17yr old niece wants to repeat her GCSES... where?

[amidaiwish]

my niece attended school rarely in the past and consequently did badly in her GCSEs. this year she has done some art course which she hasn't been v interested in either.
now it has dawned on her that without her GCSEs she doesn't really have very many options and wants to "sort it out".

her dad is well off and i am sure will pay if required

any advice? she won't go back to her old school (burned bridges, too much history/bad feeling).

oh and i am not convinced she is actually a very good reader so that needs looking at.

TIA

Tell her to try her local adult education centre. They can do adult literacy and numeracy courses to start her off, and she should then be able to do her maths and english GCSEs. I've done the latter over the past two years.

Good on her for taking stock and going forward.

thanks madlizzy, do you think that is the best bet rather than school? i kind of think she still needs the encouragement and motivation that school will offer her. i don't know, at least she is taking the first steps. courses might be the right way for her to start off. i'll get some info for her.

School may not be the right environment now, as she'll want to be considered as an adult. It may be that they direct her to college where she can resit them. If her reading isn't very good, is there a possibility of dyslexia, which may go some way to explaining her problems at school?

Just to mention, Connexions are probably a good port of call for her too.

yes she could be dyslexic, she can read the words but doesn't seem to take it in. might just be a concentration thing though?
i'll look at connexions too

If she is dyslexic, there's a lot of help out there for her at college. She may even be eligible for a laptop. Definitely get her to talk to Connexions. They're impartial and a very good source of advice and information. Ask her dad to look into dyslexia testing as if he can afford to pay for it, it'll happen quicker for her.

connexions seems to redirect to [http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/YoungPeople/index.htm here]
does that look right?
i can't see where she should go for info.

her parents think she is just stubborn/disruptive, they will need some convincing she could be dyslexic. it makes total sense to me though, our whole family has done well academically it doesn't add up that she has gone so badly wrong
do you know of anything we could do in the first instance? she went to good schools it is weird they didn't pick it up. she classically just behaved badly, probably because she couldn't do it and was covering up

connexions redirect

Is there not an office in the town where she lives? google connexions and her town. and the website is www2.cxdirect.com/home.htm

ok i'll get her on the case. see how serious she is about it! thanks for all your help

There are private 6th form colleges that do GCSE retakes but they are quite expensive - particularly if the student has to board as well. They will have students aged from 15 to early 20s.

thanks Lilymaid, do you know of any particularly in SWLondon/Surrey borders?

The best known is Mander Portman Woodward. I don't know about other colleges in your area though.

Is there a local college that offers A levels? They'll normally offer GCSEs too, and I doubt she would have to pay as she doesn't have them already.

I went to Mander Portman.
Had a blast and came out with Fab grades
but it IS expensive

wow. that does look like a fab school...