Year 'out' to retake GCSEs?

[Echobelly]

DS is in Y9 and as the expectations ramp up it's clear his ADHD, even though he is bright, is making it hard for him to keep up and GCSEs could be a massive hurdle. He catches up a little more with peers each year but he's also August born and I fear that he just won't be ready to get strong enough GCSE results when he's still 15 to make it to A-level. But given a bit more time to catch up and retake some of them (without the pressure of all 9 subjects) he could be able to do better and be ready for A-levels.

I gather it is possible to take a 'year out' this way and there are costs attached, which we could bear - I'd be interested if anyone has experience of doing this. Like, where do they do the retakes private insitutions, public? Is it always in-person teaching or can it be done online? And so on.

Obviously there are many variables as to whether this would be the right solution for him, it might not even come to this, but I'm trying to get as clear an idea as possible what the options are.

I'm sorry I don't know. I hope they will stay. I think they are a fantastic qualification, and actually much better prep for how things will work at uni

I'd get tutors sooner rather than later - if you can afford it especially English. That give most of a school year to help them progress and be in best position possible for Y10 GCSE start ( Or end of Y9 in some schools)

Talk to the school how receptive are they to retaking year - dropping number of GCSE.

Look at local colleges - see what alternatives to A-level they have in your area.

Choosing options have some frank conversations with teachers about areas of weakness and what the courses actually entails - and look at BTecs if offered.

Realise he may need a lot more input and monitoring than a standard child - check he's up to date may be even organising with him his revision nearer the time.

I have a really late August child - they take GCSE exams here in this bit of UK in Y10 - so was at a worse disadvantage- she did well enough to get to Uni though she did bulk of her catch up in later primary and earlier secondary years.

My dd is currently in y10. They have three options at their school, 11,10 or 9 GCSE's. (I say "options", they are guided by school). If the latter, they have timetabled periods for study skills. I'm sure your son's school would have similar paths.

A few things:

1. The cognitive developments over Y10 and 11 are huge, and it is far too early to be panicking about this. Every year I'm fascinated by how quickly the Year 10 cohort step up to the new demands.
2. The jump from GCSE to A-Level is, honestly, the worst in the entire education system. If he is scraping 4s and 5s by the end of Year 11, it is probably not a good idea to be doing A-Levels. Your husband sounds fairly unfamiliar with the current educational landscape, but the post-16 options are huge and varied, and pure A-Levels are, in lots of schools, a minority choice.
3. The English Language GCSE is really weird, but often works quite well for students who are borderline 3/4/5 because it can be scaffolded very tightly and does not require much revision. A pass in either Lit or Lang will count in terms of not having to retake, it doesn't just have to be Lang anymore.
4. Repeating a year will have horrible social implications, is at the discretion of the school, and is extremely rare - in my career I've seen it happen once, with a looked after child who had been out of school for significant periods of time and needed a chance to do KS4 without disruption. The evidence for it is also pretty discouraging - it's generally thought to reduce progress (https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/repeating-a-year).

@Thommasina - thank you. Fingers crossed.

@ThatOpenSwan Can you explain more about the scaffolding in English. My DS is on a 3/4 studying Edexcel and I am researching ways in which I can support him.

I don't teach Edexcel, I'm afraid, and wouldn't want to muddy the waters with what his teacher has taught him as we all use different tips and tricks for our students - there should be clear teaching about how to answer each question, tied to the mark scheme, if Edexcel is anything like AQA. If he doesn't know anything about this, a meeting with the teacher would be a good idea. My only other advice is past paper practice and asking the teacher to mark these.

Exam specifications tend to change every 2 tears so what he studied for that gcse may not be relevant to the one he sits if he takes a year out.
Far better to take fewer gcses

If your DS will be moving onto a FE college for sixth form in any case, there may well be options to start with a year of Level 2 qualifications (including retakes if necessary) and then progress to Level 3 A levels or BTECs.

That's really interesting @Bramshott , definitely another reason to look up FE colleges sooner rather than later.

@ThatOpenSwan - agree it might be too early to worry, and I hope so but think we need the groundwork in case he doesn't make the leap.