Changing from local college to apprenticeship?

[iwishiwasonacruise]

Looking for some advice please, my son is obsessed with cars and has only ever wanted to work on and with cars.

He did his GCSEs this summer and is now at the local college doing vehicle maintenance and repairs level two and three.

We chose this over an apprenticeship as obviously he can't drive yet, so that massively limits his ability to get much further than anywhere local.

When we went to the college open day they said it was three or four days per week, and a mixture of theory and practical. It turns out it's only two days a week, Tuesday theory and Thursday practical, albeit long days, but it leaves him with too much spare time.

He is also having to resit his English as he missed out on a 4 by 6 marks.

He goes into college very odd times on Monday and Wednesday to do three hours of English per week, so this is making it difficult for him to get a part-time job even. He does 1.5 hours in the middle of Wednesdays, and 1.5 hours at 3pm on Mondays.

I will add that the reason for the odd English hours, is that he started the college on level one, but they quickly noticed how capable he was and moved him onto level two, which apparently they rarely do, but this obviously meant changes to his timetable, and they have now had to fit his English in where they can, around his days on the level two timetable.

By his own admission, he is disappointed with the amount of time he is at college and actually doing the work. He just wants to get stuck in. He is really keen and eager and seems to have a flare for this type of work, so he definitely wants to stick with mechanics, he really just wishes that he was going in and doing it every day.

We are wondering how easy it is to switch him over to an apprenticeship if we are able to find something locally.

Most apprenticeships are still asking for a 4 in English, so it might be that he can't move until he passes his English anyway.

He is starting driving lessons next month, and is keen to pass as quickly as possible, so that will open up his opportunities a bit. He has done so many hours of under 17 practice already, so I'm hoping it won't take him that long to pass.

But logistically, if he moved from college to apprenticeship, do we have to get involved with sorting out the funding etc or is it all managed by the college and whoever is providing the new training?

Also, if he found an apprenticeship that doesn't require him to have a 4 in English, is it compulsory that he still keeps sitting English until he is 18? And would an apprenticeship be likely to offer this resit to him alongside any college days?

I feel very out of the loop regarding his English GCSE resit. Apparently his mechanics teacher said that as he only missed out by six marks, they would probably put him in for a resit this November, but then the English teacher has said that none of them will be attempting a resit until next summer, so that means potentially only one chance to resit it in the next year.

I don't admit to knowing much about resitting GCSEs at all, but my understanding was that there was three opportunities in each academic year?

My niece is an English teacher and also said that as he only missed out by a few marks, she thought he should probably attempt it in November, but I don't know if it is possible to request this at the college. It's a different exam board to the one he sat at school, and he hasn't done any mock papers or anything yet.

It's all a bit confusing and a lot less straightforward than School where they all just did the same thing.

Not sure where to start really? I don't know whether he or I should speak to the college initially?

Any information from anyone who has been in a similar situation would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Eng lang has 2 sittings, Nov and June.
4 days at college is standard but his hours are a pain. Mine has 4 days but only 1 long, and 3 that finish around 2.20.

On the short days he could aim to do all his college work, and driving lessons? That would leave up to 3 days weekly for part time work?

Changing exam boards is a pain. Same skills but split differently across the questions.

Alternatively you could look at English Functional Skills level 2 which is more straightforward and with a bit of tutoring could be achieved faster? (Cost us I think £180 for the 3 bits of the exam).

I think for an apprenticeship he would be obliged to keep doing English if he doesn't have the gcse/fs.

Get him to speak to the english dept, though I think it would be v late entry at this point.
At my DD's college maths&English are very separate from the vocational courses.

Thank you for your response and suggestions. I feel a bit blindsided by the English really. His school English teacher put him in for an English exam which was meant to be for those that struggled with English exams. He got a 5–5 on the mocks, but apparently they changed the grade boundaries by the time the GCSEs happened. It was 2.0 English or something like that, but she only put him in for that midway through year 11, and I don't know if that was a correct decision on her part really. But it is what it is I guess. He is a very bright boy, very mature and capable, although not great academically, he did well in all his other GCSEs, he just hates English, doesn't want to know, doesn't get it, and isn't really interested :( bit of a nightmare!

