Start Year 12 again at 18?

[TheDarkSidewithSparkles]

DD is in Year 13 and is not neurotypical but clever, academic and in mainstream.

Covid, remote ed and some other factors have meant mental health issues for the last year which has ended up in a full breakdown and no school attendance for any of Year 13. School have tried to be supportive (CAHMS have been a chocolate teapot)

But as it stands now, there is little change of my lovely DD being able or ready to do any exams in June.

She feels she would not be able to return to re-do Year 13 next year with the younger year, which her school have offered as one of the options.

She ideally wants to start again from the beginning of Year 12. Does anyone have an experience of doing this? Is it even possible? I have been looking online and local colleges seem to be focused on their 16 year old entry only.

There seem to be options to do this online but ideally I need her to be able to get out of the house and interact with humans again at least partially.

(I have name changed as DC knew my old username on here but I have been on MN for while)

Redoing the year 13 is honestly the better option. School will be suggesting this for funding reasons (students not funded.d after 3 years) but I do also think starting year 12 at 18 will feel so fish out of water. Why will she not consider this?

She has decided that she made such a hash of it, she would be better to change 2 of her subjects
(Ironically she wants to change to the subject everyone at school advised her to do in the first place!)

My Ds is also year 13, autistic and just 'dropped out' due to significant mental health difficulties and the school not meeting his needs. He will not be taking his A Levels next year.
I think she could have one more year at sixth form as 3 years can be funded.

The other alternative is that you apply for an EHCP, which would mean she would have longer to repeat her A Levels, with the support she needed.

Ds has an EHCP which should hopefully mean he can access the support he needs going forward.

I think there’s only funding available for 3 years post 16.

She would have to go into year 13.

What about leaving school, focusing on her mental health, then going to college for some sort of access course or whatever is relevant then going to uni that way?

School, college, exams etc would come way down the list of stuff to focus on if she’s not been in at all this year and is feeling mentally not strong.

In theory, it’s possible. Here are the funding rules. As long as the young person is 16, 17 or 18 on 31st August prior to starting college in the September they continue to be classed as a 16-18 student for funding for the duration of the course (pg20/21). Resits are not normally funded except for exceptional circumstances. (Pg28)

I second applying for an EHCP.

The benefits of an EHCP is it can last until 25 if necessary and can include therapies too.

@Punxsutawney

My Ds is also year 13, autistic and just 'dropped out' due to significant mental health difficulties and the school not meeting his needs. He will not be taking his A Levels next year. I think she could have one more year at sixth form as 3 years can be funded.

The other alternative is that you apply for an EHCP, which would mean she would have longer to repeat her A Levels, with the support she needed.

Ds has an EHCP which should hopefully mean he can access the support he needs going forward.

I didn't think of the EHCP route to be honest! She has always coped, masked etc so well at school and it have never been something I thought we would get.

The professionals involved apart from school haven't been very helpful. I cried in the last TAF meeting because it was so frustrating. Her school were asking CAHMS for help too but CAHMS have nothing for her to help with the current crisis situation (unless she actually tries to kill herself).

CAHMS just want to add a few more letters onto her diagnosis - which won't help with he current situation at all!

Sorry to rant

I will have a look at the possibility of an EHCP though

Oh wow, thank you for all these posts! DD wants to go out (which is amazing in itself) so I am going to leave my computer but I am coming back to read through a bit later properly.

Ok, so we went out (it didn't go particularly well because of the Christmas crowds)

I would love to be able to give her the time to recover from her issues, but she is very anxious about her future and wants to have some kind of forward motion. I am letting her be the driving force in how she proceeds but am hoping to get information about her options.

I will explore the possibility of an EHCP and will talk to school again on Monday.

It's heartbreaking.

OP, I am currently in university and out of 29 of us there are about 4 teenagers, most are in their very late twenties to their very late thirties.

It is heartbreaking TheDarkSidewithSparkles.

Definitely look into the EHCP. Ds also receives PIP too, so that might be worth you thinking about?
We have had years of knocking on doors begging for help, and the majority of the time being told there is none. Consequently Ds now needs significant intervention and support ( which he's not getting at the moment) and a specialist college placement.

Apply for an EHCP even if the school tell you DD won’t get one. Unfortunately, schools and LAs often incorrectly tell parents that, but parents (or the young person themselves) go on to successfully apply.

I will have a talk with DD about the EHCP tomorrow (it's a bit high tension today)

Thank you everyone for the advice!

DC has just restarted year 12 to do A Levels, after doing a level 3 BTEC for 2 years at college.

We've been told either the whole 2 years will be funded, or they may need to take an Advanced Learner Loan for the second year - depending on how college sets the courses up. If it's a 2 year course they will be fine - if it's set up as AS + A Levels then they will need to take a loan. But of course college haven't yet confirmed which, despite DC being a third of the way through the first year!

Oriononono the funding rules I linked to above explicitly state A levels are classed as one learning programme even if they are split into AS level and A level. However, unless there are good educational reasons A levels wouldn’t normally be funded at all after another level 3 course as there is no ‘educational progression’.

She should look at local college for a levels where she wont be the oldest.
Dd repeated yr 13 for health reasons at school
But if it it was starting new a levels from beginning
Then best look at local further Ed college

@Imitatingdory Eeek! I presume DC has been accepted then, we've not been told otherwise! To be fair my DC is now doing academic subjects with a view to going to Uni, whereas the BTEC was creative so maybe that's why...

@TheDarkSidewithSparkles My DD has done this OP. She has anorexia and we pulled her out of year 13 as she was too ill/being hospitalised etc Timetabling wasn't in our favour so she couldn't solely re-do year 13 without affecting A-levels, so she has restarted year 12. To be honest, her recovery is patchy and I think she would have struggled to keep up the pace if she re did year 13 and so by starting year 12 again she basically has a bit of comfort blanket as she's already covered that content. She is in a private school so I don't know if that made it easier for the school to agree.

We are letting the dust settle over Christmas (while working on EHCP application etc)

She was in state school @myrtleWilson so it might not be the same..

I hadn't heard of Advanced Learner Loan @Oriononono that could be helpful!

@Embracelife yes, I think DD is going to be looking at a local college

It's so helpful to now it's not just us who have had this type of situation

TheDarkSidewithSparkles an Advanced Learner Loan isn’t necessary for DD.

@Imitatingdory

TheDarkSidewithSparkles an Advanced Learner Loan isn’t necessary for DD.

I thought it might be because as I understand the A level funding is only for 3 years? Even if the EHCP works we might still be looking for an extra year's money?

As long as the young person is 16, 17 or 18 on 31st August prior to starting the course in the September they continue to be classed as a 16-18 student for funding purposes for the duration of the course. A levels count as one course even if split into AS level and A level. See page 20 & 21 of the document I linked to on 4/12 13.03. In exceptional circumstances resits can be funded.

EHCPs can last until 25, 18-24 year olds with EHCPs continue to be funded.

@Imitatingdory thanks for your info!