Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think my DS is completely stuffed

472 replies

logincard · 18/08/2021 06:54

my DS has 5 grade 7s and 4 6's at GCSE.

he missed out on acceptance to his grammar school for A level ( by one point) and we now have no place for him to study A levels.

He had a conditional offer from another school. He has the grades, but I found out yesterday that he never actually accepted this offer ….

I have contacted every state and private school in the borough and close by and no one has a space, we have appealed a grade at his grammar school. (But I hold out little hope for that)

What can we do? He has. No space for A levels . And no one has to help us, he’s just on his own ….

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Hugoslavia · 18/08/2021 09:19

'he has no one and is just on his own'. Who do you expect to help him? Whose responsibility is it to sort it out? Did you not check his forms/make sure that he had a backup? You'll have to look into colleges, online courses or apprenticeships. Perhaps work experience for a while would prove valuable.

girlmom21 · 18/08/2021 09:20

OP stop being aggressive to people who are trying to help and look at schools and colleges with more of a commute.

asadlittleflower · 18/08/2021 09:22

I bumped into an ex student who started at Esher College, felt it wasn't for him and moved at Half Term to Waldegrave School Sixth Form. He did exceptionally well. Places do pop up quickly at the start of term.

HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 18/08/2021 09:22

Richmond College offers around 100 A Levels or A Level equivalents: www.rutc.ac.uk/our-courses/16-18.html

Weird thread.

MyShoelaceIsUndone · 18/08/2021 09:22

Why doesn’t he call the school he got the conditional from and tell them if his mistake for not replying?

PricklesTheHedgehog · 18/08/2021 09:23

Try MPW in central London, private but absolutely worth it for their small classes, weekly assessments and focus on the individual.

It's an easy commute for anyone in SW London.

AuntieGlitterball · 18/08/2021 09:23

He should be entitled to three years of Further Education. You could suggest to him the idea of a 1 year course in something he has an interest in, then reapply for A levels for the following year. My daughter did this when a job aboard post A levels fell through (she had accepted a deferred Uni place). She was accepted on the course a day before it started. She had a telephone interview. She had a brilliant year that was less stressful too. Good luck.

LadyPenelope68 · 18/08/2021 09:24

@YouJustDoYou

No. 16 in the UK.

That’s incorrect. You have to be in education, in school or college, or in an apprenticeship until 18.

CutePanda · 18/08/2021 09:24

You live in London but can’t find a sixth form college offering A levels? I find that really hard to believe. Your Ds will just have to do an hour commute to college. That’s nothing. I had to do that and I don’t live in London which has good transport links!

SunShinesBrightly · 18/08/2021 09:26

I get the feeling that the OP wants her DS to go to a particular type of college/6th form to study certain subjects (and only those subjects) at A-level and there is no flexibility.

The fact that his current school has told him he does not have a place - missing only one mark is also odd. Is there a reason why they too aren’t showing a degree of flexibility?

dottydodah · 18/08/2021 09:26

Maybe look at some places outside your area? Here we have an excellent college about 20 miles away .Accessible by train .My own Son went out of area about 6 miles on a bus provided by them small fee about fifty quid a month or so .

borntobequiet · 18/08/2021 09:27

I believe a number of colleges have dropped A level provision because schools got much better at hanging on to pupils after Y11, A levels are expensive to run (and FE is desperately underfunded) and applicants often not up to it. The one I worked in focused instead on access to HE courses and apprenticeships.
If your DS can find a decent apprenticeship - and there are some seriously good ones, for example in cyber security - he might be much better off than if he went down the A level/University route. But good apprentices are proactive, so he’d have to up his game ticking boxes.

HaveringWavering · 18/08/2021 09:27

www.davidgamecollege.com

This place is near my office, maybe he could commute in from South London?

HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 18/08/2021 09:28

Yes, something really doesn't add up here. I went to a super selective sixth form (took me an hour each way, shock horror!) and they let my friend in with a whole grade lower than her offer. Quibbling over one point for a student they know well just doesn't make sense.

SunShinesBrightly · 18/08/2021 09:28

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl

Richmond College offers around 100 A Levels or A Level equivalents: www.rutc.ac.uk/our-courses/16-18.html

Weird thread.

Exactly.
LadyPenelope68 · 18/08/2021 09:28

@logincard

Does anyone know who we ask for help ? Who is responsible for making sure all 16 year olds have a place in education / some kind of learning ? and does anyone know if the child gets a 'choice' about what they do ? i.e. could he be made to do a beautician course if that's the only thing with spaces ?

He’s 16 years old so still classed as a child, it’s YOU who is responsible for sorting things out and making sure there was a Plan B and even a Plan C. If it comes down to it, he may have to reconsider an alternative route other than A Levels if that’s all that’s available. There are many, many college courses that will have places and many apprenticeship posts that he could look at.

MyOtherProfile · 18/08/2021 09:28

What a nightmare. Could he do some kind of other course for a year then a levels next year? Not ideal, I know.

thenewduchessofhastings · 18/08/2021 09:29

Those grades are excellent and the grammar school won't take him?;I'd be questioning if I'd want him to go to a school like that.

Have you no access to any sixth form colleges in your area?

Willowkins · 18/08/2021 09:29

Just a thought but do any of those colleges do the International Baccalaureate?

Morethanthis71 · 18/08/2021 09:29

Ah just read all your posts OP, the school he is currently at is legally obliged (if in England) to give him a place in their Sixth Form. He might not have the specific grades for the specific courses he wants to do (although he has a good suite of grades) but they cannot refuse him a place.

blahblahblah321 · 18/08/2021 09:30

Are you sure Kingston college doesn't do A Levels? I'm sure my niece was looking there a couple of years ago. May have changed now though

TeenMinusTests · 18/08/2021 09:31

This might be a bit left field, but anyway.
Many adults commute from Winchester to London.
Could your DS do it the other way around for Peter Symonds College in Winchester?
There must be places out of London on commuter lines somewhere.

fiona121212 · 18/08/2021 09:31

Richmond college definitely does A levels. My daughter had a place at Teddington school, Richmond College, and Esher. She is taking the Esher one. Many of her friends had multiple offers so there will be places coming up. Good luck

LadyPenelope68 · 18/08/2021 09:32

@logincard

Richmond College do NOT do A levels

This shows how little research you’ve actually done. Richmond College have a dedicated Sixth Form Centre offering A Levels.

Bythemillpond · 18/08/2021 09:33

Blossomtoes

I think the being in education or training is just guidelines and if it was the law then it would be too hard and cost too much to do and also they can’t force people who could in theory be married with children and into a college course when they have rent snd bills to pay and need to be out working.
The legislation does not fit in with other laws so it doesn’t mean anything.

Swipe left for the next trending thread