Poor GCSE results - advice in Kent

[shufflestep]

DS2 got his results today, 6 in Maths and Chemistry, 5 in Physics, Geography and Biology, 4 in English Lit. Then the crunch - 3 in Music, Computing and English Lang. He wanted to do A-levels in Maths, Physics and Chemistry, but with the 5 in Physics and 3 in English Language that now doesn't seem possible.

To complicate things further, DS2 has Aspergers and is struggling with the idea of having to deviate from his pre-conceived plan. Any thoughts or advice? I'm struggling, we can't really afford Rochester Independent College for retakes.

Sorry to hear about this disappointment for your DS. I can imagine it is hard for him to figure out a different plan. I would probably start by researching for yourself the different A Levels or BTECs your DS favourite place had. I know there is something called Applied science which may suit him better. I would say considering the 3 of the hardest subjects probably isn’t the wisest decision at this point, however that would be very upsetting to hear. This college:
ntc.kent.sch.uk/
Seems to have applied science and also a maths course your DS could do. If that is what he enjoys it’s definitely best to continue things in that area as then A levels will be much easier for him.
Had he a career path thought out?

I think since he is 6,6,5 in subjects he wants at Alevel and he disabled student...because he just missed 6,6,6 the college SENCO can talk send letter to sixth form and maybe admit him anyway.

Or maybe IB program instead A levels? His grades good for IB.

A btec may suit him better, dd has asd and had to change track (different reasons) they cope better than we think they will. He will need to retake English for sure but should be able to get onto a level 3 course. I'm not from that area but there's various science btecs available. He would really struggle at physics a level, I really cannot stress enough that anything below an 8, 7 minimum is likely to result in heartache, big jump up. Dd2 scraped a b at a level despite an a* at gcse, some of her friends got e, despite A's at gcse, it's a tough one

Poor gcse results! Look great to me. My son got level 3’s

2 years ago my son got similar results. He ended up doing level 3 BTECs rather than GCSEs and ended up with Distinction Stars (equivalent to A-level A*) BTECs were a much better fit for him than A-level and he has the grades to go to university. His school recommend BTECs if students have GCSEs mainly in the 4-6 range.

Or maybe IB program instead A levels? His grades good for IB.

I don't think the grades are good enough for the IB diploma and he would have to take a foreign language and continue with English.

Btecs!

They're not awful! Is he intending to stay on at School or move to Sixth Form College? If College and the offer was conditional, talk to them. We had a letter with our enrolment information saying if grades aren’t what you were expecting, come to enrolment anyway and we’ll see how we can help. Good luck,

IB is less specialised but a far higher workload than 3 A levels..plus there are other elements which are part of the core but in addition to what straight A levels cover...and you have to continue English and a foreign language.
Maybe BTEC would be good...could you talk to the school, find out what type of learner he is? Then look at how BTEC are structured. Possibly ask the school if it’s worth a remark on the physics paper?

Thanks for all the advice, especially about BTECs, we've moved forward a bit since yesterday in that the Grammar school sixth form and the local High school run a joint programme, which will allow him to take one A-level at the Grammar school (which is where he has been for the last five years) and two other courses at the High school. The High school will then be his 'home' sixth form.

He wants to go into Primary teaching, and he has been offered a child development BTEC and Applied Science BTEC at the High School - he is really excited about these. We think he will be able to do A-level Chemistry at the Grammar, but not Maths, which is his favourite subject. The Maths result was the great shocker - he has never had less than a 7 (which would have allowed him to do A-level) at any stage in the last three years.

I am beginning to think that he was planning on the Grammar School sixth form purely because it meant less change - he is really positive about the BTECs and I am quite pleased that he will have to develop his independence a little more. So far he has always followed DS1, who has always been a high flyer. So I am hopeful that a change for sixth form may see DS2 move out of his brothers' shadow and become his own person.

Oh thats fantastic - brilliant news that he is so excited!

I think you’ve both made some excellent choices there OP. Your DS should be very proud of himself for his results and also his decisions!

