to think that my DS has been fucked over by his schools 6th Form's greed for accademic results

[heleninahandcart]

DS, severely dyslexic, is was doing A levels at 6th Form. He acheived a D and E in two of the harder academic subjects, failed 2 softer subjects. School told DS yesterday that his results although a pass are poor and he'd be better off doing an aprenticeship. His IQ has been assessed several times is between 142 and 146. He is out, no resits allowed, no re taking the year. Only if he had got 3 passes could he have stayed. He went into school to see how he did and came out having left school . I've spent years trying to find every way of building his fragile self esteem. He is crushed. Didn't even receive a congratulations of what he had achieved, I was there and heard it.

This is a London school, just changing to academy status on 1 September, and its in competition with 'the' area school. He had been told on entry to 6th form that there is always the option of 2 A levels plus 2 AS levels/BTEC etc. This has apparently changed.

Does anyone know if they can just do this? It is not common practice in most schools colleges, but common in London. Of course I'm trying to see if he can find a place somewhere else, even if he has to travel outside London but he is really going to be up against it and first 'consolation' goes to colleges and schools existing students. So far nothing.

Helenahandcart - you sound like me. left school at 15, uni in my 20's. Really had to prove I was not thick like they said..... one DS is dyslexic, I could see it in him at age 3, told school every year, always brushed off despite the strong hereditary nature of Dyslexia. Eventually got some help, and secondary school better than primary. Had extra time and computers in exams, we actually refused a scribe, having been advised by a friend (uni lecturer) that this would not be provided at Uni for someone who was actually physically able to write or type, and that typing was a far better "real life solution", the school wasn't keen, but only because scribes were what they "always do", under guidelines set up years ago before computer use was so prevalent.

Your DS is lucky - he has a mum who is a role model, you got a PHd despite dyslexia, via a non traditional route. And he can do the same with your support.

loopy thanks for the link. Also thanks to others with teaching experience, I think you are right in that the school may have given the right 'advice' in the general scheme of things, even if for the wrong reasons.

I have been worried he wouldn't actually get an appropriate university place when the time came, or worse, a degree grade which today IMO may be worthless in the job market today.

I'm really not convinced university is the only way, I'm ranting because its taken a LOT over the years for my DS to get this far and now he feels totally useless. I originally thought university was not going to be his path, but he went for it anyway and of course I supported him.

Don't worry about uni yet.

Where in London are you?

Just to let you know my husband works in a cutting-edge design company and every single person where he works (including him) has dyslexia, apart from one poor man who has to check their stuff. Your son could do a design based course now at a local college to see what sort of design he wants to go into. A levels and university are not the only way. I also studied design (long ago back in the dark ages) and I did art courses at the local collage to start with. Your son will probably love that as it is a chance to experiment with everything and find his niche. He can go onto a degree after this if he wants to.

I hope that this is some sort of help.

North London, Harringey/Barnet border. He's not totally set on design and in fact although he passed History and English, it was Design and PE he failed (could make design at college tricky now?). Apparently, he does have design talent. What he has always wanted to do is Law, hence his choice of History and English. Design was the back up. Possible other backup is sport/tourism related. Maybe this turn of events will be the making of him in taking a different path.

at eggandcress, I had a couple of staff check my work too...

Also once slipped in an extra zero in a budget request and got 40,000 rather than 4,00 to spend. There is hope

FFS 4,000

I work in a school 6th form and a college in a careers advisor role-you should go and see your local connexions office on Monday morning (if you are lucky enough to still have one) and find out about alternatives. To be honest, with your sons grades I would not advise him to re-do his AS, unless he was predicted much higher grades throughout the yr and there was a blip over the exams. AS/A2 do not suit every student. Your son could consider level 3 BTEC courses at college, equivalent to A levels, still go to Uni if you want to. Much more practical and job-related, no exams etc. They may suit his learning style better, and all colleges do dyslexia screening and offer support if required. There will be people to speak to at colleges next week about suitable courses. Good luck to him.

