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?

Absolutely lonecat. Dd started looking in Year 9 even (visit to Move It) then in Year 10 started seriously investigating & also visited CDET.

Applications open in September & her first audition was October last year.

I’ll be brutally honest. Ds has talent but I’m
Not entirely convinced he has what it takes to succeed in the industry although of course you never know. He could get work somewhere like a theme park, or on sound/lighting, music arranging maybe. Not top level scholarship. But it’s important that whatever he studies he is engaged with or he will simply drop out mentally if not physically.

Dd is funded by a DaDA (we pay a small contribution each term). A unfunded course isn’t really an option for Ds as dh is currently not working due to ill health & it may be career ending for him so our family income has been greatly reduced.

Have you tried speech to text software if he freezes with a scribe?

It’s not been mentioned to us.

There was a delay with him getting a laptop which didn’t help. Limited resources & all that. We offered to buy one & give it to the school but they kept saying not necessary. Eventually Autism Outreach intervened.

The ironic thing is that at his previous school he was seen as a problem in maths. Here he is flying in that.

He doesn’t like how questions are worded especially that ask how the writer makes the reader think this or that. Because he doesn’t think that. He says the paper is “bad” & stupid and he doesn’t understand what the questions are asking.

OP, the English lang papers are very conceptualised, very formulaic. Is the tutor reinforcing the concepts with him?

My DS2 didn't get maths or English. He started 6th form last year, doing a level 2 Btec in sport, alongside maths and English gcse. This year he's started the level 3. It just means an extra year at 6th form, it happens a lot. He's found the teaching to be much better and did much better in the GCSEs the second time round.

DS1 got a C in English but did abysmally on maths. He did a level 2 in performing arts, then went on to do a level 3. He's going to uni to do Musical Theatre this year.

So please don't think all's lost if he doesn't get what he needs first time round

I thought I would update.

Dh phoned school and requested a meeting with the English teacher. We also asked his tutor for fedback. The tutor feels that his ability is above that of a typical Grade 2 candidate but she hadn't yet done any essay style exam questions with him.

The English teacher said that he was put in the lowest set because he scored very poorly on the Year 9 October assessment. (He basically wrote barely anything) However his laptop access hadn't been put in place. He was eventually given a laptop in the summer term of Year 9. At the start of the year he had seemed bright and engaged and especially liked reading the set texts aloud (they were doing Inspector Calls) but by the end of the year he had "drifted off" and never seemed to be engaged in the work. She spoke to ds about this yesterday and ds told her that he had felt de-motivated by the group he was in.

However in the last couple of weeks ds has been writing much more. All sets use the same resources but with differentiated tasks, one pitched below Level 4 meant for the bottom set, one at Level 5 and one at Level 7. This week ds was meant to write a paragraph describing what Scrooge did in a certain section of the novel. Instead he wrote two paragraphs about what the events at the party told you about something (sorry never read Christmas Carol myself). In her words he made a good stab at answering the Level 7 question. She says that she can tell by his conversation and vocabulary that he is above the level of the rest of the class.

So for the rest of this half term he is to attempt the higher level work and he will be moved into Set 4 after half term. (he can't move now because they are covering a differnt topic). Subject to him continuing to make progress he could also be moved up into Set 3 later in the year.

I glanced through his Year 8 report from his previous selective school and English was actually his highest end of Year result (predicted old Grade B), better than maths and science (his progress this last year in maths has been astonishing).

So we shall see what happens.

Sounds promising Alex.

Keep selling it to him in terms of a formula to get marks - as a mathematician/scientist he will identify with that.

As an ENglish teacher I would suggest you ensure the school apply for extra time and a separate room for your DS to take the final exam in. I would focus just on English language in particular section B and in section A just do the first question on paper 1 &2- these are just information retrieval answers. I would try and persevere as much as possible with the scribe so he can gain marks from his creative thinking. You can build up to answering the other reading questions.

What would be good is if he could see that the paper is a formula and the only surprise is going to be the actual unseen text. All the questions have the same wording. A good writing frame would help here. If you message me I can send you a workbook with some writing frames for each question. He can learn the sentence starters and then fill in the gaps.

He will be allowed to use his laptop in the exam. He prefers that to a scribe and I also think that if he uses a scribe he can't get so many spelling and grammar marks (his spelling and grammar are immaculate).

I'm not sure about the extra time. He was borderline onhis speed of information processing centile but as his assessment was 2 years ago he needs to be re-assessed within a certain timeframe of the actual exams. One thing his tutor says is that he needs constantly reminding to stay on task but its not a problem to get him back on task as such so I wondered about the thing I've read about where there is a prompter, is that the right word (a tap of the arm if daydreaming?)

His school put all the year 10's in for English language last year but I gather from his tutor that it wasn't a sucess. Thank goodness they are not doing that this year.

Yes , a prompt : think I mentioned that upthread.

I agree that the Eng exam is all very formulaic!

I am afriad this is all grist to my mill of why I hate setting so much!

Post 16 he could go to college and do music or performing arts without English GCSE but more than likely it would not be at level 3 although thats not impossible depending on the circumstances (eg EHCP with Spld). At our college he would propbably just do it at level 1 or 2 depemdomg on his academic profile and then progress through the levels while studying functional skills or GCSE English alongside.

Post 16 he could go to college and do music or performing arts without English GCSE but more than likely it would not be at level 3 although thats not impossible depending on the circumstances (eg EHCP with Spld). At our college he would propbably just do it at level 1 or 2 depemdomg on his academic profile and then progress through the levels while studying functional skills or GCSE English alongside.

Post 16 he could go to college and do music or performing arts without English GCSE but more than likely it would not be at level 3 although thats not impossible depending on the circumstances (eg EHCP with Spld). At our college he would propbably just do it at level 1 or 2 depemdomg on his academic profile and then progress through the levels while studying functional skills or GCSE English alongside.

woops sorry

My dyslexic son just started 6 form, only got a 3 in English and the same in language, but did manage to get grade 4 and higher in 4 other subjects. He is doing a level 3 btec in sport and A level Art and product design. He has been told he will keep resitting English until he passes. We looked at loads of options for FE and all were consistent in that he would keep retaking English until he passes.

Is speech to text software allowed as exam arrangement? Can it be done?

Cakesamdtea if it is their usual method of working the school the school can apply to the exam board/jcq for this to be used.