Year 11 Child moved from Scotland to England and content to learn overwhelming - son doesn't want to even try

[Stressbucket1973]

I have a son in Year 11 - we moved from Scotland to England and the difference between National 5's and GCSE seems vast. He has so much content to learn before the exams. He has mocks in November and hasn't got a clue. He is so overwhelmed that he has just given up. He won't talk to us or even try. He is also dyslexic and the amount of work to get through is daunting. The school are trying to help and given us the areas he needs to focus on. but he has set his mind that he will fail so why bother. I can't get him to sit down and concentrate.

I feel like we are constantly harassing him to study or work or do anything... he just won't sit down and focus. He just want to game or go to the skate park and escape. He says he's thick and won't pass so why should he bother. He doesn't like school and is feeling totally overwhelmed.

The school allowed him to drop one subject but the issue is combined science being mandatory. He only had to do Physics in Scotland so he now has to catch up on chemistry and biology topics that others have been studying for over a year.

I'm at my wits end and my husband and I don't know what to do. We are trying to help and support but I feel all we are doing is making our son feel worse. I really don't know how to get him to want to try. There seems to be a lot going on for him and I'm wondering how we help him to try... I'm desperate and stressed out - any advice would be most welcome.

Just to repeat - the school won't move him down a year. He has to stay in his own year group.
No teacher has the time to teach him separately or somehow learn the Scottish system. It's just damage control at this point, so it may be useful to have a meeting with the head of KS4.

They were never united into one country, they are and remain two countries which are united under one crown, so their respective armies report to the same Chief and people can move freely between the two nations, but there's always been loads of differences. The Act of Union that created the UK is basically a treaty not dissimilar to the treaties that created the EU and although the relationship is closer than that between e.g. France & Germany it's a totally different category of relationship than e.g. the relationship between Essex and Sussex (which were also two different kingdoms 1500 years ago)

Scotland has its own legal system, own banks and currency, own education system and rules for property etc. England never conquered Scotland, the king of Scotland became the king of England too. There was never any reason or justification for either country's laws to overrule the other.

Just another thought OP

He can go to college in England from age 14.

It's still early in the term if there is a college course he wants to do, he will sit GCSEs in English and maths alongside what ever course he wants.

You need to find a dyslexia specialist tutor to help him find his confidence again. The SENCo at his school should also be involved and creating a personalised plan to document how they will support him. This might include a therapist counselling to help him with the emotional impact of the move and his belief that he isn’t clever or able to achieve.

The school can’t sleep on this, he will become school avoidant if nothing changes.

I’ve worked in Scotland and England at GCSE/old system S grades. Now teach A Levels.

Two ideas: concentrate mainly on English Lang, maths, a science, and the subjects he is better at. I’m not saying don’t do the work for the others BUT actually he will need certain grades in certain subjects for his next step to college or sixth form at school - research these and then pull out the stops in those.

if he doesn’t get English and Maths he will have to resit them so these two are massively important. English Language is the one he will need to pass for most courses. Perhaps he you could pay for a tutor for some of the key subjects? Doing it all alone is hard.

or
ask the school to consider moving him to year 10. S 4 in Scotland is not really the same thing as Y 11 as the English students have already had a year longer at secondary. He may not like that though.

If he doesn’t ace them all then he can sort it all out at a good,understanding sixth form, even retaking some courses and accessing voc courses to enable uni in some fields if that is what he wants. It might just take a bit longer. Or there’s the apprenticeship route. Still English and Maths passes are vv imp.

You moved him half way through a two year course, so he is going to find it almost impossible. A lot of schools start the content in Yr9 as this helps children who find it difficult. What you are expecting from him is unrealistic and you have set him up to fail. You need to solve this for him rapidly.

They won't move him into yr10.
Otherwise, those are good suggestions, @schoolsoutforever , although you know how reluctant schools are to disapply.
We have this is fair bit and it's bad enough if they just come from a different part of England, never mind a completely different system..

