What happens if you miss your GCSEs completely?

[rhubarbmum]

My 15-year old suffered a head injury from a RTA in 2019 and subsequently missed a lot of time off school while he recovered. In the year after the accident he developed first abdominal and then headache migraines. They have become more and more frequent and so debilitating that his attendance at school has dropped from 100% pre-accident to 0% since October 2021. He is being looked after by a good specialist neuro-headache team. He is a bright boy and was predicted 9s/8s/7s for GCSEs by his teachers but I have no idea how he would get those grades as he hasn't been in a lesson since October last year and has a massive loss of learning. Plus his sleep is now upside down because of the migraines so this is now also another barrier to being in school. School has been very supportive and now looking at home tuition to try and get him through his core GCSEs.
My question is not about his migraines. He's getting all the support imaginable for that including psychological and counselling. My main concern (and indeed his main concern) is what happens if he misses his GCSEs completely? We've applied to sixth forms with his predicted grades and the school will write a letter to support him. But it's possible that he won't even manage to sit them. So I presume he wouldn't get any grades at all? How does it actually work? I have asked the school a few times but they haven't given me a specific answer, they just say they will do everything to support him to progress to the next stage, which is A' levels. He missed his mocks in December so they have no data from mocks. I haven't slept properly for months because of this situation and I am so desperate for him to just get well enough to get back to some sort of normality. I don't care about his grades, I just want his to be able to progress to sixth form with his friends if he can. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Look at post-16 colleges that aren't the official sixth form of an 11-18 secondary school and most will offer a range of GCSE courses as well as A Levels and BTEC qualifications. Students who haven't yet achieved the minimum of 5 GCSEs can usually study for GCSEs free of charge outsude of their normal age cohort. Also investigate whether there are any (usually fee paying) "crammer" type colleges near you - google terms like Intensive GCSE for places that offer a 1 year GCSE course (normally used by those who don't achieve the grades they needed first time around)

As a minimum he will need 5 passes at a decent grade including maths and english and in most cases the subjects he wants to study at A Level. Most jobs will require that anyway. If most of his friends are staying on in the 6th form of an 11-18 secondary school then it's unlikely that he will be able to just stay with that cohort. He might be able to take a year out of that school and do his GCSEs in a year then rejoin the Lower Sixth when his friends are in the Upper Sixth.

I'm really surprised that the school hasn't allowed him to repeat a year.
But then again I'm assuming he's already in Y11 so the following may not apply.
One of my family members was seriously ill in the first term of Y10 & ended up missing that whole year.
As it's impossible to catch up on a whole year of missed GCSEs the school & parents decided it was better for them to start Y10 again.
Family member then got good GCSE results, went on to do A-levels then Uni albeit a year older than her academic cohort.
Worked out brilliantly for her.

That’s what all that data is for. He should be allowed to start A Levels anywhere with those predicted grades, they’re literally there in case of emergency. I know this because I’m a teacher and over 20 years I’ve seen it happen more than once, one of those was an RTA that kept the kid out of school for 18 months (and excluding Covid, which was essentially how they did the grades then too). I don’t know why his school aren’t telling you that!

Get in touch with the education dept of your local council for more info on how your borough/town/district do it and how the grades will be conveyed both to your son and the school where he wants to apply for KS5. I wish him better soon.

There are a number of options.

Firstly the school are not being as supportive as they should, he would be better registering at a 'medical PRU', now this isn't a PRU for the naughty kids, it's one for children with medical needs.

You should contact your local authority for information.

OK now I have said that, I realis it isn't much use now. But there are still options.

The most obvious is to have him resit the year, you have to ask the school about that.

Does his school have a VI form?

Another option is home tuition, which probably won't be full time.

If he leaves school with no qualifications then he can go to an FE college and start with a level 1 qualification (this is pre GCSE level) followed by a level 2 and then level 3 (A levels or equivalent) he will also sit GCSE maths and English.

A final option would be to do correspondence course GCSEs at home with him sitting the GCSEs at school.

Obviously you both need to talk about how realistically he can achieve qualifications whilst still recovering.

On the limited information you have given if his school has a VI form him going to VI form, but sitting a reduced number of GCSEs. This way he would be with friends for social interaction / support but taking GCSE classes with year 10/11 with the aim of getting 5 good grades.

