Year 'out' to retake GCSEs?

If your DS will be moving onto a FE college for sixth form in any case, there may well be options to start with a year of Level 2 qualifications (including retakes if necessary) and then progress to Level 3 A levels or BTECs.

Exam specifications tend to change every 2 tears so what he studied for that gcse may not be relevant to the one he sits if he takes a year out.
Far better to take fewer gcses

I don't teach Edexcel, I'm afraid, and wouldn't want to muddy the waters with what his teacher has taught him as we all use different tips and tricks for our students - there should be clear teaching about how to answer each question, tied to the mark scheme, if Edexcel is anything like AQA. If he doesn't know anything about this, a meeting with the teacher would be a good idea. My only other advice is past paper practice and asking the teacher to mark these.

@ThatOpenSwan Can you explain more about the scaffolding in English. My DS is on a 3/4 studying Edexcel and I am researching ways in which I can support him.

@Thommasina - thank you. Fingers crossed.

A few things:

1. The cognitive developments over Y10 and 11 are huge, and it is far too early to be panicking about this. Every year I'm fascinated by how quickly the Year 10 cohort step up to the new demands.
2. The jump from GCSE to A-Level is, honestly, the worst in the entire education system. If he is scraping 4s and 5s by the end of Year 11, it is probably not a good idea to be doing A-Levels. Your husband sounds fairly unfamiliar with the current educational landscape, but the post-16 options are huge and varied, and pure A-Levels are, in lots of schools, a minority choice.
3. The English Language GCSE is really weird, but often works quite well for students who are borderline 3/4/5 because it can be scaffolded very tightly and does not require much revision. A pass in either Lit or Lang will count in terms of not having to retake, it doesn't just have to be Lang anymore.
4. Repeating a year will have horrible social implications, is at the discretion of the school, and is extremely rare - in my career I've seen it happen once, with a looked after child who had been out of school for significant periods of time and needed a chance to do KS4 without disruption. The evidence for it is also pretty discouraging - it's generally thought to reduce progress (https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/repeating-a-year).

My dd is currently in y10. They have three options at their school, 11,10 or 9 GCSE's. (I say "options", they are guided by school). If the latter, they have timetabled periods for study skills. I'm sure your son's school would have similar paths.

I'd get tutors sooner rather than later - if you can afford it especially English. That give most of a school year to help them progress and be in best position possible for Y10 GCSE start ( Or end of Y9 in some schools)

Talk to the school how receptive are they to retaking year - dropping number of GCSE.

Look at local colleges - see what alternatives to A-level they have in your area.

Choosing options have some frank conversations with teachers about areas of weakness and what the courses actually entails - and look at BTecs if offered.

Realise he may need a lot more input and monitoring than a standard child - check he's up to date may be even organising with him his revision nearer the time.

I have a really late August child - they take GCSE exams here in this bit of UK in Y10 - so was at a worse disadvantage- she did well enough to get to Uni though she did bulk of her catch up in later primary and earlier secondary years.

I'm sorry I don't know. I hope they will stay. I think they are a fantastic qualification, and actually much better prep for how things will work at uni

@Thommasina any news on what’s happening with Btecs next year?

I'd stick with 8 (dd did 8, got a 4 in French, got 5 offers from RG unis so don't listen to anyone who tells you different about the number of gcses)

Just one word about BTECS - they are fabulous BUT you need to hit the ground running as you are marked on your coursework pretty much straight away and that coursework counts towards your overall grade. You absolutely can go to good unis with A level equivalent BTECS to study related courses but the better unis will require a Distinction or even Distinction Star, so you need to keep on top of it. Arguably they can be even more difficult for teens with ADD unless they have a huge amount of organisational support.

It's just such a shame GCSEs are so exam led and so fixed - if he could do a subject that involved an assessed project on something that piqued his interest, like Japan, I think he could do a good job of it and it would help him in other areas too, but I can't see there's anything that gives that kind of leeway.

It sounds like the Btec pathway will be ideal for him. (which is why scrapping them was an awful idea) As long as he gets the minimum GCSE's he could do a Level 3 extended Btec in one subject or 2-3 smaller Btecs in multiple subjects. He won't get into Oxbridge with Btecs but many, many good universities do accept them.

If he doesn't get enough Btecs he can do a Level 2 Btec at college for a year alongside maths/English retakes then progress to Level 3.

There are excellent apprenticeships that can lead to brilliant careers

Are there? This is always trotted out on here. The ones that lead to 'brilliant careers' are more competitive than Oxbridge.

Firstly, don't worry about what's happening in a few years. Focus on now, and how you can help him do his work to the best of his ability.

Secondly, if he struggles so much, does he even WANT to do A Levels and a degree? There are excellent apprenticeships that can lead to brilliant careers. It doesn't sound like the academic route would be the best fit for him, and would probably just be difficult, stressful, and perhaps embarrassing - nobody wants to have to be with the year below.

My stepson's mum pushed and pushed for him to do academics, despite him not performing well at any point in his education, and as a result he ended up wasting a load of money, resitting first year of uni and ultimately dropping out anyway. He now has a shit job. It wasn't fair to push him in that direction when it wasn't what he wanted, nor would it be fair on your son.

Oh god I really wish dd hadn't done French. I was under the impression she had to do a language and she did pass but just,.with a 4. She wanted to do Drama instead and I dissuaded her and that was really stupid of me!

Have you spoken to school about reasonable adjustments?
What do they think he's able for and what can they do to ensure he does his best/ copes

You probably mean the English Bacc not the International one. The Ebacc is meaningless, it is a concept not a qualification.

International Baccalaureate is an alternative 6th form qualification - a tough one!

You mean Ebacc right? That's a measure for schools not individual DCs.

Just wanted to post this in case it's in your area.

www.capel.ac.uk/

My son is an August child so almost a year younger than some of his peers, if I could have held him back a year I would have but it wasn’t an option.
Anyway, during his GCSEs he chose to mentally drop two subjects that he didn’t need. He was so stressed his hair was falling out. He just told me one day… these are the grades I need, and these are the subjects I need for A levels so that’s what I’m focusing on, I supported him and found him a tutor for two subjects he definitely needed to gain a place to study at sixth form. It worked out for him he is in year 13 now and will be applying for uni.

A 4 is a pass?

Eng lit is much much easier to cram for the exams.

My DS struggled with English and we got him a tutor for English lit who had a laser focus on the books and plays he was doing. It really helped.