This will be impossible and it would be unreasonable to ask.

I cant imagine the thinking behind him changing schools at year 11, go back.

I think the ‘leap’ is because of the way our curriculum in Scotland narrows subject choice after 2nd or 3rd year.

This surely is the answer?

People keep asking this. While it does seem a reasonable solution, in English schools children are not placed outside their chronological age group. (The only exception being a delayed start in primary school for summer born).

Going back to Year 10 might be the practical answer but if he’s 16 he could be in a year with children who are 14 - insult to injury.

There must have been an incredibly strong reason for moving - although as the OP didn’t explain why the lad couldn’t have remained in Scotland with one parent it’s impossible to understand the motivation for the move.

No probably not re moving him to y 10 but as I say, the systems are not equivalents. He may well be 16 later that most year 11s - the school age is determined from the beginning of March rather than Sept (or at least it certainly was when I went to school/worked there). I would IMAGINE they’ve considered birthdates already but I wouldn’t know how these things are sorted out. Just a thought.

I wasn’t suggesting dropping any more subjects either, simply to revise hard for the key ones and stress less about the ones that aren’t necessary for this young person’s progression route. The school, of course, will want as high results as they can in all subjects and exert pressure BUT an individual young person will need certain things for his future so worth thinking longer term in order to prioritise I’d say.

Ultimately, a young person’s self esteem and wellbeing is at the heart of this so I would go back to the school, ask for a meeting with year head and SENCO and ask what they can do to help/support him to achieve the best he can.

Why extraordinary? It’s always been the case going back decades to when I was in high school.

The problem is that this student has moved more than midway through a course into a completely different system. There's not an easy solution, but I'd set up a meeting with the headteacher about damage limitation. The boy is struggling already.

My Ds did GCSE’s last year . After Christmas they stopped teaching and started just revising. I really don’t see how that is doable.

He would be better sitting in Scotland or redoing year 10.

I don't stop teaching after Christmas - there's still a lot of content to get through! I usually build in revision by March.
Anyway, he's moved to a completely different system, so an urgent meeting with the headteacher would be the best bet at this stage.

It isn’t going to be possible to drop back to year 10 in a state school due to funding. Please stop suggesting it. The only way to do this would be in a private school that was willing to admit him to the year below.

Thank you. This keeps being suggested. It's not going to happen.

@Maireas I’m in England and I do know of two separate cases where students have been able to repeat a year. These have been due to exceptional circumstances (think mental health issues/eating disorders). This may fall into the exceptional category if the school systems are just too difficult to allow the student to adapt/succeed.

I have heard of one - in 40 years of teaching. You are right, it has to be exceptional circumstances. You know how short of finding schools are, and how little flexibility there is. The problem is people suggesting this as if it was just a simple solution which could be done tomorrow. This is a far more complex situation.

Some FE colleges run a 14-19 provision and he could access some GCSEs through that. You might need to check the exact terms for your local colleges though as some count as full time education, but others are only classed as part time and are accessed by home educating students.

It's understandable that your child feels demotivated and isn't responding well to being nagged to work. He probably feels like the mountain ahead of him is so large that it's pointless trying. He's unlikely to be giving up because he doesn't care. It's probably incredibly overwhelming for him and he knows that GCSEs/Nat5 are important for post-16.

No, not half way through a 2 year course. He's been moved into a course where he's already missed about 75%-80% of the teachable content, the remaining lessons will be building on topics already covered so will go way over his head, and the rest of the time before exams is for revision and practice.

This is like starting someone off on a 5-lap circuit race when the rest of the racers have already completed 4 circuits.

I wouldn’t be focussing on gaining lots of GCSEs. Let him settle into the new school and see what’s possible. As pp said it’s more about damage control.

I don’t think moving down a year is the right thing or possible. Students who arrive into the U.K. just join the age appropriate year. And it’s sink or swim. There’ll be options at college next year. If his aim was apprenticeship then only focus on maths and English, maybe one other. If it’s A levels - colleges usually require 5.