Advice on repeating a year

If she's staying at the same school for sixth form, they will know the reasons why her GCSEs are not quite stellar (and it sounds as if they will be pretty good) and give her a glowing UCAS reference, and can no doubt say that she would have done even better but for some distressing family circumstances, without giving any details.

If it is just a case of some 9s being 7/8 instead, then the benefits of moving on with her own year group may outweigh the improved grades. I also think that doing them next year may be even more stressful, as she will then feel she's got no excuse for not getting the 9s. (If it were my daughter, I know that would be the biggest factor for her, but of course yours may be different.)

I think it depends very much what you are worried about - is it that because of the difficult time she won't meet her potential grade-wise (which as others have said, can be mitigated against by the school to some extent), or is it that you're worried her MH just isn't up to the stress of taking the exams after what she's been through?

I don't think special consideration applies, however there are things school could do like put her in a smaller room if she would feel that would help.

Actually having a quick look at this it might be special consideration only applies nearer the time - our awfulness happened in April and May.
https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Guidetoospecconnprocess_2122.pdf

If you speak to the school about what happened they can apply for special consideration in exam marking. My dd suffered right before her a levels and has special consideration by the exam boards

My daughter is repeating 6th form as she came off roll during at the start of year 13 due to anorexia. Timetabling meant she couldn't just re-do year 13 this year so has started yr 12 again. She was initially anxious about being two years older and essentially finishing school aged 20. However, it has turned out all the better for her. Having already done year 12 once, it means she's got capacity in this year for eating disorder recovery wobbles.

We don't regret the decision at all, by the time she goes to University there won't be a noticeable difference with her cohort

wishing your dd (and family) a good future

Don't hesitate. My son went back a year, Scottish system so he repeated S5 which is his second last year of school. It was the best thing we and her ever did.

He was the youngest in his year all through school which gave us the option. He'd had a ridiculous 5th year with absent teachers, changing teachers and it was awful. He did ok but not what he wanted so he changed schools and repeated the year. It changed nothing for him in terms of uni applications etc and He got into his university of choice and four years later got his first class honours degree.

It's a one of opportunity that can make a massive difference to the way ahead.

No university really looks at GCSEs to be honest. Oxford may, Cam don't, and a few medicine offers may be ranked by best 8 GCSEs but that's about it.

Honestly if you still think she's going to get decent grades don't bother. Given the hike in boundaries next year she stands to lose too much.

Yes to applying after A levels - this is very welcome by all universities!

After your response to titchy I'm going to revise my answer.

I was thinking 7/8s down to 4s. If she is still expected to get a raft of 7+ including some 9s then I'd probably go for sticking where you are and getting them out the way. In the school UCAS reference they can say that GCSE grades were lower than anticipated due to xyz.

You say she 'had' help. Is she getting any help ongoing? I would think there would be a lot to be said for keeping some kind of counselling on until the end of the academic year at least.

A solid ps and A levels can overcome any blips in gcse. If she can still sit gcses and still get 9/8s I doubt a school will let her resit. They can submit extenuating circumstances and request access arrangements where relevant so a better conversation may be around what support they can give during the revision and exam period. Would she even want to leave her cohort?

Most unis will not get too hung up over gcse results. However if she is struggling at gcse is a high pressure environment for uni the best fit? Some unis/courses prefer there is no gap between A level and uni, Maths for example.

Yes I agree with Titchy, the grade boundaries are going to change next year. You need to speak to the school as they will have a view re this too, they won't want a student sitting who won't gain grades re their full potential but on the other hand they know this year is different to next.

Sorry - the same result of 9 this year would be a 7 or 8 NEXT year.

What's the likely result differential? 9s to 7s? Or 9s to 4s?

GCSEs won't make any different for UCL or Imp. Taking a year out after A levels would be another strategy and playing with A levels in hand.

Your biggest issue though will be that next years grade boundaries will be increased compared to this years, so what would have got a 9 this year will get a 7 or 8 this year. So she would prob end up with the same results.

I think that at an indie and an August birthday she could 'get away' with repeating y11 and no one would even notice provided she doesn't sit some this year.
She would have to be fully on board with it though, and you would have to also be getting her help for her MH too.
If you were doing that I'd suggest considering moving to y10 after Easter so avoiding all the revision hype?

This is an independent school so they can make the decision themselves and don't need to involve the LA (unless you move schools). They are likely to be a bit more open to it, especially for an August birthday. However it's a tricky time. Are you thinking of pulling her out of this year's GCSEs or sitting them anyway?

What is her university choice? GCSEs generally don’t matter that much to unis for her to repeat a year…

DS was in year 11 and dropped back to repeat year 10. He's also an August baby and highly likely has undiagnosed ASD.