Probably gifted, yr 10-11 missing lots of school self study GCSE help please?

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We’re looking for practical ideas and resources to support a highly able student who is missing significant school time but still aiming for strong GCSE outcomes (she is ambitious) without excessive cost.

Our daughter has been academically advanced from early on she grasps concepts very quickly, is strong across subjects, and is confident and articulate. However, full-time school attendance is extremely depleting for reasons we are still trying to fully understand. When she self-studies, she finds much better balance, though she still needs careful pacing due to physiological fatigue issues and possibly some cognitive load factors.

A recent psychology report pretty much discounted ND (although some traits are there, just not enough) and suggested very fast cognitive processing alongside perfectionism, consistent with a gifted profile and recommendation for EHCNA. Anxiety and mental exhaustion appear linked to this and require ongoing management.

We are currently awaiting Educational Psychologist involvement and an EHC needs assessment, but delays mean we need to build workable strategies now as we are in the thick of year ten already.

She currently attends around 50% of the time yet remains in top sets, so the academic ability is clearly there. The challenge is maintaining progress while avoiding burnout.

She has an excellent memory and works well independently. We already use exam-board revision guides and printed materials, but school online provision is limited. She has some physical health stuff feeding into this so sometimes we need to watch or listen to material whilst resting.

We would really value suggestions for:
-effective self-study structures for high-ability students with limited attendance
-low-cost online resources or platforms that work well for GCSE level
-ways to prioritise content efficiently when lessons are missed

-techniques that support deep learning without perfectionism leading to exhaustion

Any ideas, systems, or resources that have worked in similar situations would be hugely appreciated.

During an EHCNA the LA must seek advice and information from:
a) the child’s parent or the young person;
b) educational advice (usually from the head teacher or principal);
c) medical advice and information from a health care professional;
d) psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist;
e) advice and information in relation to social care;
f) advice and information from any other person the local authority thinks appropriate;
g) where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, advice and information in relation to provision to assist the child or young person in preparation for adulthood and independent living; and
h) advice and information from any person the child’s parent or young person reasonably requests that the local authority seek advice from.

H can include things like OT, physio, SALT, etc. so be sure to request those. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

SALT has a wider scope than many realise. It covers more than the physical ability to speak and interact. It can also be an important part in managing fatigue, perfectionism and anxiety, and feeds into preparation of adulthood (PfA) provision too.

Having said that, I think SALT is also important because unless DD has had full comprehensive assessments for ASD and ADHD rather than screenings, I still wouldn’t be ruling them out. But even if she doesn’t meet the diagnostic thresholds but only has some traits, then EHCPs are based on needs and DD still needs provision to meet those needs, and that will involve SALT input.

I'd recommend Quizlet for revising/learning things that can be drilled, like the French vocab perhaps.

I think Anki is better for memorization as it has a superior spacing algorithm and is completely free. (Except for the iOS app)

Thanks I looked at this but she only scored 4%, interpreted as consistent with the general non ASC population.

I think Study Skills session would be good. I doubt school do this. I’ll see what is about.

We now have Visibility and it looks to be very helpful! Thanks so much to pp who suggested. We can actually see which activities are costing her.

Planning to try again with sec 19 (it seems even harder to get than an ehcna and even more shrouded in mystery) in the meantime we need to preserve her health as the priority. I’m just afraid if too much content is lost she will become very defeated by the situation and the loss of moral would be damaging.

I am looking at SOSSEN and perhaps finding someone with capacity. It’s just difficult for me also to wisely divide my energy between all these matters; helping with health, education gaps and fighting the system. Thanks for all of the support on this thread

Is she still school registered? They may support with marking so she has an idea of where she’s at.

seneca is good and has some high level content for English. If she’s really good and ambitious I’d suggest she reads though the ‘ready to teach’ series on the texts she’s going to write about in the exam, as theyre superb - aimed at teachers but very clear; a g8/9 student should grasp a lot of it. she’d need some essay technique too - mr salles is ok online. Does her school have any online learning platform? If she’s is registered she could access resources and homework that way

@LottieMary thanks, yes she is. Sounds good, she’s not a fan of Seneca but perhaps she is missing something…Is the ready to teach on Seneca too?

Ready to teach is a book series

So sorry she is not getting what she is entitled to from the school or the LA. I don't have any advice on that as it sounds like you are doing exactly the right things.

One more set of home education type resources that may be useful is here
https://llplearningspace.co.uk/studying-at-gcse-functional-skills-level-with-llp/
Some of the GCSEs are covered in a year, starting in April/may for the following June, so the timing may work if your DD can get on with that style of learning.

There's also Oak Academy. The lessons I've seen have all been quite tedious and unsuitable for a very bright child, but you can download the slide packs and worksheets and cover the syllabuses that way.

Thanks loncake and Lottie, the ready to teach books (bit pricey but a super shortcut idea) and oak academy resources suggestion are super. I’ll try the latter today.