I will try and explain our situation as briefly as possible - I;d really appreciate any views of how we should handle this.............
Dd is just about to sit her GCSE exams, she is not academic and really struggles with school. She has had various test's over the years but always deemed to be borderline dyslexic. She has had learning support throughout secondary school.
In year 9 she took her options - unfortunately 2 of the subjects she picked were under subscribed and scrapped by the school which meant she ended up doing a language and a humanities GCSE - both courses she wasn't really interested in. She also took a "study support" option which basically means she took 1 less GCSE subject than most but uses the additional timetable time to focus on core subjects.
In year 10 we were called by her language teacher to say she was not progressing in the course well and would ultimately fail even with lots of additional support and they felt it was best if she dropped the GCSE and focused her efforts elsewhere. I told the school she could only drop the language if they supported her in another course - I didn't want her wasting more time in the study support center (which is independent learning) and loosing another GCSE.
The school arranged 2 additional courses for her - a level 2 sports course (she had already completed level 1) that is coursework based and a finance course that was exam based. No other student in the entire school was taking these courses. I told the head I was worried that because dd didn't fit the usual mold she would slip through the net. He assured me that he personally would not let this happen.
I have had a letter over the Easter holidays from the head saying that before the holidays dd took the finance exam twice and failed both times (she says she missed out by 2 marks). She can no longer sit the exam again so this is yet another qualification that she will loose.
I am really cross with the school and I feel they have really let dd down. I don't understand why they let her take the exam the 2nd time if she was borderline - shouldn't they have made sure she was well clear of the pass mark BEFORE submitting her for the exam the 2nd time?
Dd has had her college interviews and has a conditional offer in place for the college and course she wants to study in September and fingers crossed she will still get the grades she needs to do this but I just feel so sorry for dd that she is coming out of school at a huge disadvantage compared to the rest of her peers.
Is there anything I could or should be doing regarding the school? Is it worth complaining to the governors? I've no idea where that will get us. Dd only has 3 more months at school so not really sure it's worth making a fuss about.......
Any help or advice please?