Help please - DS failing and not sure what to do

[snapchatcatnap]

Hello, first time on here, so looking for some advice perhaps please?
My 14 yo DS is in year 10 at a fairly well regarded but very large state school. He was diagnosed with dyslexia quite late, in year 6. This was partly due to the fact he could read fairly well, but just couldn’t spell, and had the associated memory issues. I pushed for years to have an assessment done and finally did it privately, where they found his non verbal reasoning to be excellent - about 8 years above his age at that time - but otherwise he was already a year behind his peers then. He has had a maths tutor ever since, a fabulous teacher who has stuck with him over the years. He finds English stressful and creative writing used to tip him over the edge when he was younger. He has moved through three schools in that time - once due to the fact his first school were completely ineffective at assisting him despite the dyslexia diagnosis, where he effectively failed his SATS, and he became miserable, so I moved him. The next school were better, but he would occasionally mess about and be disruptive and not engage as he should have. I supported his school when they would penalise him for it, rightly so IMO. The third time he moved was for transition to secondary from middle school, to the school he is currently at.
When he moved, it was like a light switched on. He decided he wants to join the Royal Marines and made the decision to put his head down, behave, and stop messing about, and just get through his GCSEs. He knows he isn’t academic, but he wants to work hard to get through and get on. The change in him was remarkable. He now rarely has issues with behaviour, hands all homework in on time and finished, and has a near perfect attendance record. He is polite and well liked among peers.
His report has just come home. He has either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ for his attitude to learning and homework, but all 1’s and 2’s for his score. At this stage, he is projected to fail his GCSE’s.
He came home and sobbed, this normally stoic boy was gutted, because he couldn’t work out why he was doing so poorly despite his very best efforts. He was so disappointed in himself, and I was so upset for him.

I cannot for the life of me see the correlation between the scores and his attitude and work rate. I would expect that from a kid who sits at the back of the class asleep, not from a kid who does the work and hands it in, and asks questions if he isn’t sure.
He has 3 different maths teachers currently, due to his usual one being off long term, and they change topic every 3 days. His tutor has noticed this in his ability to pick up current concepts. I have already complained to the school about this lack of consistency in teaching kids who are already struggling, as this is the bottom set. I was told recruiting a replacement teacher would be too costly and difficult.
This school, in the meantime, pays for taxis for pupils from well outside of catchment to travel to school and back as they are excellent athletes on a school sports team. There appears to be no lack of funds for this. This annoys me no end, if I am honest, as this is not a private school, it’s state funded.
I am meeting with the head of year this week to come up with an action plan, but I feel that my DS has been utterly failed by this school and have half a mind to suggest this. How has a kid who is effectively innumerate and illiterate been left to just get on with it without me being advised there is an issue of this magnitude earlier in the term? They do offer reading support which he attends, but that’s it. Nothing else has been offered or suggested. I thought he was doing ok. Maybe not flying along, but ok.
Any advice on what to suggest or say to the head of year would be appreciated, as I am a bit lost myself to be honest as to what to do here to get him over the line with his GCSE’s. Sorry this is so long, but please go easy on me, I’m already anxious about this.

If you can afford it get an English tutor - I think you said you have a maths one. Focus on language rather than literature if needed.

Has he also been tested for Irlens? Ask the school to do this as a priority.

Sorry. Things are coming to me as I'm thinking. I was a dyslexia assessor, previous SENCo and a fellow dyslexic (with dyspraxia, irlens and adhd!). 😂

I think an educational psychologist’s assessment could be useful here. It’s been several years since the original assessment, so I wonder if he’d benefit from this. Do schools refer to these? Or should I find one?
Bless him, he’s so worried and he thinks he’s not as smart as other kids. It breaks my heart to think he thinks that about himself, as he’s such a lovely, kind, polite and funny kid.

@Luckypoppy what is Irlens please? I’ve never heard of it!

Ah, you’ve been asked about the target vs working at grade. So that’s good, that this crop of low grades is what he would get now.

I’m confused by this though, “He has had a maths tutor ever since, a fabulous teacher who has stuck with him over the years”

If he’s had the same fabulous maths tutor for 3+ years then the school grade is either wrong, or shouldn’t be a surprise. Why do you say the tutor is fabulous? Have you ever asked them what level your son is working at? Given you not understanding what the poster mentioning AQA English is, I wonder if you need to get a bit closer to what he’s doing - and that includes proper feedback from this maths tutor.

AQA English - there are several different exam boards who provide exam papers. They’re all GCSEs, none better or worse than others. It’s up to the school which one they choose to follow the syllabus for. Some exam board names: AQA, OCR, Edexcel.

I would start with that maths tutor - ask them if they agree with the 1 for maths.

Like others have said could he reduce the number of GCSE's he is taking, just do maybe 3 or 4, he could always do more at college afterwards or do BTEC qualifications, does his school do any BTEC that he could swap to? Is he doing GCSE foundation level maths? The maximum grade is grade 5 but it doesn't matter any grade is better than no grade. Does his school have a learning resources department for kids who need to be taught in smaller groups?

irlen.com/what-is-irlen-syndrome/

As a dyslexic adult to a dyslexic child, please please tell him GCSE's aren't the end of the world.
Yes, if you can get a pass in maths and English it makes the next steps much easier, but the world of work looks for much more than just "answering exam question" skills. This is just a phase he needs to get through to access where his dreams and true abilities lie.
Two of the people I know who earn the most are the ones who struggled the most with school. GCSEs don't define you in the adult world. Your abilities, and personality counts for much more.