DH is at uni, dyslexic and doing a subject briadly located somewhree between design and technial engineering (lighting desogn but an emphasis for DH on the electronics side)

He ahs had a lot of offers of ehlp at uni in terms of access to PCs for extra hours (some of the software they use is limited access), exam time, counselling etc- he doesn;t take most of it up as he says that at 40 he has learned to compensate but wishes he'd had that at 16 so he would not be doing it at 40 IYSWIM

Dh didn't get in via a levels but experience and interview. it's dioable. Is a degree useful? goodnes yes: when other people in your field hav eone why make uypiurself less marketable? But never give up; there are ways

Your son is severely dyslexic and passed english!?! The hard work and talent that must have taken is amazing! Maybe A levels arent the wrong path but 4 of them is too much? I think colleges are much more adept to teaching people with SEN at a higher level. Get some advice from a college or even the OU

I agree that to do design at uni you will need a foundation course in art and design, A levels are one good way to do this, but not the only way. I would see what your local colleges provide in terms of btec/vocational art and design courses. Art and design are heavy going in terms of work load for A level and combined with 3 others he probably found the workload immense. Nothing to do with intellect, you need to be so organised to keep up with them all.

I can help advise on anything art based, so if you need more info I can see what I can do to help.

I've just stopped teaching A-levels (at a FE college) and they bent over backwards to help students with difficulties - and nobody mentioned statementing - the college carried out its own tests and offered help based on those. Thing is, though, I've seen lots of students - some with dyslexia etc, some without any difficulties - fail AS and A2s simply because it wasn't the right course for them. And also, I know this is hard to hear, but quite honestly, unless you get Cs in your AS exams, the A2s aren't worth taking.
My gripe was that students who were likely to struggle and fail / part fail were routinely let into do A-levels because they had the minimum GCSE requirements rather than being advised to do a similar qualification more suited to them.
Investigate the BTEC or design courses - they have equivalent status and will probably do more for him that trying to struggle with heavily word / essay based academic exams, not all of which will have coursework options.

I agree with LoopyLoops. I'm an A level teacher in a borough where GCSE results are pretty low.

If a student gets an E at AS, it's very, very likely he/she'll fail overall as the A2 is much harder than the AS.

OP, you say, "Given the chance, statistically students do better in the second A level year and many do it over 3 years, with multiple exam re sits taking the best results forward to achieve the final grade."

I have to query this. Statistically, students DON'T do better in the A2 year. They might if they got a B and they are highly motivated to get an A grade. The problem is that for a student in that situation to get an A, they have to go up by two grades in the A2 year, so that the average goes up one grade, if you see what I mean.

Many, many students get WORSE results in the resit. A resit means that the student has to do the ordinary A2 work (which is harder than the AS) plus the revision for the AS, which they had struggled with, otherwise no need for a resit. Factor in the Christmas holidays, and the fact it's either 7 months or 12 months since the original exam was taken, and it's easy to see why so many get worse results.

They can't take several resits. In theory if they have a January AS exam, they can resit in the June, the following January and the following June. There isn't a teacher alive who'd recommend that or give that level of support. Support for resits means time taken away from students who are having their first (and usually only) attempt.

In my college, he'd probably take the two A2's and take another AS. He would then end up with 2.5 A levels, assuming he passed, which isn't enough to get him into university.

There are full time BTEC Nationals in Design that he could take - have you both looked at them?

I have just remembered something, a student I mentored years ago.

She was severely dyslexic (SN is my field) and a great artist, truly talented. Her dad wanted her to do the a levels / degree route but wasn;t going to happen.

She did a BTEC (then called a first not sure now) then a BTEC National then on to a uni art course; we planned it in conjunction with the university art Lecturer, she took along her portfolio and they worked it out.

I've had some very helpful suggestions on here and thanks to all of you with the knowledge to put this into a wider context. All the teachers have expressed a similar view that DS would probably have had a hard time at school with A levels in one way or another. I'm grateful for you taking the time to tell it like it is.

I am beginning to see the positives of this situation. As a result of your posts I now also see there are lots of alternatives out there for DS which may actually be much more fulfilling/rewarding for him. I just need to help him past this horrible disappointment so he can find his way.

