GCSE retakes

Hi there, Lyingonthefloor we are in a very similar situation to you this year. I would love to hear how your son got on. Our son has missed loads of education and been tutored at home, GCSEs in a few weeks.

What about a year of EOTAS with tutors to cover his GCSEs and focus on readiness for the FE college?

Glad you have found an option also the colleges often don’t need them to be there 5 days a week full hours. There can be late or early starts finishes and study periods so a longer commute isn’t as hard to manage sometimes if there’s public transport options but can be trickier if relying on a parent whose also working. Hope it works out for him my youngest is autistic very academic and taking a different path through education there are many options once you start exploring and asking around locally.

Yes, my son who is neurospicy and a summer born child is in year 10 and at risk of not quite getting the grades for Alevel and I hope this will be an option for him if he doesn’t quite make it. I do think that 6th form colleges rather than school 6th form is a better system, larger colleges have more flexibility.

My son resat one of his GCSEs because he didn't like the grade. We had to pay about £50 to do it through his school as he hadn't failed so it wasn't funded. However, he didn't receive any tuition for it, it was up to him to study for it.

Our local 6th form colleges (in north Hampshire) do a course for kids who have just missed grades for Alevel entry, the kids retake English and/or maths and also study some other subjects they’re interested in, I don’t think they do additional exams, but do study skills and then go onto level 3 courses the next year.

I’m assuming given what you have said that he has autism or similar and these are his particular interests.

in the circumstances you may be able to persuade an FE college to let him in to do a levels if he misses his offer from the sixth form he wants to go.

some a levels are heavily dependent on doing the gcse previously (or having a very high level of knowledge) eg French, maths, chemistry.

others are treated as though students have not got any previous knowledge (although they do assume ability to write essays etc).

philosophy and classical civilisation fall into the second category. (Unless he wants to do Greek or Latin a level which really do presume the gcse/a high level of knowledge).

history is somewhere in the middle - it’s not strictly necessary to have done it at gcse but the essay techniques etc are tricky if you’ve not had a solid grounding at gcse.

you therefore (probably) have a few options:
his existing offer probably want high grades at least in part because of the history. So plan B could be change options to Philoosophy, classical civilisations, and something like either politics or sociology which is history adjacent.

plan C could then be to try to get in at an FE college on his original choices (they tend to aim to provide for all so are often happy for students to start on a levels at lower grades knowing they can switch out if necessary)

plan D is go for the FE college but with history dropped.

If it's any consolation, FE colleges tend to have incredible SEN support, usually much better than secondary schools.

It is absolutely not the same for secondary school, that's not how it works. I'm not saying it's impossible for kids to stay at their school and retake Y11, but it is absolutely not usual. It's rare.

Some colleges offer GCSE programmes other than English and Maths, but if there isn’t one within travelling distance of you, that isn’t helpful.

If necessary, the EHCP can continue until 25, or 26 in some circumstances, so you can have a year to resit GCSEs funded via the EHCP. Either at another SS, at a MS, or if necessary via EOTAS/EOTIS (this doesn’t have to be provision at home). It can be possible to get an independent school funded via the EHCP - although some have to appeal.

There are places that definitely offer more than Maths & English- my friends daughter has gone to a local college and resat English & Maths ( she received Grade 4 last year but wants a 5) , she has also retaken sciences and another subject

Hope you can find something

Ah @Lyingonthefloor I am sorry he has had such a tough time.

Have you contacted your local FE college directly to ask about possibly redoing year 11 (in effect)? What GCSEs did he sit?

Might the post-16 destination he is aiming for be willing to take him on for A level study anyway, if you argue his case that his quals from this year do not reflect his ability (for the reasons you have suggested here)? They will have some discretion.

Can't edit, but I meant to say they also do GCSEs, so maybe you could use them for resits if needed and used by your LEA?

Look at Humanatees Home Tutoring for igcse online classics and history 1 year courses. Exams can now be taken online at home via Tutors and Exams.

If he had an ECHP could he do an additional year at his special school to get his GCSE grades? They cover funding to 25

Not sure if they do A Levels still, but I did two A Levels online, free, with Nisai learning, funded by my local authority.
It says they did A Levels last year. If your son wants to get out and be amongst friends in person, he might not like this idea, but I struggled with illness and was ideal for me.

I got great marks and enjoyed the lessons and had some great teachers.
You just went online and shared computer screens, submitted work online.

Do you think he would be able to cope with A Levels at a mainstream school? I know you said he's very academic but has only sat 5 GCSEs and you are worried about whether he can get grades 4/5/6? Obviously I don't know what the circumstances are and I know that all sorts can derail someone's attainment - but most A Level subjects hope to see at least a 6 at GCSE, and most students take 8-10 GCSEs simultaneously