Very confused what he actually sat, but Functional Skills is more useful and straightforward. However government funding rules will require college to put him in for the GCSE.

He sat Ed Excel English Language 2.0

My English teacher niece didn't even know what it was until she made a point of looking it up 🤷🏼‍♀️

So if I wanted him to do English functional skills instead, what is the first steps to doing that? Would he stop doing the English lessons at college?

That's the new alternative spec isn't it?
Is college doing AQA? That's the most common.

I think college will totally insist he does their gcse eng lang classes. (Gov funding rules). We did fs level2 independently and once we heard at end Sept DD had passed she was then allowed to stop the gcse lessons. (DD has EHCP but I don't think that was relevant for this).

He should look for a suitable motor vehicle apprenticeship. He sounds exactly like the sort of lad who would do well. As an apprentice, he can do Functional English rather than GCSE, or at least that was the case when I worked in the apprenticeship sector recently - don’t think it’s changed.
We used to run individualised programmes and short courses to get people through their Functional Skills, alongside the apprenticeship, with a very high success rate.

Tell him to look on Find and Apprenticeship. Buy him a moped till he's passed his test!

He will thrive and he's earning.

Any provider will let him do his FS L2 alongside his main aim.

I used to work in a FE college.
We had a team within college who dealt with apprenticeships. They would help the student to find one. If they didnt have level 4 in maths or English they would come in for those classes, the apprenticeship would release them for that.
We only offered functional skills to students who had a 2 or below in gcse. A 3 meant it was realistic to expect they could up that grade.
We didn’t do November resits. It was felt that the staff who taught English and Maths did not know the students well enough to determine who might be a good candidate.

Thank you to everyone that has replied, lots to think about and consider! I feel really sorry for him, he is so disappointed in himself, even though he did try his best, as the 3 in English seems to close the doors to a lot of things, and I would just like someone to actually watch him work for a day and see past the GCSE result, because this is definitely the thing for him to be doing, and I honestly think he would be an asset to any employer.

When he tells me about some of the other people on his course, it does make me wonder how much he will actually end up learning there, he really seems to be one of the few that are actually there and willing and keen. I understand that that's not the college's fault, but I really feel like there might be something better for him.

I believe he is currently doing 15 hours in total. 1.5 hours of English on a Monday, 9 to 5 car maintenance theory on a Tuesday, 1.5 hours of English on a Wednesday, and 9 to 5 car maintenance practical on a Thursday. He's just waiting for every Thursday to come around so that he can get his hands dirty 🤦🏼‍♀️

The resit at the college is not AQA, it's the Welsh one, WJEC I think it's called. Again, I know nothing really about exam boards, I don't know why the college have chosen this one, presumably there is good reason for it.

Is it usual for him to only be doing three hours of college per week for an English resit?

And, this might be a "how long is a piece of string" question, but how much do the teachers at the college for resits "put into it"? Is it just a paying job for them? Or do they really want the students to pass, like his school teachers did? Are they actually invested? Also, does it reflect on the college the same way that the GCSE results would've reflected on his school?

He is saying again that half of his English class don't bother turning up, or sit there with the headphones in and nothing is said, he seems again to be one of the few doing the homework and completing the tasks set in class. Even though he hates English, he is actually trying to pass it. My question might seem really harsh, as I know there are good and bad teachers everywhere, but I just want them to want him to do well...

3 hrs weekly is standard.

There will be many in the class who think they don't have a hope of passing. 3 is a wide band and a 'just scraped a 3' is a long way off a 4.

There will be others with mh issues for whom doing hw is a step too much.

As long as they aren't disruptive that's the best you can hope for.

Pass rates for resits aren't high across the country. I suspect teachers do their best but they won't chase & nag like school would.

There are some absolutely brilliant teachers in FE, but there are, like anywhere, some time servers. There’s less incentive to be invested in results, and many students are hard to reach and difficult to motivate, which, despite their best efforts, is demoralising for their teachers.

However, in my experience, staff working in apprenticeships are invested in their learners’ progress and achievement and work very hard to get them through any Maths and English qualifications they need.