I can understand why you are upset. Truly I can. But sometimes, the best way of loving our children is to give them a realistic perspective.

I am already having to do that with DD1, who is 5. She (right now) is convinced that she will be a Farmer. Her hands will not be strong enough, let alone everything else (she has SN). I always encourage her, but add a comment like 'I'm not sure your hands will be strong enough to work with big animals, but you could work with the little ones, and feed the big ones...'

Nothing like this, but to me, the worst thing you could do is fight for your DS to continue a course which is a real struggle. It doesn't matter that he passed, if that pass won't get him where he wants to be.

DH is a 6th for lecturer and year tutor, he said he would have offered him the chance to re-sit, however if he plans to do design he would suggest a foundation Art, design or Graphics course at the community college.

6th form is not the be all and end all, however your DS's school seem to be very results orientated.....thats unfair!

This was my son last year. He's ADD and though bright always struggled to concentrate enough to get the results. School going for Academy status, new Headteacher. Son got two but failed two others and, like your son, went in to get his results and was told he'd left school - no resits. Devastated.

He's just finished year one of a college course and is totally happy, he's a different boy. Hope this happens with your lad too OP.

The saddest thing at work is when someone is on the wrong course. It's often because all of the family have been to the college and taken A levels and you'll get one member who really isn't suited to it.

You have to think specifically about your child, and it's hard to do that if everyone else is trooping off to do A levels. There will be courses where he will excel and others where he will fail. It's the same for all of us, isn't it? His struggle is with the type of course (ie exam based) rather than the subject, but once the mode of assessment is sorted, he will do well.

You know, it really doesn't sound as if a law degree is something he would enjoy at all. It would be a real struggle and I can't see he would get any enjoyment out of it at all. And probably not a good result either, tbh. Maybe rethinking now will be good for him in the long run. Sorry to sound negative, am a lawyer btw.

Drawn to this thread as DD (12) has mild dyslexia - just took her to Cambridge Uni the other day to have her brain waves measured as taking part in some research there ( otherwise not formally diagnosed)
Anyway was browsing the web the other day and noticed Anglia Ruskin University are very dyslexia friendly, especially their Art school in Cambridge ? ( DD loves art, as well as many other subjects) Wondered if this might be of interest ?
Also interested that people have mentioned ADD as feel this may affect me. I've heard there can be a hereditary link with dyslexia. All very interesting.
I'm sure there certainly should be more awareness and support these days OP, perhaps it's just finding the right place ? Am sorry his school have not been more supportive. I'd be very cross with the way they've handled things. Where's their commitment to supporting all students !

I agree with Amaretti. I'd misread the thread and thought he wanted to take Design. Why were his results so poor for that, OP? Have a look at his coursework mark - did he do alright on that? If not, had the teacher told him his marks were low?

Law would be very difficult for someone who is dyslexic as there is so much reading and writing involved. I would hate to take something that was just one big long struggle.

Has he thought of something like catering at college? Our college courses in catering are really successful, with students going on to open their own small businesses, work for major restaurants and hotels, work on cruise liners, etc. There's a lot of scope there.

Prehaps a BTEC or an apprenticeship would be the best thing for your son. Vocational qualificiations aren't a consultation prize for the stupid. An apprenticehip or a BTEC would be coursework based and dyslexia would be less of a handicap.

Uni is still an option with a BTEC

For example Anglia Ruskin appear to have places ( through clearing ) based on their Cambridge campus to study photography. Having spent an idyllic day there on Wednesday, punting along the river, I can't think of anything nicer !
( I noticed they also have a law department.)
BTW I'm sure your DS will be able to continue his studies OP, one way or another. Surely another school will be more generous and supportive if he does want to continue with A levels.
Hope I've been some help to you or others - just interested that A.R seem to be dyslexia friendly, and thinking Cambridge is such a pretty city !

The chance of making a career in photography is very, very slim, though. You'd have to be outstanding to even make a living (discounting teaching.)