How hard would it be to start school { from HE } in year 11 ?

[Winetimeisfinetime]

My ds currently attends an online school and is studying for iGCSEs and has suddenly expressed an interest in going back to mainstream school.

Originally we had thought he would do this for his A levels or an International Baccalaureate, which is available locally. But now he { for the first time since he started HE age 7 } wants to explore the possibility of going back to school sooner and we have little idea of how feasibile this might be.

My initial thought is that it would involve a lot of extra work for him as he may have to try and cram 2 years study into one for subjects he isn't covering for his iGCSEs { he is doing 8, possibly 9 iGCSEs - Maths, Science { double award }, English Language, French, History, Geography, Spanish and possibly English Lit }. He is very bright and is currently doing very well, but he is not very motivated to put in any extra effort so I think he would struggle if he had lots of extra work to do. On the other hand maybe a change would get him out of his current 'coasting' mode.

Really would appreciate some advice as I don't know if this is just a stupid idea.

Hi - do you have any idea why he suddenly wants to do this now? It would certainly be simpler to wait till after he gets his IGCSEs and start back at school for A levels, rather than switch courses half way through. (Incidentally, that's just what my DS is about to do after the summer).

I'd say step 1 is to work out what the motivation is, and see if it can be worked round - eg if he wants more time with his age group, he could join the scouts or whatever.

But if he's really set on this, then I think you'd be best to contact the local school (or schools if you have more than one option) and find out how much the topics and subjects he's already covered would fit in with their scheduling. You/he should be able to list all the areas he's done in the last year for each subject. Then the school can tell you what subject choices he might have - if he can do the same list of subjects that would make things easier, but that will depend on their timetabling. And see how well what he's done so far matches up with what they've covered - if you're lucky, they may have been covering things in the same order so there isn't too much he'd have to catch up on. But at worst they may have covered lots he hasn't done, or else the syllabus may be quite different.

When he knows ho much extra he'd have to do to catch up, perhaps he'll be clearer about whether he really wants to have that extra work to do.

HTH

It would be better to start in Year 10 or Year 12. It is virtually impossible to transfer for Year 11 because of different examination specifications, given that GCSEs are mostly 2-year courses.

Thanks for all of your replies.

It sounds like it will be more work than he is prepared to do to transfer - I can't see him being as driven as your dd obviously was, Riven.

I think you're right AMIS we need to try and find out more about what his motivation is and how strong his feelings are about this. I feel it would be detrimental to his potential exam success but want to try and accomodate whatever is driving him to suggest this, as it is very unexpected.

Could I ask why your ds is doing this AMIS ?

DS is a different situation as he was in school till 2 years back - internet school was just a practical option for us for these 2 years to let him get lots of extra time for music as well as getting academic qualifications. We looked at college as an option instead of school for next year, but it looks like a local high school gives him the best option for getting Highers (like AS levels), and he's happy to do that and doesn't have any particular "issues" with the way schools work.

For your DS, I think it's a more odd decision, if he's been happy with HE all therse years, which is what makes me think there must be something specific behind it. Once you work out what that is, hopefully you'll be better placed to find a solution which works.

Thanks for your reply AMIS - I hope your ds quickly settles back in to school.

I have been talking a bit more to my ds and I think it is probably to do with wanting more time with his own age group, so I think we will have a look at additional social opportunities for him as well as that might be a better compromise for next year, until he can go back to school in year 12.

I hope he'll settle ok - luckily he already knows some people in his year at that school, so hopefully he'll find it straightforward!

I though it was probably the social side for your DS, I guess it's an age where they want more of that, and the chance to "hang out". At least that's something you can work on separate from the academic stuff, so hopefully you'll be able to work out something for this year and then carry on with the plan of going back for A levels.