Apprenticeship -no GCSE's?

[lampshadelife]

My son isn't overly academic. He is bright, a good student and in his mock GCSE's he is got passes in all subjects except maths, albeit lower passes.

He has know what he wants to do career wise for a long time now.

He wants to doing carpentry and joinery. And the ultimate goal is to work for himself one day.

I know GCSE's are important and my son is still taking them seriously, but given that he will likely get low pass grades or possibly not pass!, will he still be accepted into an apprenticeship?

I can't be clear if you need a certain level of passes in GCSE to enter an apprenticeship?

Could someone knowledgeable let me know please.

Thanks in advance

It will depend on the specific college courses - most will require maths and English. The grades will depend on the college itself so it's worth finding out the right course(s) for him and taking advice on entry requirements.

There may be level 2 apprenticeships but he would still be expected to study maths/numeracy alongside a level 2 then hopefully 3 qualification.

If he eants to be a joiner he will need maths

At the NHS we ask for C or higher in Maths and English even to study a level 2 apprenticeship. They really are the major gateway qualifications.

I think most places will expect a certain level of GCSE, for example C and above. My husband did an apprenticeship and had to have a certain level of qualifications (which he had above anyway) and has tests to get in, which included maths.

Some collages offer courses though, so that might be his best way in, build up to a certain level in colleges and then apply for an apprenticeship.

I was course leader for Functional Skills and retake GCSE English and maths in an FE college. We taught many apprentices, on all sorts of courses.

The level of apprenticeship your DC is accepted on will be, in part, decided by his maths and English results. There will be a class available for him to improve his results, indeed they are compulsory.

Best advice is to let him hear course tutors tell him about the compulsory maths/English classes. But focus on finding the right apprenticeship, let the college deal with the 'details'.

Good luck

If he doesn't have English and Maths Level 2 he will have to do English and Maths classes alongside his apprenticeship as is said above. Usually you don't NEED GCSE passes for a level 2 apprenticeship, however, the employment part of any apprenticeship is very competitive, unless you know a carpenter who is going to take him on he needs to do the best he possibly can to increase his chances, otherwise he will probably end up just doing a college course. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but doesn't sound like what he wants.

If someone begins a college course and studies the maths and English alongside to gain the required grades - what happens if they don’t achieve them at resit? Are they no longer able to continue the course?

He can study a college course level 1/2 carpentry with Maths and or English alongside. Is he in Year 11? Is it possible to put in an intervention with his maths now? We got my son 1hr a week maths tutoring from Sept of year 11 - best money we spent last year and the reason he managed to pass. Gave him more choices post sixteen and was great for his self esteem.

Iirc you can be awarded a Level 2 without Maths/English ( just like another gcse) but cannot achieve Level 3.

I think you can technically start some apprenticeships without, if you take maths and English alongside. But in practice if a company can take one apprentice and have the choice between a someone with GCSE's and someone without, they'll probably choose the one with.

All he can do is his best, and and as long as he passes a few he will be doing better then some, and has the back up of resiting maths or English alongside if he doesn't get either.

Does his school do wood work or similar (might be called DT resistant materials)? If he can get a good grade in that it will probably be more important to a joiner then academics anyway.