All 3s in GCSEs. Feeling hopeless.

[eyespartyparty]

I haven’t slept or eaten much since. Colleges are all closed due to the weekend/bank holiday so I can’t confirm DS has a place anywhere to do anything. I just feel like screaming. All his friends have done great and will all be going to their chosen places in a couple of weeks and I am just avoiding speaking to anyone or leaving the house as I can’t bear to keep repeating it.

Tuesday morning contact as many colleges as you can (that you know he can actually get to by public transport if not walking distance).
He should be able to do resists for English and Maths.
If anyone asks about his results and what he is doing in September just say "we are looking at colleges but nothing is confirmed yet".
(Other than maybe his Granny most people really aren't that interested in other kids results)

This is exactly what happened with my step-son. He was tutored through GCSE’s which gave my husband a false impression of what he was capable of. My husband hadn’t done A levels himself and I knew what would happen. Sure enough step-son crashed and burned after the first year of A levels which was awful at the time. He then did a BTEC in construction and now earns a good wage. However there was no telling my husband at the time that step-son would never cope with A levels himself type study. It would have been much better for everyone if he’d done a BTEC post GCSEs.

A friend whose Dd is not massively academic “fought” for her Dd to do quite an academic a level despite her scraping a 5 in it. She admits now she was wrong to do so the Dd struggled for 2 years and got an F and it was very demoralising. If the school say no they aren’t being unkind they can see how it will play out…

Clearing is just for the uni level courses isn’t it? Loads of kids won’t have yet enrolled post gcse, and they’ll be a lot of changes, so there will be space somewhere for him to do something. There are also creative media l2 btecs available if he doesn’t fancy sport.

Are you able to say roughly whereabouts you are as people may have suggestions?

We’re near-ish Guildford so I looked at their website which says Clearing appointments, I’m going to make a couple which look like they’re available next week. But no clue if there are spaces on the courses I’m looking at.

You can accept places at more than one college to give him more thinking time. Go somewhere, accept a place, go elsewhere accept that too. Maybe a third. Then think, sleep on it, but try to reject places as soon as you can to help out others in same position.

My Ds got mainly 3's. He did get 4's in maths and science.
We went and spoke with the college on Friday and he was able to secure a place on a Level 3 course which sounds like it much better suited than the original course. He will still have to resit English but we're both feeling much better than we were.
I was where you were Op.....very worried

My sixth form college enrolls next week. I’m 100% sure level 2 courses will not be full! My college offers a 1-year level 2 course for students with 3s - they resit English and Maths and do 3 level 2 single BTEC courses from a range, so they can try stuff out. Usually they then go on to level 3 BTEC or even A-levels if they’ve done really well. I can pretty much guarantee anyone who rocks up next week with unexpected 3s will be enrolled on that course. Obviously I can’t speak for other colleges but we want level 2 students because we get them for 3 years!

Ok thank you for the encouraging words especially regarding the courses not being full. I am feeling a bit more positive now and the spiralling has reduced somewhat.

There will still be other options, no matter how hard it feels right now.
How does DS feel? Does he think he could have studied more/more effectively? Could he learn how to study more effectively? Is he just not particularly academic and would perhaps learn better on more practical courses? Does he have a job/career in mind or not sure? Speak to the school careers service, and see what options are open to him. Good luck, and try not to compare, because that's just pointless.

What website are you looking at? Guildford college has lots of vacancies for level 2 vocational and GCSE courses.

None of my DC have been very academic and all have done vocational courses at FE college. As @AtomicBlondeRose says, if he can't get on a level 3 course he should be able to get on level 2 for a year while doing Maths and English re-sits then move to Level 3. DDs has friends who did this and they're now on decent uni courses.

Brooklands and Farnham colleges also have space on level 2 courses. Is there a reason you/him didn’t spend last Thursday or Friday looking for somewhere?

Please don’t panic, it’s really not the end of the world. My DS got 2s & 3s in most subjects last year. He’s just finished his first year at college - he loves it & is thriving. It’s a much better environment for him than school. He’s just got a 4 in maths after resitting.
You’ll feel much better after you’ve spoken to colleges this week. Lots of other people are in the same position. It will be ok & he will find his path.

Don’t worry. There’ll be something available for him. This is part of my role and last week I saw so many with grades lower than your ds.

You’ve already had some good advice. Do what you’re doing and research the colleges / sixth form and FE that are possible to get to.

There will be level 2 options in sport/ health and social care/ uniform public service.

media production or games design too.

Id actually visit a couple on Tuesdays. They should have staff available to advise.

good luck

He left for Reading festival on Thursday more or less straight after results. Someone else was taking him so we couldn’t sort anything out without him being here. It’s all a bit of a blur to be honest.

If he can get to Farnham College or Alton College I’d highly recommend for being small and supportive.

Given that you live near Guildford he could have got a train straight there later that day or on Friday. Tbh you should have insisted….

There are several colleges within easy reach of Guildford that have level 2 spaces for 16 year olds as I have suggested. Not sure why you haven’t managed to - have you looked at the uni website instead?

I didn’t insist as I was totally in shock. His mock results were fine so I just wasn’t thinking straight. But that’s not what the thread is about, there’s little point telling me what I should have done last week, I obviously realise now and am kicking myself for him not being here.

So do something constructive. Get together a list of colleges and courses that have spaces. Present them to him as soon as he walks in the door tomorrow and tell him to choose.

I have booked some appointments at Guildford College but they are called ‘Clearing Appointments’ so it’s not clear whether or not the courses will be have spaces.

If he was predicted 5s and 6s it must be worth looking to see if it's worth an appeal for any of the subjects and especially Maths and English as they are the important ones. There are plenty of other courses he can do and they won't all be full, don't worry. They just say clearing because they are filling the courses. Also when my ds did his GCSEs he was holding places at two colleges so only gave up one place after he'd got his results. So more places will become available.

I agree nobody will care about his GCSEs once he's done his next level course either.

(we appealed our son's Eng lang GCSE grade and it came back a grade higher, the school also suggested an appeal for science but we didn't bother with that one).

Edited: just seen you have mentioned Guildford, so have a look at Farnborough tech and even Basingstoke tech as well.

You need to get appointment for a couple more colleges in that case. Several
have been mentioned.

He was predicted all 6s and 1 7 so it’s come out of left field really. He got mainly 6s in his mocks.

You really need to speak to his school and find out about appeals. Was he unwell when he took the exams?