What happens if your Y11 DC is too unwell to take their GCSE exams?

[katalex]

DC has not been in full time school since November last year due to poor mental health. This has been a mixture of sick time and part time timetable and they were unable to engage with online learning during lockdown. As a result, they are now very behind in their studies. They have missed an entire history topic and was present for only half of one of the other topics. I have been told that they will have finished covering the history curriculum by Christmas and will move onto revision in the new year. In English, DC is only part-way through one of the books and has not even started the Shakespeare book. They missed a huge number of maths and science lessons in year 10. They have been moved down from higher to foundation maths, which they should be able to pass with some revision. They may be able to pass their photography GCSE due to the amount of coursework they have already done and there is no exam.

DC has received a diagnosis and will shortly start receiving treatment but it may be a long time before we can get them back into school, if at all. They keep saying they will try to do some work at home but they struggle to focus and get motivated and it is looking more and more likely that they will not have covered enough of most of the subjects to make it worth taking the exams at all.

I've looked at local colleges and they only do maths and English GCSE so what can we do? Are schools obliged to let students repeat year 11 or will we have to home-school?

I’d discuss options with your DCs specialist and occupational therapist(if they have one). With doctors letters to the school, you might be able to get the school to agree to your DC taking the rest of the year off school to focus on getting better MH and then repeating Yr11 next school year.

Many colleges offer level 2 Btecs, this may be a good option as your child can focus on the subject which they are most interested in and also retake English and Maths GCSE if needed.

My DD is y11 and is currently out of school due to MH and has done next to no education since April.
We have agreed a reduced set of 4 GCSEs with the school, which if she gets them will be enough for her chosen course at college.

What might they want to do next? What are the entry requirements?

If they would be wanting to do A levels, talk to the school / college about options.
If it is a BTEC then they can start at Level 2 (or even Level 1).

You don't need 8-10 GCSEs to access next level courses. Normally it is 4 or 5.

The fly in the ointment this year is that if they move to Centre Assessed Grades like last year with exams cancelled, the school won't have anything to go on and so won't be able to submit a grade. (I'm hoping DD will be well enough to sit the 'second mocks' in the Spring, she is this week missing 'first mocks').

In the long term, maths and English are the only GCSEs that really matter - provided you can gain entry to an appropriate 16+ course. As others have said, think about what his likely route would have been without all this, and talk to the 16+ providers about what he would need to do to get on to that route. They might have GCSE requirements in their prospectus, but they may be willing to waive those for an individual who has had a rough time, or point them at suitable Btec options that would bring them to a suitable level.

Thanks for the replies. They want to study history at A-Level and university. They were predicted grade 8 for history and could easily have got it if they hadn't been out of school. At this point they are unlikely to even pass. Last time I spoke to the principal, she said that my DC would need to pass their GCSEs with 6s to get onto the history A-Level.

The school reluctantly let my DC drop two GCSEs, but only because the teachers told them that they had missed too much and wouldn't be able to catch up. So they are currently still supposed to be doing English language and literature, Maths, combined science, history and photography. Are they likely to allow them to drop any of the core subjects?

They managed to complete the maths and science assessments last term. They failed the higher maths (grade 3-) and just about passed science with grade 4. They didn't do English or history as they struggle to focus long enough to do essay questions. School is doing assessments every term to go towards centre assessed grades but this is going to be too much for my DC so they are likely to end up with nothing if exams are cancelled.

They don't have an occupational therapist. What do they do? Would that be available via CAMHS? DC has their first appointment on Monday.

Will PM you.

If you lived in my local area she would be able to go to the local 6th form college to do a GCSE retake year. It's a limited range on offer but they offer Maths, English, Double Science, Art, Classics & Media Studies plus BTEC Health & Social Care. History isn't available but most places would allow history A level with a good grade in English & Classics.

Thanks Teen.

Comefromaway - unfortunately we don't have 6th form colleges in our area because all schools do A-Levels. Colleges only do vocational courses and apprenticeships plus English and maths GCSE.

There is an advantage I guess to living in an area where the majority of schools do not have 6th forms. A few schools offer A levels but to get a wide range of options most go to a 6th form college.

The local college market this programme to home educated and overseas educated students as well as those who did not do so well in their GCSE's for whatever reason.

They don't have an occupational therapist. What do they do? Would that be available via CAMHS? DC has their first appointment on Monday.

Yes CAMHS will have occupational therapists that they can be referred to. Occupational therapists help children who are struggling with day to day activities including learning that are being affected by their MH condition. They talk to the school senco about accommodations that will help them based on their difficulties. Things like right to request extensions on deadlines for work. Right to accomplish work or even exams at home online. Access to a resting room to take a break- some have therapy dogs there they can visit. Green card to be able to just leave in middle of a class without teacher discussion/permission if have a distressing episode. Priority access to pastoral care person. Reduced coursework requirements to only that required for GCSE grading. Etc.

