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.

What is his reaction to the suggestion of L2 FS maths? My DS was struggling with employment until he passed L2 FS English and once he could put that o his CV he was able to get hospitality and retail roles.

I think if he got the FS maths it would open those kinds of doors. YY also possibly a TA apprenticeship.

I mentioned L2 FS maths to him again last night and he was interested. I said I'll l'd send him a link, but got a bit confused with the websites.

I'll have another look today.

Thanks.

I keep repeating this on here but nothing happens if he isn’t in EET. Just can’t claim benefits for being unemployed. What does he want to do as a career?

He doesn't really know, which is fair enough at 17.

He is very good at drama and that's his part-time job. Also very techy (though got a 2 in GCSE Computer Science - see above re: exams). He spends a lot of his spare time making electronic music, but won't pursue a qualification in it. Likes animals.

My sense is that he needs to get another job, spend time out of the house around other people, including young people, and mature a bit. Get his LS FS under his belt then look for apprenticeships next year. He'll be 18 by then, which might make it harder to find post-GCSE ones, I guess.

I'm beyond feeling exasperated with him, I think. More that being good at exams makes life easier at his age. It won't be like this forever, but this bit is tough.

Thanks again all.

Perhaps he needs some coaching in exam techniques? When I was a secondary school teacher the subject I taught had a GCSE paper that moved through multiple choice questions, a couple of sentences answers, to an essay in which students were expected to draw on what they had learnt across the two years of the course. By the time they reached this question a lot of them were tired, would write a paragraph and leave. I raised the grades across every cohort by going in at the beginning of the exam and, much to the surprise of the invigilators, telling the pupils to turn to Section C on the paper and answer that question first. All pupils also need practice in timing their work.

Yep, Rocknrollstar that's exactly what he needs.

When he failed maths for the first time, I got the papers, went through them all with him and could see that he races through the first part getting everything right then grinds to a halt when the questions get longer, even though the maths is actually straightforward when you've worked out what Amira is doing with her buttons or Benji is doing with his cake ingredients.

I did as much as I could to help him, offered to pay for a tutor to address exactly that, but he refused. He missed a 4 in his resit by one mark.It's incredibly frustrating to know that he could have got that mark if he used his extra time to check his work etc rather than leaving the exam room as soon as he is allowed.

It doesn’t sound like he is ready for college atm, which is fair enough. Sounds like he needs a job / volunteering work. A deal breaker for me would be a combination of these has to be equivalent to full time hours. Has he thought of applying to be a teaching assistant, or some form of care work? Believe it or not a care home would love his drama skills, especially if he looked more into the activity coordinator positions. Main thing is increasing his confidence and getting him mixing with others. Take a look at animal sanctuaries for volunteering roles. Any holiday camp type places near you, haven, centre parcs etc, or local family adventure parks, farms etc. These can be good employers for young people.

Yeah, we've had this type of conversation a lot in recent months. It doesn't even had to be full-time hours, just some structure to his week, something to get up for and to be involved in.

A TA apprenticeship is something we've talked about. He only received his Y12 report yesterday, so we've lost a bit of time. There were quite a few TA apprenticeships advertised when I was looking late spring/early summer, but not many now.

I'll keep looking - thanks.

It’s very late for school to have given his year 12 report. IF he wants to stay I’d argue you’re in a strong position to negotiate what he studies - restricted number of courses & focus on maths as I mentioned above. I think if he has SEND needs he can study 2 courses (might be done to local decision making but I think you could push)z But other options may be more sensible with everything you’ve said. The priority being to pursue the maths he needs with some other constructive use of his time.

Not all kids can follow the current education route. As you say bigger picture he’ll be fine. I think it’s great he’s got a passion for drama and a part time job. Can he seek voluntary work or even work experience within the drama field over the next year whilst looking for an apprenticeship?

Thanks. Ds is in 'I don't care' mode at the moment (which is all a defence - his self-esteem has been further dented).

I've emailed the Head of Sixth form to ask what his options are. I've asked if we could have a meeting or phone call. I requested this in the summer when I was reassured that everything was fine. I know they have a lot of students, but feel frustrated that my concerns weren't taken seriously.

Or maybe they were. The disparity between his obvious intelligence and how he does in exams is quite shocking.

Teachers should not be going into exams. (Retired teacher and ex invigilator)