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Original poster

What happens if your Y11 DC is too unwell to take their GCSE exams?

28 replies

katalex · 09/11/2020 10:21

DC has not been in full time school since November last year due to poor mental health. This has been a mixture of sick time and part time timetable and they were unable to engage with online learning during lockdown. As a result, they are now very behind in their studies. They have missed an entire history topic and was present for only half of one of the other topics. I have been told that they will have finished covering the history curriculum by Christmas and will move onto revision in the new year. In English, DC is only part-way through one of the books and has not even started the Shakespeare book. They missed a huge number of maths and science lessons in year 10. They have been moved down from higher to foundation maths, which they should be able to pass with some revision. They may be able to pass their photography GCSE due to the amount of coursework they have already done and there is no exam.

DC has received a diagnosis and will shortly start receiving treatment but it may be a long time before we can get them back into school, if at all. They keep saying they will try to do some work at home but they struggle to focus and get motivated and it is looking more and more likely that they will not have covered enough of most of the subjects to make it worth taking the exams at all.

I've looked at local colleges and they only do maths and English GCSE so what can we do? Are schools obliged to let students repeat year 11 or will we have to home-school?

OP posts:
TeenPlusTwenties · 09/11/2020 10:43

My DD is y11 and is currently out of school due to MH and has done next to no education since April.
We have agreed a reduced set of 4 GCSEs with the school, which if she gets them will be enough for her chosen course at college.

What might they want to do next? What are the entry requirements?

If they would be wanting to do A levels, talk to the school / college about options.
If it is a BTEC then they can start at Level 2 (or even Level 1).

You don't need 8-10 GCSEs to access next level courses. Normally it is 4 or 5.

The fly in the ointment this year is that if they move to Centre Assessed Grades like last year with exams cancelled, the school won't have anything to go on and so won't be able to submit a grade. (I'm hoping DD will be well enough to sit the 'second mocks' in the Spring, she is this week missing 'first mocks').

Flamingopants · 09/11/2020 10:27

Many colleges offer level 2 Btecs, this may be a good option as your child can focus on the subject which they are most interested in and also retake English and Maths GCSE if needed.

PlanDeRaccordement · 09/11/2020 10:25

I’d discuss options with your DCs specialist and occupational therapist(if they have one). With doctors letters to the school, you might be able to get the school to agree to your DC taking the rest of the year off school to focus on getting better MH and then repeating Yr11 next school year.