Triple is for academic students- especially ones who plan to continue Sciences beyond GCSE. Some schools only offer double but double science in schools that offer triple too is for students who are at least average academically. You can do science A-levels after studying double but triple people will obviously have an edge.
It's unusual for academic students not have an MFL and 7 GCSEs is very little for an academic student in current y13. My y13 Ds is at a comp and studied 10.5 GCSEs and had the chance for more if he was so inclined. My son's school attendance issues started in y11. It was not as bad as y12 but he'd have no shame turning up late. How was your son in y11?