DD feels very unhappy and unchallenged at school any ideas?

[NiftyTealCat]

Our dd is currently in Year 10 and is struggling with the atmosphere at school and doesn't feel like she actually learns a lot. She mentioned that she zones out during most of her lessons, she doesn't really enjoy any of her subjects much and she hates the atmosphere at school where people are mean to each other, I know that's probably the same in most schools, and there is lots of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny and bullying all of which is completely ignored by teachers even when it happens in their classes, again, I don't know if this is unfortunately the same in most schools. She doesn't feel like she can take another year and a bit at this school.

We tried talking to the school but nothing changed, and although she is in the gifted program at school, they only get to do these classes for about 20 minutes a week and more often than not it gets cancelled. Does anyone have any suggestions? Taking scholarship exams is definitely in question but anything that is too expensive isn't. She used to love school but now she feels like every lesson is just copy memorize repeat and there is no actual thinking involved, they are just trained to write exam style answers with practically zero though needed sorry for the long post many thanks!

I think you need to move her to a different school.

We're looking at options but we're worried it will be the exact same there but without her friends

Moving to a different school at this point in Y10 would be very difficult - she may not be able to take all the same options as she currently does due to timetabling, and the new school may study a different syllabus in the ones that she does take meaning she would have to catch up work they've covered but she hasn't. It would be very likely to affect her GCSE grades so should only be done if absolutely necessary.

Does anyone know if there are any online programs where she could learn things that push her more maybe?

Which subjects would she like extending in?

This is how Michael Gove designed the curriculum: learn memorise repeat. Perhaps she could take up politics...

She likes languages, maths, science, English (except at school) but generally anything

she needs to learn what the exam boards want. She has to understand exactly what the questions mean, and how to apply her knowledge. There is very few marks available for memorising at GCSE, what grades is she getting? If she is just memorising content and repeating it, she will not be scoring very highly.

She needs to be practicing exam questions and concentrating on improving her answers. School will be providing some opportunity for this, and you can provide more opportunity at home,

Racism - report immediately, and insist it is recorded as racism, the school can't do "nothing" - they need to report it to the council. Homophobia and misogyny too - and if she is being bullied, keep a record and contact the school yourself.

She is unlikely to love school at this stage, GCSEs are a hard slog - no one enjoys them. She just needs to get through them and get the best grades she can.

She’s at a difficult age to move school and the most important thing is that she is talking to you and you’re listening. You don’t necessarily need to have all the answers. But being able to share her thoughts and feelings, to be heard - that’s invaluable.

Honestly it’s a good idea for your dc to solve this problem themselves. They are nearly an adult, and sometimes life sucks. School is a prison for your body but you don’t have to let it capture your mind and your soul too.

I remember GCSEs being dull. I’d often find a quiet corner and do other homework in class so my evenings were free. I taught myself guitar and learned Russian in my spare time, and immersed myself in literature of all kinds, read Germinal in French, wrote depressing poetry and fancied myself a proper intellectual. At the time this didn’t strike me as especially geeky but looking back it was. A history teacher spotted I was bored and gave me some extra essays to work on, and very kindly donated his time to suggest texts I should read and comment on my essays.

Your dc can solve this, with your encouragement.

She just realized a few days ago that the school system was designed to make compliant factory workers instead of free thinking individuals and we've had several angry political rants about the system since so politics might be a good shout

I was like your DD. The best thing I did was lean into the subjects I liked the most and read whatever sparked my interest - for me this was history and anything literature-based. I just read what I liked then googled it from there and asked my teachers which books they’d read at university. This stood me in excellent stead when it came to choosing A Levels and I ended up getting into Oxbridge for English Lit - a big part, no doubt, down to what I’d read.

Try and reframe it as getting the grunt work done at school, quite good training for the world of work in a way! Having things to look forward to outside of school really helped me too.

