HELP - Highers or College in 3 weeks time?

[52andblue]

Ds and I moved back to Scotland in July.
Primary was in Scotland, we moved to England for 5 years, now back.
He moved up with the rest of S5 and is due to take Highers in Physics, Design Tech & Engineering, Nat 5 Engineering, Computing at college.

He is waiting on his GCSE results for Maths, Eng, Physics, Biol, Chem, Design Tech & Engineering BTech but he has been given places on his Scottish School courses regardless of his GCSE results.

My Qu is: He has now had a chance to look at the syllabus for his Highers (and what he would have studied at Nat 5) and there is almost no cross over so he is effectively 'crashing' those 3 highers. His other 2 courses won't be a problem but the Highers might. He has Autism and Dyslexia so struggles at school. He is very bright but needs support to demonstrate this in an academic setting. The new School (our only option) is not known for this. They have already suggested he might be perhaps change to Nat 5's in these subjects, not Highers, before they have seen what he is capable of with support.

IF he does badly in his GCSE's then that would seem sensible, and he he can sit Highers next year. But if he passes them he is worried that he will simply end up repeating his English quals with Scottish ones at the same level and that would feel pointless to him (I think that too).

His GCSE results are not out until 12th Aug. Our School goes back on 18th. Would it be reasonable to wait until then to 'decide' ...

(whilst scouting out college courses meantime, which may be full and I've no idea if we could finance them - he's Scottish but lived in England for 5 years so I don't know if he qualifies financially to go to College, though I am his Carer (due to the ASD) & get Income Support)

or, realistically are we stuck with Plan A (Highers becoming Nat 5's) now given the timeframe involved?

He will not be crashing the Highers.
My DDs go to a (private) school which does GCSEs and then Highers, then Adv Highers.

DDs school looked very carefully at all the subjects to make sure they are compatible. He will have covered all the groundwork in the GCSE course and then will build on that for Higher. It's honestly not a problem.

Good luck

Actually I would qualify that by saying I don't know about engineering as their school doesn't offer that subject.

hI @Sootess thanks for replying.

We've carefully compared the content of the Nat 5 & GCSE courses & there is really not much crossover. About 40% in Physics & D Tech and only about 10% in Engineering. Neither School interested, just us.

Ah so Engineering is a problem.

What are his predicted grades for the other 2 Higher subjects? If it's 6 he could do it with a bit of a struggle, if it's 7 or upwards he'll be fine.

The issue is that he will then only be doing 2 Highers in S5 so it depends what he wants to go on to do when he leaves school. If it's college or certain universities then there will not be a problem doing Highers over 2 sittings but other universities will not accept this. Just something to be aware of.

he doesn't meet the elegibility criteria of 3 years residency in Scotland so no bursary and you/he would have to pay tuition fees of approx £1200 for a fulltime course

most college courses are full - recruitment started jan/feb but there may be waiting list spaces

i would recommend next year at school and investigate level 5/6 HNC Engineering courses at college

I'd say do the nat 5s this year and highers next year. That will give him the best chance of top grades at first attempt

thanks @DeadMetal @Sootess @felulageller

Presumably to go a Russell group Uni to do a trad academic course he'd need to do well in 3 x Highers in S5 & 3 x Advanced Highers in S6? That seems a push atm.

But equally, he is really down at prospect of starting Highers but ending up being put forward for Nat 5's in subjects he already has GCSE's in next year.

He wants to stay at school next year. Whether he does the year after I don't know. He thinks his route will be via College (our local one is Borders College). He is very good at Tech / Computing. He is taking an Apprenticeship level course there this year as part of the school / college link. His College Tutor says he is very advanced and he wants to put him on a 'fast pathway which might lead to Edinburgh Uni'. This sounds an amazing prospect for him. Would he be able to go aged 18, though or would he need a Gap Year to fulfill Residency Requirements @DeadMetal do you know please?
But this is all only what Ds has told me and sometimes he gets things mixed up (ASD, Dyslexia) but College deal direct with him. School seem to think it's a bit odd we are changing systems at this stage and don't have his GCSE results as guidance so are not really getting involved.

www.saas.gov.uk/full-time/funding-information-undergraduate

Here is the funding information @52andblue

He does not have to live in Scotland for 3 years for funding. He must have been resident in UK for 3 yrs and ordinarily resident in Scotland by the time his course starts ie. not here just for educational purposes.

Have a look at the website but if he does S5 in Scotland (and S6 if he wants) he should qualify for funding.

To get to a Russell Group he would (probably) need five highers preferably in one sitting, normally in S5. If focusing on a Scottish university he could sit more highers in S6, a combination of highers/AH or just AH. If going to an English uni AH will often be asked for.

If he is advanced it doesn’t seem right to be sitting nat 5s when he has already sat GCSEs.

The proposed combination of highers does not include maths which would be important in wanting to study a STEM subject at uni.

There is no set time frame for qualifying for free tuition your son needs to be ‘ordinarily’ resident - there is debate over what actually qualifies here, arguably attending school and living in Scotland shd he enough, though is may be useful to contact SAAS to see if they can provide guidance.

ordinarily resident is for SAAS funding ie HNC or university

for Highers/NQ level 5/6 its bursary funding and the 3 year rule applies

most university courses will look for a tariff of 3 or 4 highers at A/B grade so check out the entry requirements for each specific university.

many colleges have HNC Engineering (first year university level) courses that articulate onto 2nd year university courses - again check college and university