Poor results gcse

[Pipandmum]

My son’s just come home with worse results than expected and he wasn’t expected to do well! He’s always been overconfident and did hardly any work, but he’s done worse in maths than mocks even with added tutoring. Even his relatively good subjects he’s got 3s. I’m sure he’s devastated even though pretending not to care. It does t affect his plans he’s going to apprenticeship college it’s just he’s done so much worse than his mates. All he got was the two English papers How do I comfort him yet not mitigate the fact it’s his own fault he’s dine so badly and he needs to understand he can’t float thru life on charm? One paper will be looked at as he’s only a couple marks off a 4 and he needs that or has to retake.

Cha! Why comfort? I would say he better work hard to do good in apprenticeship because with those grades he has no other option. Think he needs a wake up, not a hug.

Just support him and let him learn his own lessons from it.

I say comfort for lack of better word. And because he’s devastated too and no one wants to see their child suffer, no matter how much they are responsible for it! He’s going in to school tomorrow to file for remark and to see if he was close on any other.
He certainly has been taken down a few pegs, he doesn’t need me to rub it in.

I'm not sure you're even allowed to post on MN if your DC doesn't achieves 6s and above!

Seriously, he has English, that's great!

There are plenty of parents of lazy boys on MN...luckily fir them they seem to be quite bright and pull off decent grades. If your DS isn't academic it's not his fault, so he shouldn't be given a harder tone than a bright lad who did no work.

As Steven Fry said on TV this morning, GCSE results matter today, but they won't matter in the end.

I think you just need to get practical, sort out what he is definitely going to do next year and order a pizza and ice cream.

Is he better than his friends at anything? Can you find a photo on your phone if him doing something his good at, pretend you've accidentally found it, show it to him and say "I don't know anyone else who is as kind to their nan as you/can score a goal like that, just show him that you really value him for who he is.

I know more than one person who's got through life on charm and a bit of focus in the right direction!

My son did okay but he was lazy and did zero revision. He could and should have done so much better. Today we have just been practical and have enrolled him for A levels at a college (he didnt get the grades to remain at his schools 6th form. He is also pretending it's okay. I've told him how disappointed in his efforts I am.

End of the day, he chose not to study. Let's hope he does better at A levels.

Sometimes boys especially take that bit longer to mature. Fortunately there are other paths to having a good education and career! FWIW you also get the cohort of bright but lazy students who do really well at GCSE without much work but then crash and burn in a big way in Year 12, because you can't do that with A levels...

Actually there are not really many other paths. My DS didn't get any GCSEs either first time or retakes. Without any exams at all he is not eligible for an apprenticeship, further education (funded) or anything much. No employer will look at him. He hasn't a hope. (Not personable, articulate, strong, quick .. )

He was also lazy but struggles academically so is not very motivated. I am not sure how we are going to address this.