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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

Ds has announced he is quitting A levels

15 replies

Nat6999 · 18/06/2021 03:37

Ds has told me that he is going to school in the morning to hand his ID pass in & is quitting his A levels. He was diagnosed with ME/CFS & long Covid earlier this year & says he hasn't got the energy to continue with his studies. As you can imagine I an heartbroken for him as all he has ever wanted to do was go to university to do Politics, he is doing well, getting good marks & I thought he really enjoyed what he was doing. This has come out of the blue, he doesn't want me to speak to school. I have tried to persuade him to either take a couple of days off to think about it or try to manage the 4 weeks until the summer holidays & have a proper rest over the holiday. Has anyone got a child in sixth form with ME/ CFS & how have they managed at school & is there anything I could speak to school about getting help for him? I'm sorry but at the moment all I can think is that I don't know what kind of future he will have.

OP posts:
ChakaDakotaRegina · 18/06/2021 03:51

I was all over the place at that age and didn’t know what I wanted. If you can persuade him to limp along for just another month and have a summer break I think it would give more options. Maybe try the ‘you will be left behind socially’ angle? It’s a hard final year but with parties and pubs mixed in and then really a two month break before uni starts. It will really be so much easier to finish a levels with a basic grade pass and then have a few years in industry or travelling etc.

Silkiecats · 18/06/2021 04:15

Could he/you go to the GP and see if they will sign him off? Or speak to school / senco.

BasiliskStare · 18/06/2021 04:28

@Nat6999

That is really hard.

My head says - if really is only 4 more weeks to summer holiday & he is doing well , I would be trying to persuade him to get through the 4 weeks and then have a great rest over the summer as you said - or how critical would next week be so that he could have a few days off , signed off by GP if necessary and just get through the last little bit of term.

I'm not telling you anything you have not thought of but if he does not have an actual exam tomorrow , could he stay at home and think about whether he wants to hand everything in over the weekend. That gives a little time to think before Monday ( my apologies DS is early 20s so I am a bit out of touch with exam things now especially with Covid restrictions etc )

But my best wishes are with you both.

NotBabiesForLong · 18/06/2021 04:56

It is a tricky time.

Dd has just finished u6. At the start of u6 she decided to quit. I think she was overwhelmed after so long in lockdown, more exams looming and stressed about everything

So I hunted for options with her, re-start 6th form, swap from a levels to btec, spoke to her teachers who were all in total shock and who all spoke to her.

We couldn't find any course options which worked better for her so she agreed to give it a little bit more of a go....and here we are. Just the other day she said how relieved she stuck it out and got to the end, as it was only approx 2 more terms and now she is all over and done with a levels forever. Chip away at it and keep plodding along.

So my summary is, be open minded, explore options....and it may just resolve itself after a small break and recharge of batteries.

Quail15 · 18/06/2021 05:16

I dropped out of my a levels before finishing the first year. I didn't have a medical reason ( although my brother was very unwell at the time and I think this was having a big effect on me). I planned to work and give myself time to think about what I wanted to do.

I found a couple of jobs, got a bit of life experience then started college a year later. I completed a vocational course plus an alevel and went on to study my profession at university.

I would try and encourage him to stay until the summer holidays but as long as he has some sort of plan I wouldn't be to worried.

Frenchfancy · 18/06/2021 05:45

Long covid is horrible. My DD is slowly getting better since having the vaccine. Give him time to recover, he has plenty of time to study later.

PaleGreenAndBrightOrange · 18/06/2021 05:46

I’m not sure he’ll be allowed to leave without proof that he’s going somewhere else (unless he’s already turned 18) as people have to be in education or training of some sort until 18.

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 18/06/2021 12:09

@Nat6999 have you contacted sixth form yourself this morning? I would have to give them the opportunity to try to work with him to get though the next few weeks. He could feel energised again in September.

They really should have support in place for him given the ME/CFS. My sister has this and even before the whole covid thing was able to work from home so she doesn't have the physical commute and the mental load of being in the office, meetings, informal meetings at her desk etc. She is fully supported at work, adapted desk and chair to help fight fatigue.

I totally get he feels overwhelmed and this is the easiest thing to cut but he needs to think about how he will get to where he wants in the future. If his grades are good that is a start. If not A levels now then how will he get to uni later? He just needs to stop and think.

Original poster
Nat6999 · 18/06/2021 13:51

Thankfully when he went to school this morning he couldn't bring himself to hand his pass in & tell them he was leaving. I'm speaking to school to try & get him more support to get him through the next year.

OP posts:
BasiliskStare · 18/06/2021 17:47

@Nat6999 Flowers

ChakaDakotaRegina · 18/06/2021 21:26

I do hope he feels better soon. He’s so close to a well earned break. Flowers

Original poster
Nat6999 · 19/06/2021 03:09

We have had another trauma yesterday teatime, we are staying with my mum as I am ill, my mum collapsed & had a seizure, I had to dial 999 & my mum has been admitted to hospital, they think she has a problem with her heart. Ds was upstairs when it happened & he had to put her in the recovery position & stayed with her until the ambulance came. I don't think either of us will be getting much sleep tonight.

OP posts:
Frenchfancy · 19/06/2021 06:32

How terrible, I hope your mum is OK. Sometimes life just doesn't seem to give you a break.

Nettleskeins · 25/06/2021 22:00

So sorry to hear about your mother.
I just came on here to say ds1 nearly dropped out at this stage (year 12) and it turned out he was suffering from vitamin D deficiency. The doctor gave him supplements, he felt so much better in himself and less exhausted and defeated. We kept pushing the idea that it is better to limp on get through A levels than give up completely on the basis that you won't be showing your best side. Good enough was our mantra to ds1.
I have another ds doing politics at uni who loves it btw..

Flowers500 · 13/07/2021 00:07

So sorry, hope she is doing ok.

I’d talk to his school, say he is finding it too much at the moment and needs to be signed off for a week. He’s a child, quitting school is not an option.

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