Many many schools don't set in English.

If you can afford to get an ed psych report privately, then do it. The school can refer but waiting lists are long and they may prioritise students without any diagnosis first. They may be able to help with strategies that the school can use to support him.

I think you need to ask his hoy how much he's expected to improve from these early grades - different schools use them differently and in some schools this would be more of a concern than others.

I would bring up the issue of inconsistent maths teaching again - you are right that a bottom set needs consistent teaching arguably more than others. Don't bring up the taxis - if students live out of catchment then their transport will be funded by the LA. If they say they can't get supply (and there are not many maths teachers doing supply right now), suggest that the group needs a consistent teacher, and ask how the school is going to achieve that. Or ask if your son can be moved to a different group.

What grades will he need to join the marines? I would definitely consider a tutor for English too if you can afford it.

Many many schools don't set in English

Good for them - not my experience - DS passed his GCSE in English despite being in set 5 - did better that a lot of set 3’s

Irlens has been disproven - do your research it’s a private test costa about £400

School assessments should be annually and 20 minutes computer program. You can ask for a copy of the report if you haven’t already

*Allsnotwell · Yesterday 22:56
It’s unfortunate that dyslexic children are put in the lowest sets and have no expectations of success.

It’s wrong and should be questioned*

l was a secondary teacher for 27 years. This was not true. Most English sets are MA.

The 20 min screening miss my dyslexic and dysgraphic child, and class him as low risk.

Whether irlens is disproved or not, when a teenage boy activity requests pink paper, I'm inclined to think it makes life easier for him. We've never screened, just bought a pack of mixed coloured lined paper when lockdown forced home learing, and have been buying pink paper as needed since then.

No English sets here, and far from bottom set in maths.

A private Ed psych assessment will generally be far more thorough
than an LA commissioned one.

You could ask the school if they offer functional skills in Maths and English alongside GCSEs. My DS is in year 10 and doing both of these, it takes some of the pressure of his GCSEs as a level 2 pass is equivalent to a grade 4 at GCSE.

Ask the school if your local authority have a dyslexia/specific learning difficulties specialist teacher they could refer to. When my dyslexic DS was in mainstream (he’s now in a specialist dyslexia school) we found the teacher helpful in getting the school to put support into place.

Yy to private psych.

Does he use coloured overlays, pain paper with a one word window for reading? I would suggest that you hairless no idea if he is academic if he isn't having any dyslexia interventions

You desperately a private dyslexia school. There's a good one in Sussex called Frewen. I don't know if there are many others

Any request for additional arrangements for GCSE must be relatively recent, so within two years of the exams. He’ll need that for anything like a reader, scribe, technology, extra time, rest breaks etc, to show it’s his normal way of working.

You’ve said he won’t want a reader or scribe, but there may be other things he’ll accept.

Irlens is a system that suggests the use of coloured paper, rather than white. Some students find that an overlay helps with reading, or the coloured paper. Most people try different colours to see which best suits them. The whole Irlens screening can result in specially prescribed glasses, but it’s expensive and paper or overlay is much less expensive to try. It was a big thing when I did post graduate dyslexia training, but, as has been said, there’s also questions about it. As there are with NLP and other therapies.

It always used to be the case that the school would refer to the EP and there would be agreed priorities for assessment. The EP report was one of the pieces of evidence that was important for authorities to consider when determining support. EPs in schools are like hens teeth these days, so if you want an EP assessment, you might consider a private one. It will support the request for access arrangements for GCSE.

The schools are supposed to, but even if they don’t string you along it can take years. It’s a post code lottery like many things. I ended up going privately when my severely dyslexic DC was ten after waiting four years and getting nowhere.

Your DS is in Yr 10, you don’t have time to be honest. I know it’s a chunk of money but it will be key to his future prospects and goal to join the Royal Marines.

Op it's heartbreaking isn't it..

Re sets ,I only across-the 4 schools I know they definitely set for English and considering the vast ability range I would be quite surprised if they didn't?

Op, I don't know how much longer we have to endure this ridiculous system where our educators are not themselves taught basic Sen.
Where our senco are not trained in basic Sen and strategies and tips etc.

All schools are required to have a SENCo and the advice is that s/he should be a member of SLT. They also must have QTS, which is not necessarily the case for other staff. There is a masters level qualification for SENCos.

I had post graduate qualifications in dyslexia, ASD, S&LT. I did frequent training with staff on strategies and worked while school and with departments, as well as overseeing the work of an ARP and TAs.

Times have changed and schools have cut staff to the bone. You don’t need to look very far here to realise that the situation is dire and when it’s your child, of course it’s not OK.

I hope the OP can have a useful meeting at school and has some suggestions for the time between now and GCSE.

Re sets ,I only across-the 4 schools I know they definitely set for English and considering the vast ability range I would be quite surprised if they didn't?
Papers are untiered in English so there's no benefit to setting.