What happens if they fail Y12

[Shinyredbicycle]

My ds scraped through GCSEs by the skin of his teeth, athough has just failed maths for the third time. Very close to a 4 - he panicks in exams and leaves early despite being given extra time for to SEND.

He started sixth form doing 2 BTechs and 1 'A' level. I wanted him to look at extended Btech in the subject that he loves and excells in (drama) but he absolutely refused to consider going to a college. I did get him to an open day earlier this year which he stormed out of.

He has just found out that he received a U in a drama exam (he had prepared, just can't do exams), and a U in one of the modules in his other Btech. He's expecting to get a U in the 'A' level subject as well - likely, as he only had a go at answering half the questions.

I contacted the school early summer to say I was concerned about him and was reassured that he was doing fine. Obviously, that wasn't the case, and I've contacted the school today to see what his options are.

He's convinced that he won't be allowed to go into Y13. Ybh, that would be completely understandable from the school's perspective, but what then for him? He won't be able to get a job without a 4 in maths and I do not want him sitting at home with his self-confidence and self-esteem getting lower and lower.

Can anyone offer any advice or guidance please? Especially if he continues to refuse to engage with the idea of any sort of college course.

TIA

He will have to re-sit Y12, or find an alternative educational route (e.g. college) or perhaps the armed forces, if he's interested enough, and able to pass their entrance exams.

yes he can start again in year 12 with a different course and maybe a different setting. Funding is in place until age 19 and it is not unusual. I can think of several of my DCs' peers who did this for one reason or another.

Can he take functional skills - L2 is an equivalent level to GCSE grade 4 so will help him in the job market. What sort of thing does he want to do? Would an apprenticeship (and doing FS maths at college perhaps) be a possibility?

Armed forces definitely out. College courses he has refused to engage with the idea of. Fed up of school, so motivation to resit Y12 non-existent. Hates exams and does poorly in them, so can't see that more exams will help him self-esteem.

I hope that the school do agree to a meeting with me, as I'd really appreciate some support navigating this.

Thanks, clary. Yes, I went through all those things with him last year post-GCSE bomb.

He would have been much better suited to an extended diploma in performing arts but see my OP as to how far I got with that with him.

I've been looking at apprenticeships and encouraging him to as well. Anything drama related seems so competitive and would require him having the confidence to apply.

Have also spoken with him re L2 functional skills.

Unless he’s fully on board to resit the year I think his options are college, apprenticeships possibly part time work with volunteering?! Not sure about that last one.

If there are special circumstances the school might consider dropping a course maybe a b tech and changing the a level to A/S. Or dropping the A level and focusing on more coursework based subjects? It’s still a lot of work though and lots of pressure in year 13. does he want to stay on and study?

There are some good apprenticeships about depending on his interests and school should support him In applications or advise
at least. Have a look at gov apprenticeships site
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/

I had to resit year 12. I just didn’t take it seriously and got a massive kick up the arse which I needed.

Given the circumstances you describe I think you’re doing the right thing to explore some alternative paths.

Thanks, all. He loves the social side of school and gets involved with a lot going on there but, yes, academics and exams are not for him.

He does have a part-time job which he loves, and I honestly think he'd be happier working, maybe doing some voluntary work than going through the motions of studying. His job is only term-time, and I don't know how possible it would be for him to get any sort of other basic job without level 4 maths.

It's not a lack of intelligence, or even his SEND, more his personality and character.

I'll have another look at apprenticeships. Thanks again.

The sensible thing would be to restart at a college.

Indeed it would be. An extended BTech in performing arts would be exactly the right thing for him to do

See my previous posts about his unwillingness to engage with this eminently sensible idea.

Can he not get a job teaching kids drama or something like that? He wouldn't need Maths GCSE for this. I know someone who failed all GCSEs and has found a nice job working with kids.

Hi, my daughter has just done an btec extended diploma in musical theatre. There were zero exams, just bits of written coursework related to what they were doing. She found it so much better than her gcses, as it was heavily practical, and the pressure of excessive written work wasn't there and she could just do it from home, they'd mark it say what improvement they wanted and she'd resubmit. As he wants to do drama the extended diploma is perfect and would lead to the drama ba degree course, if he wanted to do that, which I don't think has exams either. It'll give him the ucas points he needs and loads of experience. My daughter went into it and wasn't predicted to do that well because of her gcse results, but ended up with an amazing result D*DD. A lot of her year group are going to top drama schools for their degrees, so the extended diploma is a good choice, if the exams and revision are too much mentally.

This is awful my son despite never passing maths GCSE (9 attempts) did levels 1,2 and 3 of his plumbing NVQ and is now a fully qualified plumber earning 44k at 22 he obviously uses some maths but relies on apps etc I hope you can sort this

What's his resistance to college, is it not basically the same as a sixth form, just a different title?

I think his resistance to college is lack of self-confidence. He wouldn't consider even going to open evenings in Y11 or Y12. I made him come to an open day earlier this year ( with a view to starting Y12 again) and he stormed out after the ( very low key) introductory talk, obviously overwhelmed.

His part-time job is teaching drama to very young children. He loves it. There's not scope to extend his hours (only 5 a week) but maybe he can get some voluntary work or a TA apprenticeship.

He was saying earlier that he'd just like to get a job in a supermarket or something, which would be fine except it's so hard for young people to get jobs these days esp without maths. He also needs to be in EET for another year by law.