DS wants to repeat Year 13

[user20]

Hi,

My 18 y/o DS who is in Year 13 and is due to finish school forever at the end of this year is wanting to go back next year to repeat the year. He is currently out on study leave.

Basically, he is only doing one a level as his attendance was below 80%, not just this year but last year in year 12 too.

He has had no valid reason for this behaviour, he has just been lazy and made excuses and turned up to school whenever and when it suited him.

He is an intelligent guy, he got 4As and 1B and 2Cs in his GCSEs, It has annoyed me and my DH a lot over the last two years that he has wasted his potential like this, he could have done so much better.

I just want him to have a better life and employment opportunities.

He just seemed so distracted over sixth year, he just seems to be always on his phone and listening to music and on social media. he was missing deadlines, not revising for exams, well last year he did but left it to very close to the exams and came out with 2Ds and a C in his AS exams which is impressive for somebody who didn't bother going to school or revising.

The school were meant to Kick him out so many times as they tried working with him but he didn't co operate, the workload got too much and he had to drop down to one a level a few months ago as it was too much work to do in such a short period of time.

He has a btec ict exam in a few days and hes done nothing for it - he can't even be bothered to work for one exam.

He has said often that he regrets his behaviour as he knows he was capable of doing more and maybe going to uni in September, I wouldn't be bothered if he chose not to go to uni but I think he needs his a levels.

Anyway, after a long wasted two years, reality has kicked in as he now wants to have a good career and has found out that if he were to start a two year a level course at an FE College, his education wouldn't be funded from September 2020 onwards.

He now wants the option to go back to school next year and repeat Year 13 - is it likely after all this carry on that they'll have him back?

He's sat his exams. That's it. End of. School can not get funding for him. He cannot pay them as they are not private. He's reached the end as far as school goes.

Absence codes are:
here

I assume S is for study leave so if he's not in school it's not counted the same as if he didn't go in January.

S is study leave.
C is authorised absence ... which if he has simply been skiving is obviously a lie, though the school may have an internal reason why they have use this rather than O (absent without authorisation).

Have you made an appointment with the careers advisor at his school? I'd be doing that in your shoes so that you can work out a realistic plan.

@pikapikachu good idea but DS says the careers teacher is off on sick leave and won't be back until September

@cantkeepawayforever @EvilTwins yes sorry it's actually 'O' he has been marked as , I got mixed up. He's marked as S all this month and last month

S is study leave. O is unauthorised absence. It’s all a bit irrelevant. He’s had his 7 years of government funded secondary education. He doesn’t get any more.

he just stopped attending classes and didn't show up to his exams for those two subjects and his entries were never cancelled.

If he wants to continue in education, he's going to have to find a way to pay for it then.

@EvilTwins he needs to now forget about school.

No I just wondered about the attendance codes as i wasn't sure if they send this to the EWO or not even though he is above 16. Must say I was surprised they are even recording him as S during study leave and not O, i thought considering his circumstances they would continue using code O

If he repeated y13 he would still only have 1 a level. Sixth Form don’t teach a 2 year course in 1 year and the courses are linear.

What about looking into a Level 3 apprenticeship instead?

I think I'd be starting with 'get a job' whilst considering other options. Depending on where you live places take on extra staff over the summer, eg cafes, tourist places etc. Or go down to a jobs agency and see what temp stuff they have. Don't wait until Sept.

Then in parallel he can research other options such as apprenticeships, access courses, whatever. Don't let him drift for the next couple of months. He's had his holiday whilst skiving off, now is the time to work.

EWO wouldn’t get involved as KS5 is above statutory education age.

S will be blanket for study leave and probably put in by whoever is in charge of attendance at the school.

It is possible that, once he has grown up a bit, he may be able to have a second shot at getting a decent education - but that won't be in a school setting, and is likely to be alongside (or part of) a job, in order for the funding to work.