You could have a look at free courses through the Open University or FutureLearn, I think there’s through a subscription. Do you have a university or college near you with evening courses or open lectures, talks etc? Or open up more doors another way - volunteering, a PT job - the learning of a new skill might provide some of the mental stimulation that’s lacking.

When my DD was in year 8 or 9 she appeared to be bored to tears with school. (The school was just coming out of a period of chaos and I differentiating for higher attainers was not a priority.,) We hired a tutor who didn't actually teach her schoolwork. They just used to chat about random stuff and investigate interesting ideas on the computer. I think by year 10, they had moved onto hard mathsy type stuff because that was what DD enjoyed. They seemed to have fun together and it seemed to re-engage DD with her work.

Try googling mooc s . They are online courses on platforms like futurelearn and openlearn , many of which are run as tasters by unis. Some unis run summer schools.

If she can’t figure out ways to extend herself OP, with the entire World Wide Web at her disposal, she is not as bright as you think she is!

And good luck to her, she sounds fab!

She used to love school but now she feels like every lesson is just copy memorize repeat and there is no actual thinking involved, they are just trained to write exam style answers with practically zero though needed sorry for the long post many thanks!

That's the nature of IGCSE exams.
It's not ideal but they are not going to change.
She can choose not to get on board with it and then risk not getting good results.
Or, she can get her head down and get on with it for the couple of years that are in it.

That's life.
We all have to get up each day and do stuff that we don't want to.

Taking scholarship exams is definitely in question but anything that is too expensive isn't.

So you’re considering moving her to an independent school for sixth form? If so you need to be looking for one with generous bursaries if you would find it impossible to pay full fees. Scholarships provide mostly nominal reductions in fees nowadays.

In the meantime, as others have pointed out, moving just before GCSEs might well be impossible. Have you established whether there is any local school where she might continue with exactly the same GCSE syllabus as she is currently following?

For languages there are magazines you can subscribe to that are aimed at school language learners, or you could watch shows in the target language to build up exposure?

Maths - the UKMT have lots of interesting and quirky maths material on their website (they run the maths challenges). Or she could watch something like Numberphile videos?

Science - lots of popular science books out there, and English would also benefit from just reading lots?

Does she have any hobbies OP?

What does she do out of school?

If she is that bright, she must have loads of free time after homework is done.
Musical instruments, a language club, a sport, drama, young archeologists, programmes run by local museums or galleries?

As others have said moving schools at this stage would be very difficult - finding one that does the same exam boards for each subject, has opted for the same modules (eg books for Eng Lit, history periods for history etc), taught them in the same order (so she doesn't repeat everything she has done, whilst missing out on what the new school has done in Y10) AND can actual fit her in to the relevant classes and timetable would be nothing short of a miracle.

She sounds like an interesting and determined young lady with a great understanding of her own learning. Well done for helping her find ways to enhance her learning experiences.

I would recommend supporting her by going through her feedback to see if there's any areas she can identify as targets and she can plough her energy into improving.

And beyond that, I think it's great that you want her to retain a love of learning. That will stand her in good stead in the future.

She just needs to stay there to get her GCSEs then she can go to college or apprenticeship and hopefully be happier but I wouldn't move her now she needs to stay in the system to get them results or she will struggle moving forward I don't think many kids actually enjoy school tbh but we have to teach them it's something they just have to do in order to work up through the system to a job they hopefully like

And by going through her feedback, I mean helping her to identify her own targets by reading her feedback with her. It's not criticism, it's what I do with pupils every day.

She might not be open to do that with her mum though!

I agree with those saying she is the best person to solve this problem, and if she is under extended, she has plenty of time to do that. She can either focus on her own interests, or try and max out her exams.

It doesn't sound as if she is being bullied or is socially isolated at school (unless that is really the problem but she prefers to frame it as an educational issue), so I wouldn't move her. I also wouldn't expect the school change much in the next year, as shit as that is.

@NiftyTealCat Would any of these online debating / philosophy type things appeal to her? They also do weekend meet ups, which I’ve heard are great (via friends DC).

https://www.p4he.org/