Not sure where to go next

[SoloDadd]

Hi everyone

(warning long post and all feedback would be so welcome).

I’ve got a situation on my hands that I feel under pressure to get resolved asap.

My daughter is 16 (year 11). She wants to study psychology/forensics at university.

She has spent the last year and a half in Australia with her mum. She has just returned to the UK.

We live in Surrey.

After ringing round a few schools, it is clear she will not be accepted into year 11 as she is so far behind (a year and a half term) on the GCSE courses.

She is resistant to going back a year (year 10).

At the moment we have settled on the idea of her being privately home tutored for 5 subjects (English literature, English language, double science and maths) with a view to getting grade 6+ in each, to get into a 6th form college or school in Sep 2024. Unfortunately, there are still are many issues with this approach.

Firstly, most college and school intake has already started, and she’ll be up against other kids with way more GCSEs Etc…

Secondly, she is definitely behind on maths and science. She believes she has dyslexia and dyscalculia. I’ve just submitted a request for her to be assessed, although this may be too late to provide any help for her come exam time.

Thirdly, her motivation to self study is low and aside from getting the tutors in, I simply am holding too much to be able to help her with her studies.

She attended a Steiner school in her early years until the age 11.

It may be that she should just go back into a more progressive style of schooling. Our concern here is that she doesn’t get to do the degree that she wants to.

I am stretched beyond capacity and I am looking for another pair of hands to help with a school/6th form college search. Someone who knows about alternative/progressive schooling, as well as mainstream. Someone who can find the perfect fit and help us get her on her way.

I realise this is a somewhat ambiguous and generalised request but would appreciate any feedback/help.

Warmly

Dan

The obvious answer is that your teenager needs to do what she is resistant to doing namely starting in year 10. If she does have some area of significant weakness a tutor in addition could help. You have a teen who is already behind due to being educated differently, has possibly some learning needs and isn't good at self study. The answer here is that to get to university or indeed a standard career she needs the standard route. She needs someone to sit her down and spell out what she needs to do even if it isn't what she wants.

Who have you submitted a request for her to be assessed to? There is very limited dyslexia testing unless you pay for it

where do you live?
a14-19 school may be an option

Do you think she has dyslexia and dyscalculia, or does she just have massive gaps in the basics because the 'alternative' school didn't teach them well?

There are colleges that take children from 14. Perhaps she would be happy to do some GCSEs from scratch at one of those? It sounds like you might still need a tutor on top.

Would it be better for her to return to Australia to finish her education?

Yes thank you. I’m feeling this is the most logical route. Finding a good school is the next step. Slightly progressive is our preference. She is also open to a boarding school, as am I.

BDA Assessments. I have been given four different assessors. Most of them have a lead in time of about 2-3 months. There is one however, who can do the assessment this month – perhaps less qualified but I’m assuming they’re more or less the same? My inclination is to go for this one to get the ball rolling. Any tips would be welcome!

This is not an option as her mother is not a safe holding environment for her.

There are some providers who do GCSE'S in a year, but she has already missed this half term. Oxford, London or Brighton have a few providers - but are costly.

6 should be sufficient to get into sixth form or college, if that is there entry requirements.

If she has additional needs, 1 year GCSE'S may be too much, going in to year 10, so long as not at her old school should be ok, most children won't know and if you want to achieve something an extra year is nothing and if additional needs, gives more time to develop. If she does have dyscalclia, an independent may ge better if they offer igcse because the maths exams allow a calculator (state schools can't offer igcse).

Surrey is a big county. I don’t think there’s a chance that anyone will take a year 11 student, unless it’s to redo year 10. I’m not convinced that five subjects will get a place at 6th form college, particularly to do courses that will lead to forensic science. Is this a good path for her to follow if she’s struggling with maths and science? There will be opportunities for psychology at 6th form, but I think she’ll be up against students with more qualifications.

If she can’t go back to Australia and she refuses to redo year 10, I’d look at investigating boarding schools. I have no idea whether they have flexibility in changing year groups though.

Whereabouts in Surrey are you?

If you're anywhere near Farnham, the Helen Arkell Centre might be a good place to test for dyslexia. And Frensham Heights might be a good fit if you are looking for a more progressive school.

As you say that Boarding is a possibility, have you spoken to Charterhouse?

https://www.charterhouse.org.uk/academic/educational-support

A few things.

Firstly psychology/forensics is an extremely maths/science heavy degree. If she is behind in maths and science....

However, many teenagers change their mind multiple times about what degree they want to do before they actually go.

So, firstly A levels are not necessarily the only route to university. There are also access courses (usually for students over 19) and btecs. Forensic science in particular might have a btec that she could study at a college that would lead to university.

Studying at home with tutors requires a lot of grit on behalf of the student which certainly my teenager did not have.

There are plenty of private tutorial colleges that offer one or two year gcse courses for international students - I'm not familiar with Surrey but this kind of thing - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ManderPortmannWoodward#/media/File%3AManderPortmannWoodward(MPW))_Logo.svg

However if she is not used to standard British education (and if she has been in a Steiner school and then Australia I'm guessing she isn't) then she will find it a serious culture shock,

You may be able to persuade a local one to take her on, although I expect they will want some idea of where she is academically.

Do you have any idea where she is academically? My understanding is that Steiner schools have a very different understanding of science, for example, than most schools. So if she hasn't been taught the content that in the U.K. system is taught in primary and early secondary she might struggle with GCSEs.

Have a look at Roedean - they have a one year gcse course for overseas students. They offer flexi and weekly boarding and wouldn't be too far from Surrey.

You can study forensic science at a lot of different levels.

Not sure how local this is to you but

www.brooklands.ac.uk/courses/applied-science/

They offer courses for students from age 16 and the lowest level course only requires gcse grades 1-3.

(They offer higher level courses as well).

If she wants to do forensic science at uni then the standard route would be a-levels, biology,chemistry and maths. She'd probably need to get more than a 6 to stand a chance of doing well in them.

Bedales are moving away from GCSEs and on to their own curriculum anyway, so they might be worth a look.

I home educate (HE) my children and many local HE teens round here go to colleges which have gcse provision for 14-16 year olds. They usually come out with 5 GCSEs which is enough to go onto college or sixth form (for example our local grammar school sixth form and our local FE college require just 5 GCSEs grade 5 or above).

Might be worth searching the internet for similar courses local to you.