Can DS (Year 10) catch up on GCSEs?

[winterrabbit]

I've posted separately about the issues I've had with DS1, 14 years and in Year 10. Basically, he was facing exclusion from a state school last September. The school arranged a managed move but it took 6 weeks during which time DS was out of school. DS was then on a MM from 14 Nov - 20 January when the school ended the move. He was then out of school again from 20 Jan until 3rd March when he started at his current school. It seems to be going well and we're hoping the school will keep him, however. we've now realised that DS1 is massively behind in quite a few subjects due to the 2 chunks of 6 weeks school he missed. The plan was to start tutoring a lot to plug the gaps but I first want to make sure he'll stay at this school. My question is, is it possible to catch-up at this point and come out with a decent set of GCSEs or is it too late? We are appealing the decision not to conduct an EHCP needs assessment so if we are successful then there's a chance he'll get an EHCP will apparently allow you to go back a year, which he's hate but may have to be an option. TIA

With an EHCP even if the HT doesn’t agree parents can force the provision.

Yes, it’s possible but it’s going to take a huge amount of perseverance and motivation from your ds. It’s not just the weeks when he was out of education that you need to worry about though, the mix of settings means topics could have been taught twice and others missed completely. I’m a head of department in a secondary school and as a department we get to choose which order we teach topics in. This means our topic order is going different to other schools. I’ve got a pupil who joined at the end of year 10 who has been taught one topic twice, but has totally missed one huge topic because we’d already done it, but her previous school does it in year 11, so she’s trying to catch up at home (with help, but it’s not the same). This is very common so he could have more gaps than you realise.

People always seem surprised when kids are out of their chronological age group at school here on mumsnet, in real life I have yet to encounter a school, state or indi, that won’t consider it. It would not always be a given, but all the schools i have taught at, my kids have been to and my friends kids have been to have had the odd one out of year at secondary.
however, you say he would hate it, and if he is already on MM no 2 then i would definitely be scratching that as an idea.
get him settled, then ask if can drop at least one gcse and focus on getting 5 passes inc eng, maths and science then he can start looking forward to the next phase, eg apprenticeship or college.

Thank you all. Well, DS is still going ok on his MM. 2 weeks left and the school said if he continues like this then they'll confirm the place. The problem is though that DS really doesn't like the school. Not sure why as the teaching seems good and they seem to be supporting him well plus the behaviour code is far more relaxed which helps massively, (e.g. no detention for being late unless 3 times in a row). I have a feeling he hasn't made many (any friends) and he doesn't seem to like the vibe of the school.

I also found out today that our appeal of our LA's refusal to conduct an ECNA was successful. Trying to work out what this will mean for DS if we do get an EHCP. I think DS will want to move again to another local school (there is an outstanding school near us with excellent SEN provision where his best friend goes) but I just don't see how he can move yet again given the disruption this would mean especially at this stage of year 10.

One thing if you do get an ECHP is that he can get funding to stay in education until he is 25. Not suggesting you would want that but it may be useful.

If he doesn't have an ECHP and he repeats a year now, he will only be funded to study up to 19 which leaves just 2 years for post 16.

If he passes maths but not English, many colleges would let him start a level 3 btec or similar qualification, or apprenticeship. If he doesn't get the grades for level 3 he can start on level 2, retake English and then progress to level 3.

A lot of students who struggle with school find college much better and he'll likely have a smaller class size in English too.

I wonder if the best approach might just be to get him through school (especially if he doesn't like it) and try to find a really good route for him post 16, with options if he doesn't pass English first time?

Bear in mind that "Maths and English" for college / apprenticeships etc is English Lang. There's no requirement for Lit.

I'd just aim to find him a setting that he's comfortable in and try to chill. I know it's hard (we've gone from 8 subjects at a grammar to 3 subjects via online learning in 6 months via a burnout, depression and non attendance, plus ASD and ADHD dx) but MH is fragile and important and he can retake anything missing later. No one puts dates in their CV's for qualifications anymore!

