DD not being accepted to school for S5

[Ineedcoffeenow]

We believe DD to be autistic (currently being seen by CAMHS). She’s in S4. Her school believes she is autistic and have made adjustments for her in this regard. She’s also dyslexic. She struggles hugely with school, especially the noise and crowds. All being well she’ll be taking Nat 5 Art, Nat 4 English, plus two NPA’s at Nat 5 level. Her attendance isn’t great at 65%, but she tries her best to be in and catches up with work at home. She’s never been in any trouble/she doesn’t cause any bother, but she does need support. She’s quiet and does her best to fit in.

Her plan is to go to college and she already has a conditional offer. However, she’s said that if she doesn’t get the grades, she would return back to school for S5 to do more qualifications and hopefully get into college the following year. However, her personal tutor has said they won’t accept her back for S5. Does anyone have advice? Could she apply to a different secondary school if she doesn’t get into college? Or is there a way of me appealing the decision? She really doesn’t want to go back to school, but she’s prepared to do so if it will enable her to get to college later down the road.

Sorry, I should have made it clearer—her aim would be to go back and probably do a mix of national 4’s and national 5’s. Her art teacher has said she would take her on for a higher. School say that she’s very able, it’s just the attendance that is an issue so she gets behind. However, she does try to catch up with work at home whenever she’s able.

I've no experience of this but I've never heard of a school telling a child they can't come back for S5. Is she legally old enough to leave after S4?

I believe so. We held her back a year from starting school so she’s one of the oldest.

Sorry, what is the leaving age? She was 16 in late January.

Legally she could have left school at Christmas just past.

What are school doing to address and support her poor attendance? What advice has the ASN teacher/department given?

Have you spoken to her tutor yourself, or any other member of staff, to clarify is she would indeed not be allowed back, or if that is just the opinion of that staff member?

I would arrange a meeting with ASN and head of year or appropriate member of staff for clarification of their position. If school think she is autistic she should have a support plan in place, agreed with her and you.

https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

I had a similar issue with my DS but for S6. If she doesn’t get on the course she wants this year there is probably a lower level course at college which would give her direct entry to the one she wants.

I agree with PP about arranging a meeting with the school to discuss this. You really need to understand their reasoning here.

I don’t have personal experience of this but I know 2 families this happened to. Both families were told that school was not the best place for their young person and was not meeting their needs. Both schools made it clear they had no legal obligation to accept them in school post 16 and they steered the young person out the door towards college.

There is a lower course, but it still needs qualifications and she’s not yet been offered a place on it. She should be fine, but she has a lot of work to do over the next month or so.

Yeah… definitely challenge this!

Is the school RRSA accredited at all?

There is no obligation for a school to offer a place to a pupil post 16

I’m sorry to hear this. I know when my sister got to s5 they said they would be able to keep her for s6 cause she has dyslexia and basically didn’t have the support in place for her. She had a reader and scribe for her exams and was in a room alone with them and a member of the SQA. She did sometimes need support in class but there was always someone in class there. She only got to stay until s5 because she was still 15 until the following January so was youngest. It is a shame as she wanted to stay on she wasn’t quite ready for college and felt pushed into doing a photography course she had no desire for. Hopefully a meeting with her tutor will clear things up for you x

If she is going to do n4 and 5s in S5 I'm afraid it isn't accurate to describe her as being "very able". Doesn't mean she doesn't have talents and skills (such as in Art) but her overall performance isn't above average.
If she doesn't get into college I'd be very surprised if the school wouldn't take her back.
I think you should email to clarify what was said/meant.
Fingers crossed the course works out!

She’s a bright kid and very creative (art being the thing she loves), but her dyslexia holds her back so much, as does her mental health challenges and ND. She was originally doing all Nat 5s, but some of them had to be dropped a time went on. A very busy school isn’t a good learning environment for someone like her, which is why I was surprised when she said she’d go back. She’s hated school and (personally) I don’t want to see her struggle through another year of it. I’ve found that she can do Nat 5 English online, which might be the route if she doesn’t get what she needs. She’ll get to where she wants to be—it might just take her a bit longer, but she’ll make it.

Does she get arrangements for her exams, like typing or a scribe? She should get extra time too. A tutor for English might be helpful, though expensive. She is lucky to have a mum looking out for her, that makes such a difference

Yes. She gets to use a computer with spell check and extra time. She’s only going to be doing one exam (art), which is good as she doesn’t cope with them well at all.

With English, I helped get her older sister through Nat 5 and higher English (it relates somewhat to my job). But DD2 is terrible at taking advice/help and fiercely independent so I suspect she’ll want to do it on her own.

Won't she have an exam for English?
I found my ND dc was so well mannered for the tutor, and so awful when I tried to help.

No. She’s doing N4 English. There’s no exam. The rest of them are NPAs that are all course work so just art. The teacher has said the art exam only counts for 20% so if you produce good artwork, you can afford to mess the exam up and still get a fairly good grade.

Oh sorry it was another dd you mentioned doing N5. What are the college asking for? It's good that she has N4s and NPAs as all internally assessed (as you know).
I meant to add that my dc was offered another college course when he didn't get onto the one he wanted. I spoke to their admissions office and was able to get him on a waiting list for the course he wanted, and fortunately someone else didn't take up the place so he got on

Thank you. She’s onto the course that she really wants to do. But needs two level 5 qualifications. I think she can do it
if she keeps
up with the work. but we have the back up of a different course that needs 2 x Nat 4 qualifications. That would give her access to the course she wants to do so it would just be an extra year on the clock.

That’s disappointing to hear that the school isn’t supporting her needs so that she can access Level 5 qualifications. I would advise you arrange a meeting with the ASL PT and see how they can meet her needs for next year. To do N5 she would need to be in school for the assessments, it wouldn’t be possible to do it all at home. And it’s not guaranteed that she would get additional assessment arrangements…the evidence would need to be there (it sounds like this would be easy enough to get though) Good luck, hope it works out for her

This happened with a pupil I knew who had really struggled at school. It was only during S4 that dyslexia was discovered but as she had felt in a battle, the school said she couldn’t return. She was a Christmas Leaver and really should have returned. Instead she attended a local nursery class where the staff helped her find an apprenticeship and she went off into her apprenticeship and the world of work really well.