GCSE triple science resits 2023- advice needed

[Flyingflamingoes]

DS 16 never really got back to school after lockdowns due to MH, school refusal and now is on the diagnostic pathway for ASD.
With a while family effort and special arrangements from school we got him in for the exams and he managed 7gcses between 4 &7. He started 6th form at the same school but since decided it wasn't for him,partly because he wasn't doing the subjects he wanted to.

He's now asking to resit gcse biology and chemistry to get his grade 5 passes into the higher grades with the aim of studying both at A level at college. This should be within his ability as his target grades were 8+ before everything went spectacularly bad.

School can't accept him as an external candidate for resits, Google comes up with a range of costly providers flogging online courses.

Does anyone know if he can be entered for this without having to sell a kidney?
iIs it triple science I should be looking for or the separate subjects? Exam board is AQA.

I know the stats re retake grades and can support him with revision etc. Tutoring not within our financial grasp but there are loads of free resources I'm aware of.

If any exam officers are on this board and know I'd be eternally grateful, or others who have done this.

try looking at the iGCSE

These are easier, and without the compulsary practical element, so much cheaper.

Science is incredibly difficult to resit, because the centre has to guarantee that you have covered various practical elements that are difficult and expensive to set up, The iGCSE side steps that.

They are not considered quite the equivalent to standard GCSEs, but are not too far off

Lots of private schools offer the iGCSE, as they are business, and obviously it is a lot cheaper to run, but they cant be counted in league tables, so state schools rarely use them,

I have used them for children that cant attend practical lessons, such as long term hospital patients, and once a child who was remote learning from jail

just to clarify the "i" stands for international - these are the GCSE specifications offered by exam boards to overseas students, and have no practical element, as the practicals that the exam boards want are based on the equipment and resources available in a standard UK state school, not necessarily available in other parts of the world. The content is very similar

It is possible to resit a standard science GCSE, but as you have discovered, complicated and expensive

One place you can contact and ask is your local teacher training college. Trainee teachers need a certain level science GCSE, so there are a steady trickle of student teachers or would be student teachers trying to resit them. The teacher training college may be able to point you to any local schools or centres that accept resitters in the standard science GCSES

Is there an alternative, ie taking level 2 science at a college instead of gcse.

This would take a year out of the three year allowance of post 16 education - one year has already been used, one year on BTEC level 2 science, only leaves one year left, not enough time to do A levels.

You only get the one spare year, and this young person has already used it.

Are there any sixth form alternatives where he would he would be accepted with his current grades? (My DC's sixth form would accept them).

Then he could self study during the year, but not sit the exam and hopefully be in a good position to start A Levels next year (or alternatively, if he struggled with self study, you would have to revert to Plan B - maybe Applied Science Level 3 BTEC? Or maybe the BTEC should be Plan A?)

If school won't handle it, I doubt you are going to be able to retake his previous science boards.

IGCSEs are easier as independent candidates, as the practical element is covered in the question papers, rather than a practical exam. (They ar remnant to have had practical experience in class, but he will already have done that at school). If you go onto the Edexcel igcse site you will be able to find external centres - basically some schools which sit it allow outsiders to sit too. This is why home schoolers tend to take igcse.

And ignore the person upthread - IGCSEs are completely equivalent to GCSEs for the candidate.

From looking at general revision resources the syllabuses seem very similar but would be sensible to get the specific text books and copies cgp to be sure nothing missed.

My boys did separate sciences so I am not utterly certain, but I think you might also be able to triple as I remember soem sorts of the syllabus beinf for paper 2 only, which I think the triples don't take. But if he isn't keen on physics, probably easier to do two singles.

Not a lot of time to get sorted though, so you would need to push on.

Good luck.

As a slight aside, have you considered applying for an EHCP for your DS? An EHCP allows for funded education up to 25 and can be beneficial for DC who may take longer to achieve their academic goals.

Your DS has done amazingly well to achieve the GCSE grades that he has. It sounds like he may need continuing access arrangements for exams/study going forward though.

My DS has an EHCP and he is considered quite academically 'able' but has huge barriers to learning due to poor executive function, dreadful handwriting, anxiety etc.

In most circumstances, iGCSEs are considered equivalent to GCSEs, but not in all, they dont count for league table purposes, for example. They are slightly easier, but there is not a lot in it

They are cheaper to run, so many independent schools run science iGCSEs instead, and of course they are heavily invested in assuring parents that they are of identical value. They ar not quite, but if you are a business, and if you want to show slightly higher grades, and cook your stats a bit, they are the one some indies go for

( I teach both)

This is helpful thank you,.
I'll admit I know nothing about igcses so need to do some research fast!