Hi again all. So, DS just got the results of his end of year 10 exams and they're pretty terrible. 5s in Maths, French, Chemistry, 4 in Biology, 3s in English, Physics and Geography and a 2 in PE. Not surprised at all as he did absolutely no revision but am surprised his French is low as his level is very good (dad is half French) and he usually gets 8 or 9 in assessments. English is worrying but given that he missed 2 of the texts (the novel and the play) I'm not surprised. PE he said he missed out a section of the paper. He also wasn't given any extra time despite his ADHD diagnosis. Not sure why. School has said he will be given extra time in his mocks.

We are still waiting for the outcome of the EHNA (we should hear in the next few weeks) but I am trying to get a plan together for what we do. All I can think is to try to tutor like mad but the issue comes from DS himself as he has zero motivation and won't revise so really difficult to force him. Not sure if we should try to get him to drop down a year (assuming he gets the EHCP) or just try to crack on from where we are. As I said, the problem is really DS's attitude - he cannot be convinced of the importance of GCSE and the need to sit down and revise.

Any advice very welcome. Is there hope he can get decent results, given his current grades, or should we admit defeat and try something else.

Under the circumstances, I’d suggest those are pretty good grades for the end of Year 10. If he concentrates now on getting up to a 4/5 for English LANGUAGE, that’s five good GCSEs, which will be enough to get him onto the next stage (A-Levels, BTEC, apprenticeship etc) and once he’s done that, no one will care what he got in his GCSEs. If he’s settled where he is now, I’d concentrate on getting him through the next ten months, and on planning what he’s doing next, rather than considering resitting Y10.

Get the GCSE revision books for each individual subject and make sure he works his way through all of them methodically. If he does, he can pass all his exams, and then focus on additional revision for the subjects he wants to do at A level to bump those grades up to a 7 or more.

You should have either been told the LA is not going to issue or have had a draft EHCP isn’t by now because if the LA is going to issue they must finalise by next week.

Repeating the year would allow DS to receive teaching in the topics he has missed and repeat those he has done, but with better support in place.

It is worth considering dropping one, or even 2, of the GCSEs to allow time to focus on English and additional interventions/support.

So, found out today that the LA WILL issue an EHCP which is great - better late than never. They sent it through today so I need to review and get my head around next steps.

One question/dilemma I have is whether we should name a different school. DS really doesn't like the school he is at as it is boys only and socially/culturally not a good fit for him. The vast majority of boys are Muslim and DS is not remotely in any way religious so difficult for him to connect and make friends. I just don't see how we can move him again though given that that this is his 3rd school in less than a year and he seems to be ok with the teachers, lessons and level of discipline, however, there is another school nearby which is outstanding, known for its SEN support where his best friend goes which DS would love to go to so really tempting to name this school in the plan. My understanding is that we could keep DS at his current school for GCSEs and then change the named school in the plan to the other school for A-levels so maybe that is the solution. Hard to know what to do. The outstanding school nearby is really geared up for SEN and I would want DS to stay there for A-levels but worried about moving him yet again especially so close to GCSEs. That said, he has moved so many times already, I am not sure how much he has learnt at his current school, for example, he has missed 2 of the Eng Lit texts so needs to catch-up learning wherever he goes. The ECHP seems to be focussed on getting him the necessary support and teaching to enable him to catch-up on all the missed learning.

Is there a risk he won't get the grades he needs to attend sixth form anyway? I think he should buckle down and get on. Given he struggles to get on with his work, would it be a good idea for him to be with his best friend? Is this likely to lead to him buckling down to work?

Cansu, I think/hope he will get the grades needed, however, I understood that the school/6th form can't set entry requirements/grades if they are coming in on an EHCP. Does anyone know if this is correct?

I think they can consider ability to succeed in the subject.

https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-teenager-doesnt-get-grades-need-chosen-course/

So sorry you are going through this and what a nightmare. But the end of year results aren’t a disaster. I saw on another thread that someone converted a grade 1 in English to a grade 4.

with regard to the English Lit module he has missed, I think it can be learned. Get the York Notes, watch a film or two and then basically talk it through with him and pull out some sample passages and themes. Put some A4 posters of important parts in his bedroom, in the bathroom, in the kitchen. I really believe it can be done.

