GCSE resit in Nov - Exam Board problem

[TheRavenKing]

Hope someone can help... DD got a TAG for Eng Language at her GCSEs and got a 3. She has moved on to college (Level 2 course) and wants to resit in Nov to try for a 4.
Her new College say they will only enter her for a different exam board than she has studied (as this is the one they teach to). If she wants her original exam board she should sit at her old school.
Her old school is refusing to allow her to resit in their centre and say she should do it at college because she has 'moved on'.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can they do this? Does anyone know what are our options? It seems a real disadvantage to have to sit a new exam board with such a short time to prepare? (If relevant she has learning issues/exam accommodations).

If the college are providing some teaching, then it probably makes sense to go with their exam board, as they'll target their teaching to that. I think the syllabus will be much the same (certainly for maths all boards use the same agreed syllabus), so it's the format of the exam that's different rather than what she needs to know (it's not like literature where it migh be different books).

The school are being a bit OTT as from an administration standpoint it's not that much more work, unless your DD sat Cambridge/iGCSE. (Cambridge have their own set of slightly bonkers rules for exams.)

@ThrowawaySecondarySchool

The school are being a bit OTT as from an administration standpoint it's not that much more work, unless your DD sat Cambridge/iGCSE. (Cambridge have their own set of slightly bonkers rules for exams.)

Not at all. Schools don't do November exam entries so wouldn't be able to accommodate this.

Thanks so much everyone for your replies.

@BitterTits Both school and college are doing Nov re-sits for all GCSE students who were awarded a teacher grade in the summer (because there were no exams).

@ThrowawaySecondarySchool she did 'normal' AQA at school. College are doing Edexel.

@lanthanum It is a relief to hear they are similar, though her Tutor says she will struggle to do a new exam board as they are very different?

I guess I feel she needs every little bit of help she can get and this is an unnecessary obstacle - or am I overthinking this?

If it's English lang it's not radically different. In my (professional) view, Edexcel is a more logical exam for the weaker students anyway.

Bring brutal, if she only got a 3 then she needs teaching. That'll be why her old school have refused. Without the 'crash course' teaching in the lead up to the exam, she'll definitely fail again.

With students at the 3/4 borderline for English Lang, they tend not to remember the exact things they've got to do for each of the questions on the paper for more than a couple of weeks- certainly not the three months it's been since they sat whatever they did at school*. Put her in for Edexcel at college. They'll have specialist teachers there who teach resit groups every year- and this is less likely in the school.

• She may well be awesome in loads of other subjects, so I'm not assuming she's weak everywhere! But a score of a 3 shows me a student who just didn't quite know what they were doing on the paper. So entering her for an exam board which tests the same skills, in a similar format, will not be a massive problem.

Thank you @Curioushorse ! She's a super kid, lovely & hardworking, but with ASD, Dyslexia, learning issues there's a lot stacked against her. Thanks for your insight - puts my mind more at ease that the exams are not so different that its insurmountable for her.