only three GCSEs?

[Marshallstreet]

Home educated dd is on a path to only gain three GCSE’s (if she is lucky).

She has been working extremely hard to get in to a selection of academies abroad for a certain activity (so sorry for being vague but it’s a small community so would potentially be outing). It turns out she has been waitlisted at all of them, against expectation, and it is overwhelmingly likely that she won’t have a place come September.

I know I have failed her by not making her take her academics more seriously but please understand it has been a very difficult situation, where she has this specific plan of what she wants to do, and enough aptitude to be seriously considered for places in these academies. She has had to be very focused on developing in this area and things have been incredibly intense, so we decided that she could go for it, as it couldn’t wait for later, while academics can always be caught up on.

Things are not great right now and we have to salvage what we can. She has one gcse from
last year which she took one year early, and is doing foundation maths and one additional subject now. I think the best she can hope for in her second subject is a 6 or 7 and she’d have to have luck on her side for that.

For September, could she go to school for a levels with only three GCSE’s? I am guessing no? Would she have to repeat year 11? we could home school a levels and provided she does well in those, what effect would her poor gcse outcomes have? Would employers and universities have an issue with it, if she does have good a levels?

Which GCSEs will she have?

I know I have failed her by not making her take her academics more seriously

Have you been taking home educating her seriously?

She could go to college and do a levels and probably need to do 1 or 2 GCSE’s along side . Is she doing English and science?
she may struggle with a levels they are quite a bit harder than GCSE’s. She could do nvqs or btec diploma which are equivalent to GCSE’s (L2) and a levels (l3)

i seriously doubt she would be able to start a level courses with three GCSE’s.
why not take some more GCSE’s next year to bring her up to six or seven?
alternatively level one or level two BTEC?
which GCSEs will she have: Maths and ?

And then try again in one or two years

What has she been working so hard at if not her GCSEs? A sport?

It might be difficult to study more GCSEs, sixth form colleges tend to only offer maths and English (and occasionally science) for retakes. There will be BTECs and other vocational qualifications available though.

She will need to continue at college to get GCSE Maths and English at a grade 4 before she is allowed to leave education under 18.
She will likely need a grade 5 or 6 in any subject she wants to do an A level in.

Maybe look at BTECs - they do them in a range of subjects and entry level can be lower and then you move on to an extended diploma which is equivalent to 3 A levels.

Most employers require English and Maths GCSE as a minimum.

I'm assuming she's involved in sport. Can she do a qualification in that that may lead to a job?

ds only got three GCSE’s and has done three a’levels and at a school that isn’t the easiest to get into (he moved schools)

I think btecs would have e been better for him but he was determined to do a levels and is expected to get 2x b and 1x c

he has found school much easier since working on subjects he actually has an interest

don’t worry it will be fine not all children do so well academically but that isn’t the be all and end all there are many opportunities for further education

Home Ed students tend to have different entry requirements so you would need to talk to specific colleges.

Presumably you are looking at Maths & English Language plus one other?
With foundation maths she is capped at a 5.

Your best bet may be to find a Level 2 course for 1 year, with a view to doing the Level 3 for the following 2 years if nothing comes from the specialist academies.

Depends what the GCSEs are in, most require maths and English. She can always go to a college and sit the relevant course to gain equivalent GCSEs if they are necessary

It doesn’t sound like A levels would necessarily be the correct path for her but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have options.

What is the area she is interested in? I would look at what local colleges offer that she would be interested in then she can resit GCSEs if needed alongside that.