I have 2 children - both with full EHCPs and one with ADHD (but he is only going into year 4 but I worry hugely about his future as he has no motivation). He might not be happy in current school but if the teachers are on board, I would say stick it out - he really only has 2 x terms left.

feel for you - we have GCSEs in 4 years time and I am already dreading it and just hope my son manages to stay at his school for those 4 years….

I’d stick with the current school. It’s ten more months, he seems settled there and his Y10 exams were solid despite the disruption to his education. Seems like maths, science and French are in the bag, so really work with him on English.

For Language, get him into the habit of writing regularly. A decent story (worth 40 marks) can make a huge difference to the overall grade. Also get a revision guide and make sure he understands the difference between ‘analyse’ and ‘evaluate’ - lots of pupils drop marks because they get the two mixed up.

For literature, missing one of the set texts isn’t actually a huge crisis. For most of the texts, there is one question about an extract (which your bright son will be able to answer even if he doesn’t know the text!) and if he does brilliant answers to the ones he does know, he’ll pull his grade up to a 4/5 without the ones he doesn’t. (This isn’t advice I’d usually give, but under the circumstances might be more realistic than getting him to read a 19th century text independently).

I know it’s tough, but focusing on getting English, maths and three other GCSEs at 4/5+ is probably more important right now than mourning the 8/9 he ‘should’ get in french. He just needs to meet the grade requirements for his next steps, not get MN-perfect results.

Those results are not too bad! He can definitely make progress on those and do fine. Stick with the school for now and just be focused on getting through GCSEs.

Which texts did he miss?
I've been helping ds with his GCSE prep for this year. One of the things we've done is watch films of the texts he's doing.
We found them free on YouTube.
Another good resource is Mr Bruff, also on YouTube. If you can cover some character analysis on all the characters and get to grips with the themes, then that'll make a huge difference to his outcome.

There's also tips on English language on YouTube. Practice some questions and some descriptions for creative writing.

There are some great resources for science. My dc like Freesciencelessons on YouTube and bbcbitesize.

Thanks Qwerty, that's really helpful. Will check them out. For English Lit, I think the play is definitely doable. Have bought the text and revision guides and he knows it reasonably well already as very short! The novel (Great Expectations) will be the challenge but there's a good remake out I'll try to get him to watch.

My worry about moving him, aside from it being way too late, is that the new school may try to get rid of him. His behaviour still isn't great and he could easily fall foul of multiple rules. His current school is pretty relaxed which is a massive plus.

Do you know which exam board it is for Literature? While the rest of the class might be doing Great Expectations, if it’s Edexcel, A Christmas Carol is also on the specification - and that would be easier for him to self study.

Also check out Mr Salles YouTube channel. He's got a video for 'creative writing cheats' which is good. My dn went from a 3 to a 6 in English language to all our shock and said the 'cheat' helped.
It's not really a cheat but just working on descriptions at home and putting them into the exam.

With a child with adhd I’d choose one with more relaxed behaviour rules and sanctions than a super strict one even if it had better sen support (ehcp means you can now enforce the provisions which is where I hope to get to - we are at the needs assessment stage with a child who sounds similar to yours!), especially if they were already in a school and seemed to be doing ok - 5s at end of y10 is absolutely fine and sounds like largely on track for good grades at end of y11. I know someone who went from a 1 to a 5 in one subject after one to one tutoring after they were pretty much forced to leave school (severe adhd). They can’t learn if they are constantly sent out of class for adhd behaviours. I wouldn’t hesitate to do tutoring again after my other NT child went from looking like failing maths to a 7 after a year of tutoring in y11. Even my Nt couldn’t cope with the breadth of 10 gcses and we had to unofficially drop focus on one to get through the process. I’ll be looking at concentrating efforts on a smaller number for my adhd child.

Please don't move him just as he's about to start year 11 - that would be perhaps the most disruptive thing in his whole education and yes, I have read the whole thread.

The new school may not do the same boards or combinations of subjects as the current one and he'll be behind all over again.

His summer mocks are pretty reasonable for year 10 by the way. He just needs to focus on getting those passes in English and Maths.

School should provide a lot of post-16 planning support in terms of working out what options are available and having a back up/insurance plan.

I would get hold of the revision guides that are sold for each subject and the books in his English Lit. Worse comes to the worst, he can always resit at an FE college.