To be disappointed about my DD’s future

[PookieDo]

My DD is in yr11 and until this year had not shown any interest in learning/the future. I have been trying everything to get her to focus and this year it really hit her that she had to try harder. But it’s too late. She’s not unintelligent FYI.

Her forecast GCSE grades are pretty rubbish. She’s going to scrape a 5 in English if she’s lucky. Everything else a 3 or 4.

I now don’t know what to do or how to help her. I think going on an apprenticeship isn’t always the answer. She can’t get into the 6th form with grades like this. But she has her heart now set on doing a particular BTech and a particular A Level. I don’t want to have to be the one to tell her she can’t do these (if this is the case) as she has no other plan.

I don’t even really know what the options are for her yet, not sure whether to encourage her into an apprenticeship, college, do retakes.

AIBU I’m disappointed FOR her and IN her that it will come to this and feels like it will be a hard few years ahead for her. I don’t want her in minimum wage jobs - she is demoralised enough as it is. On the other hand a lot of this is all her own fault.

Sorry i am getting narked. She doesn’t want an apprenticeship it’s just an option. So I’m not going to push it. Maybe it worked for someone else’s child I don’t think that is what mine wants. She doesn’t want to go work yet

Whilst I appreciate everyone telling me their no GCSE to success stories I can’t just stand back and let that happen it feels irresponsible and risky. I feel a lot of pressure from all round which is all contradictory:
butt out let her find her own way and make her own mistakes
get a private tutor to get her through them
resit them
find her an apprenticeship/job because education doesn’t matter

There are clearly a million options and different things work for us all.

Nothing wrong with an apprenticeship. I did one (business and admin) and now earn more than my cousin who did three years at uni learning the same thing. (We are the same age!)

Dont write her off already that wont Help!

Oh and most apprenticeships you go to college 1 or 2 days a week. Saying do an apprenticeship because education doesnt matter is actually really small minded and offensive.

Resit the year. She has her whole life ahead of her. I know many people who had to resist or do foundation courses and took longer to get where they wanted to be. In the plus side she’ll be a year older, more mature and focused.

Bear in mind that college timetables are rarely full time, allowing for those doing apprenticeships, work experience and self study. She might not need to attend every day or may have to go in earlier or stay later than her classes to use their bus service. Being able to travel independently would be an advantage.

Can she resit the GCSEs?
Generally, I think they can only get onto a free resit course if they had results < 4, and even then the selection is very limited. This is the largest available local programme & what they offer.

Yes she can re sit /re do GCSEs YeOlde. Education is free up until the age of 19. It will vary from school to school but most 6th forms will take students for that extra year and offer GCSE subjects (but doing the course more intense so it only takes a year) and then having the two years for A-levels or Btec. Most secondary schools market themselves as 11-19 schools. FE colleges are also known as 16-19. It's only once she would be over 19 she would be classed as a 'mature' student and have to pay.

Even over 19s don't pay for Maths and English gcse or equivalent,

But Book it isn't that simple to resit just to get a 'better' grade. Classes at college will be aimed at passing, and just won't cover topics to get eg a 6 or 7 and I'm not sure college would get funding for it either.

Also the GCSE / Level 2 subjects on offer will be limited.

The OP's DC's best options are to
a) work hard in y11
b) select an appropriate BTEC (if A levels ruled out) and work hard at it.
A BTEC done well can lead to university courses.

Haven’t read the whole thread but

She can only get max grade 5 as she is in all the lower exams cannot be the case, as the only GCSEs which are tiered are languages, science and Maths. And all of those you can get a 5 (good pass - equivalent of high C/low B)

TeenTimesTwo I will admit it may have changed in the last few years but GCSEs done in one year at either a 6th Form or FE college used to be not so much 're sits' but basically doing them from scratch - but in one year. Generally though doing GCSEs that way you only did 4 or 5 subjects (instead of half a million at school) so you had more time to just focus on those few important subjects.

Or it used to be you could go to the local college after GCSE to do extra GCSEs for a year because perhaps your school didn't offer that subject or you couldn't do that subject at the same time as another one you doing. It wasn't always doing a resit. It was just doing a GCSE. Maybe FE colleges have changed.

I did GCSE Sociology as a one year GCSE in Year 12 because my school didn't offer it in the normal GCSE years. It was an extra GCSE rather than a re take. And it was way more interesting than the subjects I was required to do before (eg science) that I had zero interest in so didn't try hard in. I am much more proud of my extra GCSE than most of my others.

It's weird, though. Every time I search for colleges & GCSE resits, all I can find is info about age 19+ or age 16-18 with < grade 4/C. No info about what happens if you merely want to improve a grade 4 to a grade 7 (which sounds like is what OP wants).

Can anyone supply link to describe the programme available to the kids who got >= 4 & want to improve? Or do they go into the same classes as the 16-18 yr olds who got < 4. Coz the range of choices for those still seem very limited, too.

Around here the regular schools stop at yr11, 6thFm is separate institution with limited GCSE menu. It's very confusing to me how the system works in other parts of England.

YeOldeTrout You generally have to pay to resit if you have passed with a grade 4. Colleges dong get funding for people who have already passed. Where I work we allow people to resist alongside their btec if they have a 4 or higher but they are charged for the exam fees. Those with less than a 4 dong have to pay.

My DD was predicted mainly bs and Cs in her GCSEs- this was 2 months before the exams...

She put her all into revision and ended up with 8As a B and a C
Her motivation and drive carried on through A levels and
She has just graduated uni with a 1st and bagged herself an amazing graduate job.

I don't think it's too late for her to pull her finger out- we are only 6 weeks into the school year!

That's a fab post Brigit and huge congrats to your DD!

As someone else said she is only limited in maths, science & languages. No other subjects are tiered papers.

If she works hard it is entirely possible. Dd managed to raise her grades from a predicted 6 to an 8 in a couple of subjects. Ds is currently predicted a 2 in English but I’ve got him a tutor & with perseverance we are hoping for a 5

I live in an area with very few school 6th forms. The entry criteria for most Btec courses are Gcse Geades 4/5 and for most A Level courses Grades 5/6 (except subjects like maths which need a 7.

PookieDo I did crap in my GCSE's (my own perception) as got B, B, (English) C (French), C (Geography), D (Maths) and EE for science. I didn't go to school much as was ill and also changed schools 4 times in high school for various reasons. I went on to do a course for a year in something that was totally useless but provides lots of interest to interviewers, I then did a BTEC and got an overall Merit, went to university and got a 2:2 BSc (barely attended there either due to illness), then did a post grad professional qualification at MSc level and worked in that profession for a few years before doing another MSc post grad professional qualification. If anyone had based my career on my GCSEs then I'd have been doomed. The reality is that my GCSEs were merely a stepping stone and didn't matter. I cried buckets at those results though. GCSEs aren't an indication of your eventual career or "success."

Might a Sixth Form college take her with a limited number of GCSEs? Dd only got 5 or 6 (ill health) but still went to a very good college and did 2 A-levels + one BTEC (could have done 3 A-levels but needed that particular BTEC for her plans).

Of course you want her to do the most of what she has and have the maximum amount of choices. That is only natural. But once it becomes clear which options have or have not been eliminated you may actually find the whole thing gets less stressful. I have.