Have school looked at how close he is to the grade boundaries for maths and chemistry? If he’s within 5 marks it could be worth having his exam papers reviewed. University will be looking closely at gcse grades because there’s no longer AS and A levels etc are tricky to predict.
I’m not at all familiar with BTECS but it may be worth questioning how similar applied science BTEC is to A level chemistry as universities aren’t keen on too much overlap. He may be better off with maths A level especially if he’s at grade 7 standard usually and enjoys it. Just a thought... I certainly have no knowledge.

shufflestep it sounds like you might be sorted now, but as a suggestion anyway there is a (state) 6th form college in Gravesend which has slightly lower minimum requirements for A-levels, if you think this might be appropriate and worth investigating? (They've also performed excellently in the league tables, from what I have read.)

I'm looking at the requirements sheet we picked up at the open evening. It does specify grade 5 in English and in Maths for the subjects your son hopes to take (grade 6 in Maths for the Maths A-level), but they only need grade 5 in Chemistry and in Physics to study these choices.

I don't know if your son's English grade would be a problem (could he try a re-sit in the autumn?) but as somebody else has said, the SENCO might be able to help in this respect.

Their enrolment day was yesterday, but if you'd like to investigate this option then I can give you the name of the school (if it's allowable to name specific schools on here - ?). Or I could direct you to it via the league tables otherwise.

@mushrumpmania thank you, but I think we've decided that to make the transition a little easier he needs to stay a little closer to home if possible. He has been offered a place for Maths, Chemistry and Biology A-levels at a school in the next town, but his preference is still the split course. (Though we haven't turned it down and burnt our boats yet).
Just biting our fingernails to get the official offer on it now, the Grammar School seem to be dragging their heels a bit, which is very irritating since we can't but feel they have let him down somewhat - he went with nigh on full marks in the Kent Test, and he had been revising for his GCSEs.

Hi OP. Are there plans in place at the schools to resit the English? It's fantastic to hear if a young person wanting to go into teaching and with a science specialism! Male primary teachers are always in high demand, too. But he will need a 4 in GCSE English to get to uni, and to be a teacher.

I am waiting to get him settled before we tackle that one - he does have a 4 in English Lit, and we have requested a remark of English Lang - he was convinced he would get at least a 5 when he came out, judging by how much better he felt it had gone than the mock (3). He also thought his English Lang exams had gone better than the English Lit, so we are going to get it looked at again.

Very poor communication between the schools so far, which has made him extra nervous going in today. He looked so worried and stressed when he left that I just want to cry for him even thinking about it! We still don't know for sure how or even if the A-level chemistry will fit into his timetable, which is hugely stressful for someone with Asperger's.

I've done what I can to prepare him, we've walked and timed routes between the schools etc and his bag had everything he could possibly need in it. But the 'welcome pack' we were promised from the High School still hasn't arrived, so both he and I have a nagging worry that we may have missed something. Hopefully he will come back this afternoon with all the relevant information, we can put it all in his Google calendar and work out how his timetable will fit into his life!

How did he get on OP??

He did OK! There are three clashes on the two week timetable, so he will have to miss a single period of each subject every fortnight, and then make up the work he has missed. I think he has more or less got his head round it though, no homework tonight so he spent his time putting the lesson into his google calendar and setting a reminder for his phone to remind him to change sites! He has now gone to be early though, he does find it exhausting when there is chaos to be managed.

I thought I would update the thread, thanks for all the great advice I received from people here. DS is really enjoying the BTECs, especially child development, which has him really fired up about teacher training in the future. He has handled the split timetable really well and has matured a lot in the process.

We got a tutor for English Language, who at the end of the first session told me that he was an able boy and his only problem was his speed of writing - he believed that DS should have been entitled to extra time. The High School took this on board and did some tests with him, the outcome of which is that he is entitled to extra time. He did his first exam of the resit this morning, and texted me to say he felt it had gone really well.

I am now working out how to approach the Grammar School, both in regards to how this may affect his A-level chemistry and also how this presumably would have affected all his other GCSE results.

Overall the change has been really positive for him though. Fingers crossed for an English Language pass this time!