Just a thought, but would he be able to keep up with A levels? I would have thought they build a lot on information learnt at GCSE.

All the best to you and your family, it sounds like a hard time.

I am in a similar situation with a daughter with anorexia but out of school. She is in y10 with similar predicted grades. I will possibly consider repeating in her non-chrinological year. You need the head teacher and LA permission. She will need to go to a new school otherwise she will be repeating with her sister!

She has been in a hospital school, but it was not academic. So my other option is limited GCSEs (she isn’t keen) and home tuition funded by school and seeing if she can catch up.

Really depends on recovery. I hope your son continues to make good progress.

My DD missed all school during the pandemic - summer term of y10 and all y11, now at college but still in recovery. In her case she is doing a level 1 course, and isn't yet really well enough to even do her Maths & English GCSE.

In your situation I'd be looking to try to have y12 as a 'recovery year' to sit the core GCSEs plus any he wants to do A levels in.
Then do A levels for 2 years.
It is probably better than rushing straight to A levels just to stay in cohort, and as a PP mentioned will ensure key info / skills from GCSEs isn't missed.

The LA should already be providing medical needs tuition, provision should start when it becomes clear the pupil will miss 15 days. They have a statutory duty under s.19 The Education Act 1996 to provide a suitable, full time education. Depending on individual needs it may be home tuition, online, hospital school, small group tuition… Full time does not mean school hours because 1:1 or small group tuition covers content quicker. Write to the LA’s Director of children’s services. If they refuse threaten Judicial Review and complain to the LGO. If you google medical needs EOTAS tuition and your LA you should be able to find the team responsible for it in your LA, if you can’t and you would like me to look I PM me your LA.

However, this duty only applies to compulsory school aged pupils. And if it is agreed DS will not sit any relevant examinations the duty will end 6 weeks before he ceases to be CSA. It is rare for LAs to provide provision post 16 when they are not obliged to. Therefore, it is not a long term solution for you.

You should apply for an EHCNA, IPSEA have a model letter you can use. An EHCP has 2 major benefits - a) it can include more and varied provision in it compared medical needs EOTAS tuition, and b) it is the only way to secure home tuition or similar post 16.

imip have you applied for an EHCNA? Medical needs tuition should meet DD’s needs, including being at the academic level she is working at.

Thanks Dory, I am about to, but entirely stressed with DD presentation at the moment. It will be a midnight oil thing.

Talk to the sixth forms about whether and how they will consider him if he doesn't manage to take the GCSEs.
There are three concerns:

1. Is he bright enough? Answer to that seems clear.
2. Does he have enough GCSE knowledge to be able to tackle the A-levels he wants to do? That might depend quite a bit on the subjects, and obviously on how much he has managed to cover whilst off school. Some sixth forms developed bridging packs during the first lockdown, designed for year 11s who might not have finished the GCSE syllabus to get them up to speed for A-levels in September, so those might be very useful.
3. Is his health going to be good enough for full-time study in September? Early days to know that yet.

If the answers to those are yes, then hopefully they will take him on, even without the GCSEs. The one caveat will be that the government requires that sixth-formers who haven't got English and maths at grade 4 must continue to study towards those. Some sixth-forms don't have any provision for that, which could be a problem. Prioritising taking those two would be a very good idea - even if the grades don't reflect his ability, it means the box is ticked.

If there are nos in those answers, re-taking year 11 may be sensible, or look and see if there is a "GCSE retake year" available at one of the local colleges. He wouldn't be the normal sort of candidate for a GCSE year, but it might be a stepping stone back into full-time study.

I think you need to prioritise the learning he needs for his next courses, not GCSE results for their own sake. Further down the line, GCSE results do not really matter - their absence can be explained on university applications.

I hope they manage to sort out his migraines and he can return to some sort of normality soon.

I was in a similar position with DD a few years back, although she had already started Y11 when suddenly became critically ill and missed a lot of schooling - I think she managed her French GCSE and that was it.

Instead of going to the already arranged sixth form college up the road to do A levels Maths, Biology and French, we looked around and found a very supporting local college that offered a range of different options. She started there doing a level 1 course (basically cookery, pottery, gardening) as it was all she could manage. She did the best she could with amazing support, and over the years progressed to doing a foundation degree at the same college.

I would say, think more laterally than GCSE's, and I wish you both all the best - it is definitely a stressful time of being a parent!