That's really helpful plan, thanks. DC's school refused to provide DC with any of that support that they were getting in year 10 (timeout card, access to student support) because of covid restrictions. They only allowed students with an EHCP access to that support. That's one of the reasons my DC was unable to cope with school and has not been in since the first week of September. Hopefully they would be more obliging if it was requested by CAMHS.

Yeah CAMHS can definitely help you. Schools tend to be much more responsive when it’s coming from a medical professional. Bring it up at his first appointment. Good luck!

I will. Thanks Plan.

Have you applied for an EHCP, in your position I would even though your child is already year 11 it can still help moving forward.

Please speak to your child's school- they may allow them to retake the year- my school have done that on very rare occasions for children that were formerly outstanding pupils who became ill.
I wish them the very best for their recovery

I second flamingopants' suggestion of applying for an EHCNA.

Seperately to that, LAs have a statutory duty to provide education for those that can't attend school due to their ill health, that includes MH problems.

If DD is well enough to sit any GCSE exams make sure the school put access arrangements in place.

Science is very difficult to provide for dc who cannot attend school. I think your best bet is to ask to retake the year. Certainly private schools allow this and get the medical team on board to suggest this too. Just doing a lower level course because a repeat year hasn’t been explored isn’t necessarily the best way forward. Some dc don’t like going down a year and they see it as failure so you would need to discuss this possibility fully.

I haven't looked into this yet, but I am thinking Science might be easier this year than usual as this year they don't need to actually do the practicals themselves, they can just observe.

I am therefore hoping that missed practicals might be able to be made up by watching certain you tube videos and informing the teacher they have been viewed?

I get the impression that will be ok Teen. I spoke to DC's science teacher last week about videos for the science practicals and she sent me the list of video links that they had received so far. She didn't say anything about them having to do the practicals to pass.

I'm hoping so.
Normally the teachers have to 'sign off' that the pupils have done the practicals, whereas this year they only need to have 'observed' them.
I'm just not sure whether the teacher needs to observe the pupils observing iyswim?

I would hope that they would trust your word that it had been observed. It would be very unfair to fail them on that element otherwise.

I'll look into EHCNA/EHCP. Thanks for the suggestions. How long do they normally take to process?

You don't mention the LA being involved in your teen's education. They should be. Guidance states that as soon as a child has missed or is expected to miss at least 15 days in total in a year due to illness, the school should notify the LA, who must provide a named contact responsible for coordinating the child's education. You should have been given the contact details last year.

Obviously there are practical challenges regardless, but I'd imagine this person could lean on the school if the school is being particularly unhelpful, for example by refusing to allow your child to drop some subjects even when it's clear the child won't manage all of them.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269469/health_needs_guidance__-_revised_may_2013_final.pdf

I had a good friend who had a back injury after an accident and missed the first two terms of yr 11. She repeated the year the following academic year and then progressed to sixth form.

I was ill during year 11 and missed some school, but not enormous amounts. I was too ill - anorexia - to take various practical exams (well, I would have taken them but my parents/doctors wouldn't allow it) and was awarded grades based on the elements of the exam I had taken and the teachers' recommendations.

I would spend this year working very actively on your dc's mental health and aim to get them back in education next academic year. That will be the best long term outcome.

Thanks for the link Saracen. The LA hasn't been involved at all and DC hasn't been in school since the first week of September. School has said that they want to get DC admitted to the Kent Health Needs service but they need to be 'open to CAMHS'. DC has their mental health assessment with CAMHS on Monday but school has warned that this doesn't necessarily mean that they will provide the required support. The other issue is that it appears that this service is a school and DC's issue is school-related anxiety (school refusal/phobia - whatever you want to call it) so I don't think we have a chance of getting them there anyway. It is suspected that they have ASD and ADD, which a private psychiatrist told us, if diagnosed, is the likely cause of their anxiety. School is such a stressful environment for DC that they can't even bear the thought of being in the building. Any education needs to be at home.

I mentioned the idea of repeating y11 to DC and they immediately burst into tears. They have hated school since they started in reception so the thought of having to do an extra year was so upsetting. I think the only way they might be able to get their GCSEs and continue onto A Levels would be to home school them.

Also, just to clarify, my comment in my first post about DC not being in full time school since November last year relates to them being off sick (mental health) for most of December and the first week of January and then they started an 8 week reduced timetable (1/2 days for 6 weeks and then 3/4 for 2 weeks - they only just got back into full time 3 days before lockdown). They still spent most of the time in student support so they missed a hell of a lot of teaching in year 10 too.