How can an 18 year old arrange a GCSE maths resit?

[HowSharperThan]

Just posting as I'm finding this all hard to get my head round and just wondered if anyone can give me any pointers:

18yo relative living with us, had a rough time over past few years and consequently has no qualifications at all other than a decent pass in GCSE English language. Failed all other GCSEs, went to college to do a basic skills course but dropped out rapidly.

Has now moved to live with us, got her act together a bit and is keen to go to college/ do an access course or similar but needs to retake and pass GCSE maths for that to be an option. This is proving harder to organise than expected as she doesn't seem to qualify for most adult education courses as they start at 19. She turns 19 next spring but that then seems to be too late to enroll for any courses taking the GCSE next summer. Does she really have to wait a whole year to even start this?!

She originally planned to try to do a resit this autumn but apparently that's only an option if you do it in the place you originally sat it, which would be the school she left two years ago 😐. She contacted her old college who said she could go back there and restart the basic skills course but bith college and school are in a totally different part of the country so that's not feasible!

I'm finding it very hard to find info on what is available to those who are between 16 and 19, particularly in a new area. Her Job Centre person said they could help 'refer her to some educational things' but so far that doesn't seem to have happened.

I've got no experience of this as my own kids are much younger, and husband and I both had pretty straightforward academic trajectories. Although she's obviously an adult she's very young for her age in some ways (I suspect undiagnosed ASD) so I'm trying to handhold her through this, and honestly it's baffling me, so I don't blame her for not being able to work out what she needs to do!

Grateful for any advice!

Has she tried schools and colleges local to you? Colleges are 16-19 as you say, I would hope one at least would welcome her. Registration is normally from A level results day. Some may not talk to her because she hasn't already registered with them but hopefully there will be somewhere happy to take her. You might need to spread a wide net. Look at small colleges and even school sixth forms as well as big ones - we found the smaller ones much more flexible round here.

I don't know if it's an option to register privatly at a center and teach herself via u tube can you affors a tutor for her

I agree that sixth form colleges might be best. She will probably need to register and then go in on gcse results day. The one my dd went to was brilliant on the day at helping students change their plans based on their results. They definitely did resits for students who had done GCSEs at school.

What sort of college course does she want to do? I think at most FE colleges you can retake Maths GCSE or equivalent alongside their courses in eg beauty/ catering/ travel & tourism etc etc.

edited on rereading your OP more carefully

Contact all the local FE colleges that are easy to travel to and see if they can take her. Can she drive, that will help widen the net, although my DDs have friends who take the train to the next town regularly?

Does she know what she wants to do alongside resitting maths? There will be an option for her this year.

I will say don't turn up at a college on results day without speaking to them first, my kid's college had appointments for all the kids already registered that week then had days the following week for people who hadn't previously registered. Not sure about the FE college but you don't want her knocked back at the first hurdke if can be avoided.

I think you need to do it alongside another course or use an adult education centre which she has to pay for. She could apply for a level 2 course at a local 16-19 college and as long as she starts in the Sept before her 19th birthday she should be able to enrol. I think you have to go in after GSCE results day - around here they usually reserve the first day of enrolment slots to those with conditional offers.

My daughter is due to start a level three course in September and she was 18 in July. She actually wanted to do an adult access to higher ed course but as you have found you can't do that until 19.

She should be able to do a (free) 1 year at college to do a level 1 / 2 course plus the maths resit.

But otherwise I think you are correct there is a funding black hole if you are the age for the third year at college but not there you can't access maths / English eiher through adult education (too young) or through college (need a full time course).

You can pay for a private tutor and pay for the exams at an exam centre.

I agree, contact your local FE college. She can take a course and they'll give her lessons for her GCSE. She needs to enrol before she's 19 in order to qualify for free tuition.

Failing that get in touch with the National Careers Service as they'll give her lots of advice about next steps!

This could be so exciting for her!

Access courses are only available (as you have found) to over 19s

if she signs up for another course at an FE college she can do the resit alongside that. Any course that is a higher level than her existing qualifications is funded.

Adult courses at an FE college probably evening classes.

Definitely 16-19 college. Otherwise if she is able she could do online/teach herself and pay to register as a private student. She could then pay to sit in November.

Would online suit her? Something like £2 tuition hub would enable her to learn at home at her own pace. You'd need to arrange and pay for exam entry at an exam centre.

Colleges will offer maths gcse but generally only alongside another course. Probably a level 1 BTEC. If she found a BTEC she wanted to do and got a place the maths resit would automatically be part of it and you wouldn't have to pay for it.

Age 19 for access to adult courses. My DD is 18 and an adult evening gcse course would suit her best but sadly not available for another 12 months.

There should be funding for them to resit a year 14 if not yet 19, and they could potentially take other level 2s alongside. English and maths minimum are required for Access courses, either before or during, but Access courses require self funding(education loan).

Speak to colleges about apprenticeships; if you need to redo maths/english the college will usually offer it to current apprentices. They also have links to employers, so she could earn a tiny amount whilst gaining a qualification. The colleges may well be able to help with other ways for her to access the course/exam.

Thank you for offering her the support she needs.

Students under 19 without maths need to study a full time program to be funded. That’s where they’re finding it tricky.

However, they may be able to do an access course (I would have agreed this) as well as English and maths as it would have added up to a full timetable.

Colleges will have phone lines open through the summer. Give them a call or pop in and ask. There are loads of options. It’s just hard to see and understand if you don’t know the system.