Year 11 Child moved from Scotland to England and content to learn overwhelming - son doesn't want to even try

He needs to go into year 10.

Wow OP you’re getting a rough time on here! I’m sure you had your reasons for moving, so no point in looking backwards, this is where you are and where your son is.
Firstly,take the pressure off him. People make such a big deal out of GCSEs and of course it’s great if your kids do well in them, but seriously, they are not the be all and end all, especially at his age. My own som is now doing a degree aged 30. They all find their own path, at the time that works for them.
If the school are not supportive, then find him one that is, or homeschool him yourself for the year. One of my own kids did a work placement one day a week through yr 11 and simply sat five GCSEs, which he passed and now has a very successful career. Talk to the school and see what support they can give him. Manage your/ their/ his own expectations of what is realistic and achieveable for him, in the time he has.
If he can pass five GCSEs including maths and English, literally no one will ever ask him for anything else. He should also be given the option of sitting single science, as those who take triple science do. Movmg may have set him back a bit academically, but it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Right now, his mental health needs to be your primary concern, because it sounds as if he’s really struggling.

What does he want to do for a career? If he is wanting to go down an academic route then restarting yr10 would be best. If he is thinking of a vocational route then some colleges will take students from age 14 to study core GCSEs alongside a vocational course. It may though be a bit of a distance to travel.

If you have any relatives still in Scotland, I'd look into him moving back there. As I'm sure you've now realised, moving your child in such an important year is a disastrous idea, especially to an area with a completely different educational system. You've really put his at a huge disadvantage

Just seen someone suggested online home learning with scottish system tutors. Thats a good alternative. Attending an english school is literally a tick box at this point. He will get nothing from it.

This. He cannot do a two year course in one year. He has missed well over half the content.

awful decision to move countries at exam time.

is there s relative he can stay with and attend his previous school?

i once taught a girl who moved form scotland to england and she dropped down a year.

Ok hands up here I haven’t RTFT because I haven’t got the patience so I’m responding to your OP not any drip feeds but!….sorry what a monumentally bad situation! You’ve basically screwed him over educationally, he’s going to leave school with no exam results practically, the poor kid is in a very bad situation! Poor poor kid i really feel for him what a sad situation.

He needs to go back to Scotland or drop to year 10. He is right. He has no chance.

I doubt the OP is going to come back to this, given how negative a move it was obviously going to be for her child.

There could be good reasons to move I suppose.

Things I would consider:

• one parent moving back - it’s only for 9 months (though he’s already got to catch up as Scottish schools went back in August)
• boarding him with a friend or family member
• finding a non selective boarding school prepared to take him for a year (long shot but I’d look if it could be afforded. Pricy, but a fixed cost - and worth it to pass exams)
• helping him find a college course to aim for and then choosing a strategy to get the qualifications for that (e.g. he may only need to pass less exams)
• tutoring
• deceleration to Y10 (I’d hate that as a kid!)
• talk to him openly about just getting through maths & English and starting again in Y12. Take the pressure off Y11 and accept that he’ll do a L2 course in Y12 before getting back to where he might have been at L3 for Y13/14

I’d ask the school to let him sit 5 or 6 GCSEs. Failing this I’d withdraw him from school and let him learn 5 or 6 igcses, learning online. There are various exam centres, home Ed face book groups and tutoring (online, self directed, in person) he can access.

Moving for year 11 is absolutely awful for a child. Can you ask the LA if he can drop back and repeat Y10? Or fund a private school for GCSEs that might allow him to restart year 10? poor kid.

Would you consider paying for him to say do 5 GCSEs privately? In which case you could home educate him?

If going back to Scotland is not an option, then ask current school if he can be 'decelerated' to Year 10 to give him a fighting chance. If they say no, then approach other local schools and ask the same.

My first thought too :(

And even returning to his Scottish school isn't that simple, depending on when he left.

Scottish schools go back mid-August, so if he left at the end of the summer term, he's already missed more than a month of the autumn term.

And the reasons for moving may also mean he can't go back.

Possibly online schooling and private tutoring in the Scottish system might be a solution, with him returning to Scotland to take his exams?

@Gazelda not sure how but ok?

re 'going back to Scotland' in the week.
It depends massively where they were/are located.
St Andrews -> Cornwall would not be viable, but Edinburgh -> Newcastle would be much more practical and could maybe even be done with only 4 nights away per week.

I think it's you that's the heartless on @Foxesandsquirrels

Either allow him to move back to finish Year 11, enrol him in an online school that uses the Scottish system, let him go back to Year 10, or get him many many many tutors.

Basically this.

If you focus on English Lan, maths and 3 others - that at least leaves with decent options for post 16 education. Otherwise you need to look at options locally that he could do without these.

It's dauting with out the dyslexia. My Dc have had to do a GCSE in a year - wales different English GCSE - and it's hard and very fast paced for them - and that with lessons geared towards it.

I would insist the new school drop him down to Y10 citing the dyslexia, curriculum differences. He will then stand a chance at making a reasonable adjustment.

Get him a tutor alongside if necessary as well just to get his confidence back. The age cut-offs for the school year in England are different from Scotland - have you checked whether he is currently young or old in his year in English terms?

I don't think all the comments about sending him back to Scotland will fly as I am sure OP wants her DS at home with her.

Poor kid, this was always going to be disastrous for him. And it's really dangerous for his mental health - there's a risk he ends up trapped in downward spiral and then his education will be the least of your worries.

For a while we considered moving with our child (from S3 in Scotland into year 9 in England), but even that felt like too much of a disruption. So we have delayed our relocation plans until he finishes school. I can only assume you had to move and had no choice.

As others have said, dropping back a year or returning him to his old school in Scotland somehow is probably best. I hope things improve for him, good luck.

If it's not possible to continue with the Scottish curriculum somehow or move to year 10 (which I would agree is the best option - but obviously there may be other constraints we don't know about), a couple of other possibilities:

Do the school offer separate sciences? He might be better taking physics to make sure he gets one good science grade, and not worrying about biology/chemistry (or doing them at foundation level only). Even if they don't offer separate sciences, it might still be a better approach, if they can give him a little bit of support with the extra physics (or find a tutor). It is mandatory for schools to teach everyone the combined science curriculum (or separate sciences), but it's not mandatory for every child to actually take the exams.

Start looking now at what is offered in sixth form/FE colleges in your area. (You may need to start doing that now anyway - ours are all having their open evenings soon.) One of ours has a GCSE retake year, which enables them to do/retake English and maths plus about three other GCSE/ level 2BTECs, with a view to moving onto level 3 courses a year later. That can work well for those whose GCSE years have been disrupted.

Rather than combined science ask them if he can do two of the triple science offerings instead of the three sciences - I know this is possible as my daughter's school does this. He then can continue with Physics and pick up another science he prefers prob biology I think. This would also allow him free time during the time he would normally take the third science to study.
I am really struck that you did not think of this before you moved.
Also - he can get by with five GCSEs - check out what he would need to do A levels at your local school. I know this because my daughter was unfort ill and the school offered for her to drop to 5 gcses and the A levels we looked at said min of 5 GCSEs.
So I would push for him to drop more.
The most important thing he does is focus on maths and english as he needs a min of a level 4 in these to progress with most things really. So just tell him to focus on these.
He is not lazy just completely overwhelmed as would anyone - but especially a teen who has just lost all his friends and what he knows and moved to a school where he is so far behind the others. Poor kid!

I think this is most important thing.

Can you move back?

@SirChenjins yes! And if your child didn’t want to work before, they certainly won’t be motivated if they are in a class with kids 2 year younger than them!