Is 4 weeks too much to catch up in A-level?

[WhileMyMeringueGentlyWeeps]

DD has been told she's at the point where she won't be able to catch up on her work. She's been off with Covid and then anxiety linked to ASD. Two of her A-levels are very coursework heavy (art) but she has been doing some studying at home. She is year 12

A key question is when the coursework deadline is and how far off ready her coursework is. Another question is how much her grades matter - if she may end up doing a grade or two worse than expected, does that scupper her plans?
A third question is what they suggest as an alternative? Will they be happy for her to repeat the year?

(Some schools are very protective of their A-A or A-B rate, so that may influence their advice.)

Can't she make up for it (esp in Art) by doing some work in the 6 week summer holidays?

Presumably they are offering for her to refit year 12. Presumably the fact they have mentioned it I would expect yes it’s too late. If it was a bit of catching up they’d have set some targets, it’s not always a bad thing.

Resit…

Well, has she done her coursework?? I’d expect that due in pretty soon?? Surprised the deadline hasn’t passed already to be honest. How much time has she actually missed??

Have the sixth form seen any of the work that your dd has been doing at home?
dd took an Art A level subject and the deadline for coursework was end of January in Y13. After that they started working towards the final examination pieces. Given that your dd is still only Y12, she should have plenty of time. My guess is that the sixth form mean that they can't really provide predicted grades for university at the moment (see below).
Depends what your dd would like to do after sixth form to be honest. Foundation years are quite common for students wanting to take Art subjects at degree level and may be more of a way forward than repeating a year at sixth form. The portfolio tends to be more important than grades for Art subjects anyway.

It depends on whether she has missed any coursework deadlines, how good she is at self study and whether she is likely to miss more school because of her anxiety.

In theory, it should be possible to catch up on 4 weeks work in Year 12 if she hasn't missed any deadlines. She has the entire summer holidays. Could you afford for tutoring or a revision/preparation summer school to cover the teaching she missed?

As an extreme example, one of my DC did well on only 60% attendence (ASD and anxiety too). We had a panicked phonecall from one of their teachers on the last day of spring term in Year 13 because the teacher had realised they had missed the teaching for the entire syllabus of one paper. The exam was 4 weeks away. DC did fine, I think they actually got a slightly better mark on the paper they had missed the teaching for than the one they had studied in class.

Up to that point, the school had expressed concern but felt that the ball was in my DC's court, they were capable of catching up despite missing nearly half of the course (they needed the equivalent of A*AA for university) but it wouldn't be easy.

Thank you for your responses. DD is pretty good at self study and enjoys doing the art course work at home.
Yes, since she's only in yr 12 I did wonder at quite how desperate the situation was plus I was getting myself confused with exactly how long she had to hand course work in.
The school would take her back in September to resit year 12.
The fears I have are 1. if we try getting her back now she may not manage it with the anxiety and 2. If she has 6 months off school it may be even more difficult for her to get back into school mode.

Four weeks doesn't seem all that long for a school to be so concerned. Is that really the total sum of absence ? What do you mean by some studying at home exactly?

People can fall behind a lot in 4 weeks but not usually irretrievably in Year 12. How academically capable is your DD?

The member of staff I met with had reports fromDD's teachers and they all said she was doing well. It was only the absence that was concerning.
The school sets some work and homework via Teams which DD has been completing.
At the meeting three and a half weeks was referred to several times and a print out with that shown. The two days of last week brought us up to 4 weeks. She is at 70%

She can make it up woth a plan. Don't let them take away the opportunity OP. I had a similar issue myself and was very quickly taken off my German a-level. Everytime I saw my old teacher he would joke that I was top of my class and how the last translation I did before being taken off the a-level was also the best. Such an arse!

Let your dd complete. Don't let teachers try and dictate it...

70% attendance is pretty low really, though. If it is 2 weeks Covid, it is certainly a bit harsh but most student's have attendance at well over 90%. They must be feeling that she is significantly behind. Is she getting feedback on her submitted work, assuming she is submitting work set on Teams?
Is this 4 weeks just this last term then?Or is it 4 weeks since September?

One week covid before Christmas, one week before the easter holidays and then she's not been back since. She has had a few odd days off since last September for both anxiety and other illnesses.
At the moment following our latest chat I'm veering toward deciding on her starting again in September

Dd attended less than 60% (asd, anxiety and depression) but got b's because she studied at home - is this an option

That's amazing moto but as a teacher of three A levels, I would usually say distance learning and A levels are not a thing. Unlike pre 16 there is no LA/ medical needs support for children not attending schools and A Levels are meant to be hard, after all. You simply cannot teach them to yourself. Once a critical mass of content has been missed , it's too late.

OP, is your DD planning on going back tomorrow?

The 4 weeks is the time missed around Easter and then there is more before that. She perhaps needs to focus on her anxiety at the moment and address that. A levels + anxiety will only make things worse.

Home schooling is not an option. I work four days a week and cannot commit to attempting to help DD do A-levels even if I wanted to which frankly I do not.
On a tangent-
Does anyone have any idea how DD's gap in education would affect universal credit and child benefit payments to me? I'll be contacting them if and when obviously.

Sorry, I misread at the start and thought she was year 13. If she's only year 12, there's plenty of time to catch up. No decision needs to be made until September (unless places are very tight in either year group), since she can't restart year 12 until then anyway, and she might well be caught up by then.

It sounds as if the verdict is that she's doing okay with the work, and they're just jumping up and down about the absence because 70% is well below the "concern" threshold. But if there is good reason for the absence, the focus needs to be on how best to help her get back into regular attendance (maybe part-time to start with) rather than threats about being "too far behind".

Is it a fee based school?

No.

It really depends on the subject, child and reason for absence. My concern for your DD would be she will have a lot to catch up and if she's been off already then that pressure may tip her over the edge, and she will refuse to go.

Is there anyway of her doing her A-Levels over 3 years rather then "resitting" Year 12 per se. So for example, she comes back in now and just focuses on 1 A-Level. Next year she "restarts the other 2" but does Year 13 of the one she's kept on. The effectively in her 3rd year she does Year 13 of the other 2 A-Levels.

I think I would be asking for a meeting with Head of Year and discussing options.

i am in year 12 and i moved sixth form 4 weeks in and changed my subjects completely and i caught up on all my work so as long as your dd has someone to help them catch up i think they’ll be ok

You should apply for an EHCNA. As Piggywaspushed posted, the statutory duty to provide alternative arrangements for those unable to attend school doesn’t extend to post 16 pupils, so the only way to secure support is via an EHCP.

Child benefit would stop if DD left education, although you can get a 20 weeks extension if DD registers with the local careers organisation, and can sometimes can a 6 months extension if the young person is unable to attend due to ill health. Post 16 home education doesn’t count for CB unless it began prior to 16 or the child has an EHCP.

Hey what are EHCPs and EHCNAs? How do I get one?

An EHCP is a legal document that sets out your child’s needs and the provision they need to meet those needs. An EHCNA is the needs assessment prior to the LA deciding whether to issue an EHCP or not. You apply via your LA, IPSEA have a model letter you can use on their website. This applies in England. Wales and NI have their own versions - IDP and statement of SEN, respectively.

Ok thanks. I feel like I'm on a steep learning curve.