Not being able to.sit GCSE,s

[x2boys]

My son collapsed two weeks ago with acute pancreatitis,he's been in the critical care unit,
He's slowly recovering whilst my main concern is his health right now
there's a very real.possibility he won't be able to sit his GCSE,s in a coup!e of months ,he's not naturally academic anyway but does anyone know if the college he's applied to could accept him in on a level two course going off his mock results ?

Your ds needs GCSE's for so many avenues in life, it's a while until mid May so best to concentrate on getting him better. He can have extra time and take the exams in a quiet room if need be. I hope he recovers well.

Sorry to hear, that must be so hard for you both. I hope your DS recovers soon. I’m afraid I don’t think colleges can accept on basis of mocks. My DD is y11 and applying to school 6th forms and sixth form colleges. All need actual exam results. However, if your son is unable to return to school to take GCSEs then there are courses that he could do at sixth form college which include taking maths and English GCSEs but I’m not sure if that could be a level 2 course if he had no other GCSEs.

I'm going to disagree, politely, with PP and say that I would imagine there could be some flexibility for a college to accept based on mocks if your DS was unable to sit anything due to illness.

However a better option than just 'not sitting' may well be to sit Maths, English Language and 2 or 3 others, so he can aim for 4 or 5 grade 3/4s which would presumably secure his place on the L2 course and also have them for his CV later.

English Language isn't until after half term I think, and 2 of the 3 maths are after half term too. That gives 3 months recovery. (if he really isn't well enough before half term you could get a doctors note signing off any pre half term exams I think.)

Talk to the college. Then look at his timetable. Think what he needs, what he is good at and when exams are scheduled and go from there. You need to be strategic.

He might also be able to get rest breaks, or even do exams from hospital if needed.

(We were in a related position in 2021.)

It would be devastating to end up with nothing to show for y11 if it can be avoided.

(My DD ended with 4 GCSEs at grade 3 which undersells her knowledge, but it was better than nothing. It was also good enough for her Level 2 course, though she turned out not to be well enough for it so dropped to level 1.)

If he is unable to sit his GCSEs due to an illness for which he is hospitalised, provisions can be made by the school, to either use mock results as final results or to sit them at a diff time. You have to speak to the school.

Colleges run GCSE alongside the coarse so it’s possible -
Why not contact the one he wants to attend to find out and see what’s possible?
There are also evening classes for GCSEs he could do - or even ask for the res-sits in November

I'd prioritise him sitting English and Maths.

You're in the very early days now. Don't make any decisions yet, wait and see.

As he is aiming for Level 2 course, college will be set up for teaching and resitting Maths & English Language the following year and in the November if it is thought he could pass then.

You can't resit other GCSEs in November any more (iGCSEs are different I think).

Colleges round us don't teach other GCSEs and in my view it would be hard for a less academic student to try to do other GCSEs alongside their Level 2 course from both a practical and a motivation point of view.

Thanks all.He's not naturally academic anyway,so we.were not expecting fantastic results but he should have had enough exam,s to go on a level two course ,and maybe level,three,if his results were better than expected ,I have spoke to.school.and they said he will.get special consideration ,but at present he's still in hospital and in pain ,so he's not doing any work either at the moment ,and I don't want to push him as his health is paramount

He's not naturally academic*

Special consideration won't help massively, it's only a few percent, and of course he is missing revision lessons in school. Though of course a few percent can still make the difference of a grade.

It is a really hard balance for you. Talk to the college see how flexible they might be so you have the info, and then see how your DS gets on recovering. Have the doctors given you any indication of timescales yet?

Just that it can take months to.recover from its very unusual in a boy of his age ,the good this g is that he's only 16 and otherwise healthy
he's had improved massively since two.weeks ago ,but he was critical.plus he's now type one diabetic,which he has to.get his head around .

If it is going to take ages to recover then could he if needed start at Level 1 to give him an 'easy' year and then build on for level 2?

DD being on a Level 1 course means she can have flakey attendance (75%) due to her illness but still keep up.

Yes that ,a an option ultimately his health is the most important thing at the moment. .

I'm a teacher at a secondary school and one of my lovely year 11 students has just been diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer. All he is worried about is passing his GCSEs. Exam concessions are only 5% and don't go nearly far enough. Please consider signing this petition to campaign for students like your son and my year 11 student to be awarded teacher assessed grades:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633777

I have signed for what it's worth ,if it was good enough during the pandemic I don't see why it can t be used in these exceptional cases .

Whilst it's easy to sit Maths, English and ICT GCSEs at college you can't do Science. On that basis I'd see if he could do the double science in the summer sat in room on his own with additional time. Following year he could do a level 1 course and Maths, English and ICT GCSEs so at end of year of college he could have 5 GCSEs at level 4 or above. That would get him onto a level 2/3 course the following year.