What post 16 options are there without GCSE English

[AlexanderHamilton]

Ds is in Year 10 & it’s becoming increasingly clear he is not going to pass English. He is an excellent reader, his spelling and punctuation are excellent but he just can’t/won’t write. He has a tutor and they have great conversations about the texts but he is unable to answer written questions in enough detail or doesn’t understand what the question is asking.

His target was Grade 6 but school are predicting Grade 2. In his other subjects he is predicted 8 in maths 7/8 in music, 5/6 in science and 4/5 in food tech. I’m not sure about computers & business studies.

He is interested in studying music/drama/performing arts & maths but he won’t get onto a course without English. There is a level 2 accountancy diploma available.

What else would be suggested for a child like this?

ps my friend whose son has autism entered him privately for IGCSE (as did the mother of a boy I taught although that was not ASD related.) Friend's son got a C in IGCSE in year 10 and the other lad got a B. He also sat 'normal' GCSE and got an E. Food for thought??

Would also suggest private entry for IGCSE and functional skills - you can do functional skills online I think?

Interesting thread.
What are IGCSE's?

His old school did IGCSE. I think from what I’ve seen the syllabus is more suited to an autistic child.

His tutor tries to work alongside the school in most cases so she goes through what they’ve done in class that week so they get the depth. Except ds’s set don’t seem to cover much. They’ve watched a DVD of R& J last term & did a few basic character points. They are on Christmas Carol at the moment. Discussing chimney sweeps & treatment of children in Dickens’ time. Ds does at least understand that having played the role of Oliver on stage twice!

Tutor is going to make sure she has a laptop for next week. I’ve enclosed a photo of some writing he did do with her this week.

Re: performing arts. He’s not a dancer so is heading the actor/singer route. The colleges that run the courses worth doing all require maths & English as they are specialist provision so don’t have the expertise/facilities for the re-sit requirements. If he was a dancer (Dd is currently just starting her professional training) several of the Dance colleges including hers are able to accommodate the compulsory resit plus the level 6 dance/MT diploma requires little writing and analytical work unlike the level 3 Btec in drama/music.

Forgot to attach. Excuse the handwriting

I forgot they did some work in Inspector Calls last year. Tutor went through the play doing character analysis with him which he seemed to understand stand but I don’t think she got him to write any extended answers. Lots of spider charts etc.

House4 - IGCSES are international GCSES which many private schools do. They used to claim that they were better preparation for A level but since the new 9-1 reformed GCSE’s many private schools are moving away from them.

Talk to colleges. My DD is doing a level 3 Btec and has not got her English gcse. When interviewed, she showed such promise in her chosen subject that they have allowed her to do L3 provided she studies for English alongside.

I'd like to see that typed and with more time given. The promising sign is the use of the word 'reputation'!

DD1 used a laptop. We had some success with getting her to write down
Point:
Evidence:
Explain:
several times

then use each set of prompts to write something, each as separate sentences. Then remove her prompting words. (She had a tendency to say everything briefly in one sentence, and this forced her to be more expansive).

His use of vocab is good.

He did say that no one else in his set knew what the phrase “surplus population” meant

If he is genuinely predicted Grade 2, I would suggest Functional Skills.

Seems weird, though, if he is predicted high grades in his other subjects. He will use English Language to access the rest of the curriculum.

She wants him to finish it off. Had a total meltdown today over a Lang excercise & he’s at rehearsal now but when he does it I’ll post.

It's not weird, crafty. Some Autistic people who have excellent literacy skills cannot infer quickly from text, organise information, compose fluently, all whilst under significant time pressure. Because this bloody exam doesn't only measure literacy. My DS has excellent vocab, spelling and grammar and got a 3 at GCSE (by 1 mark, 1 off a 2). He has just written a piece this afternoon for physics that has this sentence as a for example:
"Countering this theory is the Fermi paradox (named for physicist Enrico Fermi), which postulates that there is a contradiction between the lack of evidence but high probability estimates for extraterrestrial life forms."

Alexander Hamilton, he even has the same handwriting as my DS!!

@AlexanderHamilton as the mum of someone who is a dyslexic (also twice exceptional) looking at performing arts I have looked extensively at these colleges. There are both triple threat courses ( musical theatre) and double threat courses, acting and singing ( acting course). Some colleges do require maths and English, but not all of them. For example Read College ( one of the top one and two year colleges) goes complexly on audition there is no requirement for any GCSEs at all.

Jamie Read is a very good friend of my dh.

For Ds it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to leave at 16 however.

@AlexanderHamilton Read is our number one choice post16 as a triple threat.

When he did one of his specialist qualifications dh assessed Jamie.

But we are a lot further up north & so I have to look much more locally for post 16.

Has Read got funding for its level 3/foundation course?

What board is he doing?

AQA.

You will struggle to find anywhere that will allow a y12 to do without GCSE eng. it’s a legal requirement that all students who haven’t got a four or above continue to study for maths or English alongside a qualification Most likely level 2 until they’re 19 I think.
I remember PA being a very writing heavy course for me?
However he could do functional skills l2 or Igcse which are both easier to access ?
Sorry this must be so frustrating but it’s the requirement everywhere, all the jobs all the unis etc.

@AlexanderHamilton they don't currently have funding, but they do have some of The Stage bursaries so income or rather lack of it does not rule students out.
DD is also year 10 and what caught me by surprise is that we need to be on top of these courses as audition preps are Feb of year 10 for application Oct/Nov to audition in Jan year11. So we are off to open days in November.

My son is autistic got a grade 1 in both lit and language. He can do any course he likes he doesnt need to get it. He just has to continue it alongside the course he does they will make allowances

It’s not a legal requirement that Y12s resit maths/English but a sixth form DfE funding requirement. This wouldn’t apply to private schools.