Support thread for parents of Y11 GCSE kids with SEN - no judgement just lots of handholding!

[yawnanotherone]

From another thread, it seems that there are quite a few of us who have to approach this revision period a bit differently! I'd love to share what is and isn't working and just have somewhere we can offload any stresses in the coming weeks. I have a DS with ASD and ADD who is trying his best, but struggling with the amount of content to get through.

I think I am at this point to for all our sake.

DC did GCSEs 2 years ago. Now doing A levels. They're going to do a Foundation year at Level 3 in September. They needed Maths and English GCSEs at Grade 4 or above (which they got). Nothing else. That's what we focused on. Other GCSEs are fantastic if they lead onto a specific A level, degree etc, but the colleges we approached weren't bothered about them.

How have they copied with A levels @Bartholomewphilipswasrobbed ? I have to admit I got the fear reading other threads on here about A level grades being a couple of numbers below the GCSE grade - so a 4 would end up a 2 at A level. Didnt want to put DS through that!

@Ratbag7 I don't know what level DS is studying at with maths, but here's an exercise I created to teach a concept in algebra for removing values:

https://thinkskills.net/demo/lesson?module=./modules/algebra.js&video=903367460

Let me know if this is of any help. More to come if interested.

@yawnanotherone You're welcome to use this too. The more the merrier!

@yawnanotherone So far so good. The exams start in about 3 weeks (oh dear!) We have various diagnoses here including ASD, ADHD so DC is coping with quite a lot even before you look at the A level syllabus. It is true that the step up from GCSE to A level in the sciences and maths is HUGE, but it's much less so in things like History, Geography, Art, Drama etc (from what I can see). There are certainly students doing those subjects in our 6th form that don't have a GCSE in it, and have started "fresh". We also had the option to change DC's A level choices in the first term if the work was too much - and they did actually do that, abandoning one subject and starting a brand new one (sociology) in its place.

For us the main thing was that DC wanted to do A levels, and wants to go onto Higher Education. A part of that was FOMO I think, but our 6th form has been very accommodating with extra time in exams, time-outs from exams etc.

My honest view is that if your DC wants to do A levels then let them try. They could do something brand new to them so aren't comparing GCSE and A level grades (IYSWIM). They can always re-do either Y12 or 13 if needed, defer entry to HE, stop completely if they want. We've always told DC that if they want to try then we're with them 100%, but it's definitely not the end of the world if things don't go to plan and they'll follow a different path.

Sorry - that was an essay ...

And they've absolutely LOVED their A levels too!

That's great to hear, my DS is going to take a sideways step for a year and study animal management at Level 2, something completely different to traditional learning. And if after a year he loves it, great, or wants to start y12, no problem either. he is really happy with that option and it's like a weight lifted off him that he gets to step back a bit, but still learn skills that he might want to make a career out of. And he gets to hang out with rabbits and goats so all good!

Sounds similar to my dd she is going to do a level 2 in Criminology and probably resit Maths and English.

She would love to do animal Science but its a 45 minute bus journey and we don't need anymore barriers.

@yawnanotherone where for the animal care, if you are willing to say? My DD did level 1 animal care for 2 years at Sparsholt in Hants, and she may return to do level 2 in September. She did 1 week of the L2 initially but wasn't coping with her anxiety so dropped right down.

The way Sparsholt operated was 1 day practical and 2-3 days of related theory.

We spent 2 years driving DD, 1 hr round trip each time 4 days a week. If she does return we are really hoping she can cope at least one way on the bus!

For DD animal care wasn't a compromise. It has been clear from very young that was where her interest lies. This gap year she has been improving skills with kennels work experience, and her own guinea pigs and new royal python.

@TeenDivided out of interest, does the Royal python look at the guinea pigs with a hungry expression? 😋

They are in separate rooms, never to meet!

@TeenDivided We are in London so Capel Manor College is the only option I could find. I'm hoping DS loves it, he would be so great in a job with animals - we call him the dog whisperer!

Dd's best lessons were 'walking the dogs'.

Capel manor is lovely and well set up to support kids with additional needs. It didn’t work out for my ds with asd but no fault of the college and he is on a different path now studying for an access to HE diploma which is the equivalent of a levels, but structured in a way that is much more suited to his learning, and he is working part time in gardening/landscaping.
with GCSEs we just focused on 5 to give him the best chance of passing 5, obviously with a focus on English and maths as they are the only ones anyone cares about. In the end he scraped them. Just! But do just ditch the ones they find more difficult - some of them are much more content heavy than others. My ds loved history and in the end did well in that (got a six) but the sheer amount of learning in that is unreal. Conversely English literature, if they can learn the themes and talk about them, may not be as hard as it seems, and is certainly far easier for kids with additional learning needs than English language, from my perspective at least.

That's really good to know @Rumplestiltz, it's such a worry sending them off to a new setting. And such helpful advice about ditching the content heavy ones - he's doing History and Geography which are mind-bogglingly packed and history particularly (though he loves it) is so difficult to actually answer effectively in an exam. So even if he knows the content, he has to get his head around the right way to answer each question.

I wondering at the moment how hard I should be pushing DD to revise, if at all. I suspect she doesn't know how to revise effectively and I'm not in a position to help her. She's back to her hone tutoring this week which is 24 hours per week plus weekly maths and English lang for an hour, which we pay for privately. I feel I am doing all that is within my power to help her. She is still not predicted to get more than 2s and 3s based on her mocks. Should I just accept that she won't pass them and leave her be? I think I need to come to terms with what is a very different situation from what I'd imagined. I just want her to be happy, that's all.

@Theordinary I would be happy to provide a free lesson on learning technique if you are interested.

Hoping this works

How is everyone? My DD had her interview at college and has been offered a place at level 1 regardless of GCSE results. This has relaxed me a little. If she manages to raise her grades she can do the next level up. Still not much of a focus on revision but I think she's working quite well with the home tutoring. Just think, in a few months this will all be over! For my first one at least.

Managed to get my DS into some maths and English tutoring, spent ages with him supporting on his GCSE coursework, typed out a colour coded exam timetable today and his first exam is tomorrow (language spoken). I CANNOT wait til this is finished, whatever the result, it's been exhausting.....

Well done @Theordinary for getting your DD a place at college, my DS has a place on level 3 but he can drop down to 2/1 if he doesn't get the grades. He also has an offer from sixth form but the chances of him getting in are pretty remote.

He's not doing any revision as far as I can see...

This resonated with me this evening when trying to convince my Ds to revise for his exam tomorrow and him trying to convince me that he was but his brain doesn't really know how to (he didn't want me to help him)

Brilliant news!