My daughter couldn’t do secondary school and had EOTAS tutors coming into our home ( wonderful people)
I remember breaking down once in front of the English tutor and head of EOTAS. Both were lovely and said to not worry, education can be taken up at any stage of life, it isn’t the b all . I still carry their wise words because it is so true

The 6th form college my son has a place at requires a minimum of five GCSEs at grade 4 and above to do A Levels, while specific A Levels may also have additional entry requirements (e.g maths at grade 6 to do economics, English language at grade 6 for some essay - heavy subjects.) They offer vocational courses for students who don't have the grades required to do A Levels, and the opportunity to resit GCSE maths/English language if needed. It might be that a vocational course suits your DD better - perhaps there might be one that would enable her to use/get academic credit for her special talent

So she has been training for sport/drama/dance or something, pouring everything into that and not leaving enough time for study? Would she have the capability to do academicly if she applied herself?

If so, then as you say, academics can always be caught up on, so if she has reached the end of the road with the other pursuit, I'd say just repeat the year to catch up. She can do GCSE's in a year, then get her a levels at 19, which won't have a significant impact on her life long term.

I don't understand why this has only been flagged up as a potential problem now! Surely in the last 2 or 3 years the OP and her daughter have sat down and considered what might be necessary academically for her future plans and tailored the Home Schooling accordingly. It seems that a basic planning step has been omitted.

Presuming here that we are talking about maths, English language and one other GCSE. She absolutely needs a maths and English language GCSE really to proceed onto anything. Should she not have these she can go to college and take them alongside btec or possibly A level. I think though, it will be hard taking the step up to A level, academics wise. Also regarding universities you really have to trawl through individual university admission requirements for whatever course she may want to do and apply based on that. I think many universities prefer a clutch of GCSEs done at the same time as you understand that doing 8/9/10 together the same year is a hell of a different ball game to doing one or two each year.

I guess l would be speaking to various education settings to see what her next step could be. It’s possible a sixth from college will take her but I can’t see many schools doing so (but I may be wrong). I guess if you home educate A levels with an eye on the step after that could work but that’s a hell of a hard couple of years unless you’re an experienced educator.

Take heart though, some artsy expensive private schools have decided to only do two GCSEs (Bedales for instance). Although how that will pan out for their students once they leave 🤷🏻‍♀️

All the schools locally to me insist on 5 GCSEs including English & Maths for A Levels - even for home-ed applicants.
Colleges are a little more flexible.

You could also try for level 2 courses at college (including more GCSEs if that's a desirable option for her).

Going to be honest - if GCSEs have not gone well while home ed, are A-Levels as home-ed going to be any better?

The schools around me all require points to get in to do alevels. The lowest school offer is 36 points (so either 4 9s or 9 4s for example), the grammar school is 56 points (so 8 GCSE’s 7 or higher). Then you need at least a 6 to study the alevel subject in either school.

She'll need 5 GCSEs to get to do A levels at college. She could get onto a Foundation course now if she wanted. How academic is she? If this is simply a case of she's bright but hasn't been given the opportunity, you could repeat a year at home / online school and do 4-5 GCSEs in that time.

My daughter repeated a year due to significant absence from education during years 10 and 11. Is now at college smashing her A levels so it can be done.

I think your best bet is for her to spend the next year doing another two GCSEs which will then increase her opportunities for college courses.

Are A Levels a good idea if she's only managed 3 GCSEs?!

Repeating year 11 is not an option. Schools don’t allow repeats due to government funding.

you could homeschool her to get some more GCSEs if she wants them.

i sssume the courses were music or acting or similar that GCSEs aren’t really relevant for.

does she want to apply again next year?

you are better off looking at alternative paths for what she wants to do.

Which GCSE’s will she have? Functional skills lvl 2 Maths and English are available online and can be done fairly quickly. Colleges will take on students with less than 5 GCSE’s for some lvl 2 diplomas and access to FE courses which will lead to lvl 3 she may be a bit ‘behind’ but it’s not the end of the world. Failing all that, she can do most lvl 3 courses when she is 19+ it just requires paying for them. If you are set on A levels these can be done via distance learning.

You need to say what GCSEs she’s sat and is sitting, and achieved or predicted grades for each. Options for a student with three Grade 8s including English and Maths will be very different for a student with three Grade 4s….

What would she want to do for A Level, or ultimately a career?