So for the moment, once he is back from his holiday, he needs to find a job. A proper, paid job, using his AS level and GCSE grades, probably minimum wage and not what you 'wanted for him'. Obviously he will pay you rent, though he is unlikely to earn enough to live out of the family home for a while, depending on where you live.

Once he has regained some kind of structure in his life, then if he wants to find a more congenial job, he can start to research how to start working towards some further qualifications needed for them. He may be lucky, and may find a company willing to take him in at the bottom and gradually train him internally. You may find something more structured like an apprenticeship which comes with a day release for more formal education. He may have to follow the old-fashioned 'work in the day, study at night' route.

But his days of full time state funded education are over form the moment - unless and until he , over time, through less mainstream routes and access courses, finds his way into university education through a less conventional route as an older student. If he is bright, motivated and organised, there IS a way or this to happen - but he has blown his 'easy' way along this route by his behaviour during the last 2 years.

The other route would be for you to pay for a 1 (or 2 - don't know if they do 2 year ones) year crash course at a crammer - but those are essentially private school and don't come cheap at all.

Didnt read the thread.....
Its worth asking round at colleges ( FE included).
If he STARTS A levels while he's 18, he will be funded for the whole thing. He WONT be funded if he already has the same qual

PS
If he is thinking about university, has he looked at a Foundation year?

Crammers Like these

Many thousands of pounds per term ... and that's even supposing that your son doesn't need to board...

@EvilTwins I suppose he will have to wait until Thursday 15 August for results day to see what he has got in his ict.

I'm sure his head of ks5 will be extremely disappointed when she sees he's got 2Us when the results get in the day before.

Why would he wait until results day? What changes on that day for him? You know he only took 1 A-level, and didn't really bother much with that - so theer's nothing 'different' between what he can do now and what he can do on August 15th.

The fact he took the A-level means his school funding is finished - that's it.

@cantkeepawayforever yes unfortunately his school days are over.

Although he's acted like the big man walking in and out of school but I do genuinely think he will be upset about all this, I think he knows deep down now that he's really messed up.

He does have a sensitive side and I wish he had used it at the very beginning instead of now, him crying tears now will not change any of this

Btw, what were his ACTUAL GCSE grades? As you will know if he took his GCSEs at the right time, they won't all be letter grades....

@cantkeepawayforever

I'm not sure if he got letters or numbers but if he got numbers then he may have converted it to letters to make it easier.

A in English language
A in biology
A in geography
A in business studies
B In ict
C in maths
C in religious studies

He would have got numbers for Maths and English. Why do you not know your DS's GCSE grades? You claim to be an interested parent but you say "he may have converted it"???

Our local council have a careers advice for young people.

I'm a Head of Sixth Form, and I've had a few similar conversations with students this week who are now regretting the last two years. As @eviltwins and others have said the school won't get any funding as he has finished one level three qualification. We have let a couple of students carry on despite this but this is due to extremely mitigating circumstances (one has a terminal illness and another was raped so they both are completing one subject this year and the other two next year). I would be shocked if the school were interested in supporting your son given that he has shown no willingness to change since year 12.

I've been telling parents and students that the options are:

• wait until 19 and do an access course which can lead to undergraduate and foundation courses.
• complete A Levels next year as a private candidate. This requires loads of self-discipline and independent study as the school cannot assist in any way.
• Get a job and review whether he wants to re-enter education in the future.

Having seen this each year, I am sure that this is most likely going to be a harsh lesson for your son as schools are generally forgiving places and give so many second chances (I know because I give them myself all the time!) so the reality of legislation around funding comes hard to students as it is the first time they've ever really been told no by the school, but I have seen young people where taking this shock on board and becoming more motivated has really been the making of them.

Finally, I really would not recommend waiting until August. He knows his one A Level has gone badly, and even if it has gone better than he thinks it is only one subject, so he should spend the next couple of months putting a plan together rather than waiting for his inevitable results day.