Sorry all- epic quote fail there.
I'll try to respond, thank you all for your replies.
Alternative 6th form not an option as he is adamant he is not setting foot in any school again. Nearest local provision is a selective 6th form who would consider him for next year but not for the subjects he wants with the grades he has.

BTEC/level 3- would be a really good plan A and I've tried hard to get that across but flexibility of thought is not a skill he has. He did start the applied science course before dropping out of school, he enjoyed it but it wasn't the A level he wants.

He is fixated on these subjects or death (possibly quite literally as we have had OD in the summer pre exams ). I know the pressure of resits will be intense, the good thing is once he has a fixation he is highly likely to pursue it to the Nth degree.

EHCP- I don't really know how to do this -there's very little documented as he has refused CAMHS and crisis teams, SENCO disagreed with me that he was possibly ASD. He has only just been seen by the community paediatrician who thinks ASD very likely, another 6 months now for the 2nd part of the assessment. Would an EHCP be considered for this? We have only just been allocated an Early Help support worker after 3 referrals so she may be able to help with this.

School have suggested I contact a local community learning partnership-I think they're unlikely to be able to help but will see what they reply with.

It's been really helpful just to see that it's not me putting obstacles in his way and that it is as difficult as I thought, nothing as convinced as a single minded 16 yr old!

good luck, I hope it works out well for your lad

I agree with @Toomanyminifigs, apply for an EHCP. On their website IPSEA have a model letter you can use to send to your LA to request an EHCNA.

I believe Tutors and Exams take private candidates for GCSE separate sciences if they are carrying forward practicals. If DS can’t carry forward his practicals then they offer IGCSE.

He is fixated on these subjects or death (possibly quite literally as we have had OD in the summer pre exams ). I know the pressure of resits will be intense, the good thing is once he has a fixation he is highly likely to pursue it to the Nth degree.

I think you really need to address this, if possible. Even if the resits go well, a borderline 5/6 student will struggle on science A-levels. The college will very likely have requirements to stay on the courses (most have transition assessments) and progression exams at the end of Y1 if they don't do AS exams.

Does he know what he wants to do after A-levels? What sort of grades will he need?

I teach A-level biology, and I find those who have just scraped a 6 will usually come out with a C or a D. I fully accept there are exceptions to this, and his target grades suggest he is capable of more. But it's also hard to build on a shakey foundation at GCSE.

Have you tried reaching out to home educators in your local area, or the HE board on here? They might have some ideas on where he can sit exams.

Possible autism and MH issues can absolutely be justification for an EHCP. Being unable to attend school is already clear evidence of his needs not being met. You could probably give a lot of examples of what happened when he was at school, to show why it is not possible. He has a right to actually be educated, not just a right to a place in a school he cannot access. You can even get bespoke EOTAS (Education other than at school) packages for children who are not able to attend school. Easy? No. But not impossible.

An EHCP does take time to secure, so don't wait for it, but have it ticking along in the background. Long term it should take the pressure off and give a bit more grace.

Keeping him on roll would be helpful if possible. He is still their problem then and you are actively building evidence of him not managing to attend. Once you dereg him it can be deemed a choice rather than unmet need. However it sounds like this ship might have sailed.

Interesting points re practicals with the iGCSE. I wonder if this might be a hook into challenging his fixed ideas around Chemistry and Biology A levels. Both will need practical and he will need to attend college. If he won't do school at all, and he won't do a practical science course at college at all, and he won't do other A levels at college at all, what is it that is different enough to all 3 of those to make these particular A levels at college work? It all sounds like a bit of a stretch to me.

Or, if you run with the A level idea, maybe you could coax him into using this academic year to prepare himself for science A levels at college more broadly that just by resitting the GCSEs. Especially if he ends up doing iGCSEs and missing the practical element. A practical sci course at 6th form sounds like the perfect prep to me...! But what else can you use to catch up his broader skills set, exec function, homework, note taking(?), buying lunch, buses. Presenting everything in terms of how it is prep for A levels, with practical element, at college might be a good way to engage him in tasks outside Bio and Chem GCSEs.

Thankyou all again for your responses.
For an update, DS decided not to do resits. We went to a local college open day where he talked realistically about his options with some of the A level teachers there and spent a long time talkingtothe wellbeing/student support team.
I'm not sure how it happened, but they managed to get him to think more widely and the upshot is that he has applied for a place to do the A level pathway with a completely different set of options (maths, physics and psychology).

He's spending the time for the rest of this academic year working through some recommended study books based on stepping up to A level maths and is talking much more positively about the future.
I'm under no illusions that this will be an easy journey, but am so pleased seeing him wanting to engage with education again.
I will also be looking at the EHCP - we have an Early Help worker who has not been any help, but hopefully she can contribute to an application for that!