Surprised 6th forms don't offer things for kids with severe SENDS

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Dd year 11 has very severe learning disabilities this was only diagnosed at end of year 10 after mostly missing the whole year of school, things are back on track and applying for EHCP.

Dd would like to stay on school and attend 6th form to re do gcse as she will not pass first time around, she is only doing gcse in core subjects

I contacted school regarding 6th form and was surprised that they offer nothing for children with sends and you have to have 5 gcse grade 4 or above ti stay on... is this standard for all 6th forms?

College is a option for Dd due to her anxiety, special needs etc she will not go to somewhere she doesn’t know and with people she doesn’t know

It’s not the standard for the sixth forms in my area. I’ve known sixth form students who have full time TAs, doing a btec or less a levels, extra 1-2-1 study sessions. Those who did not pass all GCSEs are given the option to do a btec with redoing maths/English (if those were the ones not passed). I have also seen a couple of students who did a GCSE they didn’t do the first time round with an a level/ BTEC

5 gcse at grade 4 or above is a pretty low level for sixth form admission, isn’t it? If a student can’t achieve that they would really struggle with a levels so that doesn’t seem unreasonable.

If she’s going to re do gsces I presume she’ll be able to reapply for sixth form next year when she does have the grades? Doing gsces in sixth form as well as a levels would be piling on the pressure.

Sorry op, im prepared to be blasted but for kids with severe learning disabilities, gcses arent even an option and if theyve managed to get to year 10 before getting diagnosed, its not that severe. My kids have severe learning disabilities, they are in special schools. They arent toilet trained, they cant speak. Please reword your post.

Oh, I was thinking of more traditional sixth forms. May be more flexibility if it’s one that also offers vocational qualifications.

Different places will offer different courses, I don’t think somewhere should be forced to accept a child who they can’t cater for - that wouldn’t help anyone (and I say that as the parent of a child who has pretty severe SN)

It may actually be that a fresh start somewhere new with proper support is the best thing for her.

All the comprehensives in my outer London borough cater for the full range of ability. 30% of the intake will struggle to get a C grade, no matter how many retakes. They do B-Tec courses.. Only the A level courses have minimum requirement.

Is your dd at a grammar school? What exactly are her special educational needs? Are there no other pupils in her position? A selective school is unlikely to have the budget to cater for SEN pupils.

In my Comprehensive, I did have occasional pupils with SEN in an 'A' level group, but their needs were v specific (Turner syndrome), they had extra support and had achieved the minimum GCSE requirement in my subject.

It's difficult to advise without further information. Is there a possibility of your dd re-taking year 11?

I think that most 6th forms, focus on A level and subsequently, university. FE colleges are more likely to cater for the type of course your DD will be able to do.

I agree with PP’s that an EHCP in year 11 is very late to the game and I’m not sure how it will help at this stage. I think you would be best looking at the courses at college and finding out about what support can be put in place when she’s therl

EHCPs make provision for a young person up to age 25, so it is still really appropriate to apply for one.

If you’re not doing A levels you go to FE college here.

I suspect those are the entry requirements for the courses that your school offers. They are probably not sufficiently resourced to offer anything other than A Levels or full Level 3 programmes, with resits only in Maths and English.

As others have said Level 2 (ie GCSE) provision is provided at large places such as FE colleges.

Dd year 11 has very severe learning disabilities this was only diagnosed at end of year 10 after mostly missing the whole year of school, things are back on track and applying for EHCP.

OP

Not to pick on you but 'severe' learning disability is a medical term, it does mean 'severe' as in little or no speech, unable to live independently, not aware of danger, it would not be applied to someone capable of GCSEs.

I'm guessing your dd has a specific learning disability that is severe in itself.

School VI forms are generally for students who have succeeded in school, some offer Level 3 BTEC but many just offer A Levels.

GCSEs are generally not resat unless they are English, Maths and sometimes Science.

Would the school allow her to resit year 11?

If not how would she cope with a year at home resitting GCSEs? Or possibly a medical PRU.

The OP surely means learning difficulties rather than leaning disabilities? Lots of people make this mistake when they don’t know anything/much about this (and she does say this is recent news).

Ds’s school has a very small 6th form (the majority in our area go to 6th form college) but they have three different pathways.

A Levels (entry requirements 5xGrade 6 & 3x Grade 5 with Grade 7 if taking maths or science)
Btec Diplomas (entry 5 x Grade 4)
Work Skills programme (for those without Grade 3 maths& English)

Most school 6th forms IME offer only A levels. Ds1 who is not academic ended up going to college - but it was really good for him as it was practical and skills based, plus good scope for retakes. A pal's dd is in the same position and doing well.

Some schools offer a few BTECs which can be more suitable for less academic, but not a good range. I presume it is simply that they have to focus on what there is demand for. In the same way I wouldn't personally choose our local college for my dc if they wanted to do a levels as our schools are better set up for that IMO. Sorry op I do see this doesn't help you. Hope you find a solution.

Op your daughter does not have a severe learning difficulty. If she did she would not cope in mainstream education and she would not be taking GCSEs ( regardless of specific grades).

Your Daughter may have a specific learning need that is challenging for her.

Please use correct terminology.

As far as her learning goes yes it's severe learning disability a term that the ed psych actually used in her report her learning difficulties couldn't be any worse she couldn't of scored any lower.

The purpose of this thread was to find out about 6th form as I was under the impression it wasn't just for A levels and not to compete who's child was more severe in learning disabilities, how do you know what my daughter can or can not do.

Unfortunately if the whole education system hadn't ignored her for the last 8 years then I would of had what I already knew confirmed 8 years ago.

Thank you for those who answered my questions

Our local 6th forms are for A levels only. I'm pretty sure they don't accommodate GCSE resits. I think it sounds like it's college she would need to attend to resit GCSEs.

Isn't 5 GCSE standard?

I think for a lot of children, especially those who have struggled with school benefit massively from getting away from the formality of a school setting to a college setting which is more relaxed and able to offer a wider variety of courses for a wider variety of needs

Please don't take this the wrong way but would she be able to cope with 6th form?

If she can't manage her GCSE then she will struggle with A level even with out the extra needs.

Is there a local college that could help her instead.

She isn't coping in mainstream that's why she's missed so much! She is in a sends unit within a mainstream school all that's available in our area

And in the nicest possible way if she is struggling that much academically is GCSEs going to be the best course of action at this point or would finding a functional skills course help her more long term?

It definitely depends on the sixth form round here. School based sixth forms are for A Levels only, and if you want BTec etc you need to go to one of the colleges, which are all huge.

It might be worth visiting one of the colleges though - you might be surprised at how well they can accommodate your daughter's needs. It doesn't sound like school would be best for her anyway.

No most likely she won't cope and still with have no qualifications but it's more having no idea what to do with her come September, she will not pass a gcse but because of the asd etc we will struggle to get her anywhere at least 6th form is familiar with people she knows, she can not deal with meeting new people or new places

Fictional skills was my first thought as I'm sure they is something out there for her I just can't figure out what as we have so many issues in our way