Ill, off school, may not get the magic 5 GCSEs - what options for college?

[Runningtokeepstill]

Ds has missed most of his secondary education. We withdrew him from the unhelpful first secondary school at the beginning of Yr 9, home ed during dad's terminal illness for rest of year, started new, supportive school at the end of Yr 10 so already a struggling to catch up.

Due to hypermobility syndrome and, more specifically, chronic pain syndrome he averaged 60% attendance at this new school, was studying for 5 GCSEs (one is double award so = 6) but since November he's being educated by the out of school service for sick children as he's not been able to get into school at all. They only support Maths, English and Science (double award) so he'd just get 4 GCSEs. His school have said he's too behind with the assessments that have to be done at school to continue with IT and will no longer help him with this subject.

Next year he wants to do AS in Maths, Computing and IT. The head of year says he thinks ds won't be able to study IT if he hasn't done the GCSE. I don't think this is necessarily correct and one of his tutors from the out of school service says children who've been ill get this taken into account by the 6th form college. But ds has been on a real downer since the negative view from school. He's due to go to his college interview later this week so we'll get their view soon but I'd like him to go in feeling more optimistic. At the moment he feels school is telling him this year is now a waste of time as it won't be enough to get him onto his college courses.

Has anyone else's dc been in a similar position?

Definitely speak to colleges! In my experience they are better at being flexible than schools and offer a wider range of courses!

It may be that your Ds needs to do a level 2 course before he can progress to the level 3 but the colleges can deal with that and are well equipped for it!

Get your Ds to look at vocational courses eg. Btecs as well as traditional Alevels, there are some really good courses out there!

Good luck

Oh and meant to say the Btecs still carry the much needed points to get into Uni!

Thanks, I need, I think that Btec in IT would be a good option.

Unfortunately, ds has been worried about going too far down the vocational route and limiting his options and has so far discounted Btec. But, his options have been limited anyway since he decided that History AS may not be suitable for him and the Economics he wanted to do has been discontinued by the college. So if he's doing so much computer related stuff for AS then the Btec won't limit him any further. Also Btec tends to be 3 full days whereas AS would be probably the same amount of contact time but spread over 5 days with free periods making up the rest of the time. I think he'd do better on the 3 full days regime. So I'm hoping the interview process will get him to review his thoughts on all this.

He's really anti doing level 2 courses next year as he sees it as falling behind his peer group. He's already had to cope with being moved out of higher sets due to absence issues and ended up losing touch with the friends he'd made when he first started at secondary school. As an adult I can see that doing level 2 next year wouldn't be a total disaster but I can also understand where he is coming from. For his self esteem I think getting onto level 3 next year is really important to him.

I guess you need to have that conversation with some colleges! As I say they do seem to be more flexible than school 6th forms in my experience!

I can also see where your Ds is coming from but the fact that he has been so unwell may mean that taking his time to come back to education and dropping back a year may not be the end of the world for him!

The college my Dd2 went to had lots of students who had done a yr in 6th form or dropped out half way through the year and had then joined the level 3 course the following yr!

In fact Dd2 was one of the youngest on her course!

my relatives found college to be more flexible with SEN and health issues than school, although that is not universally so.

Also, once through the door, they may reassess on the basis of what he is actually able to do, rather then what exams he has passed. So just because they need to see 5 gcses to start on one course does not mean to say that they won't move him up when they see how he performs in class. They may help him across the last GCSE as well.

Employers are looking for talent, so some work experience in his areas or talent may give some much needed self esteem.

I wonder if there are some things that would help whether it is touch typing, dragon dictate, or proper exam concessions - hypermobility should attract as many rest breaks as are needed and my hypermobile dd has a room on her own as she cannot hold a seating position for several hours, so had sofas and a giant bean bag as well as a chair.

Good Luck

Also the Ed Psychs say 'intelligence will out'. It may take until dc gets to work, but an exam system and school system designed for the bog standard should not be allowed to report exceptionally determined performers as ordinary.

The school has an option for references and they should be singing out the praise for dc;s success against fearsome odds.

Update
Ds had his college interview today and in his special circumstances they will conditionally offer him a place to do AS in Maths, Computing and IT on the basis of getting just 4 GCSEs (the only ones supported by the out of school service): Maths at grade B and Cs in English and double award Science. These are his predicted grades so should be achievable. He's also going back for a further interview to look at Btec, which he could do if he drops a grade in Maths.

Sighs of relief all round and he's become more amenable to looking at Btec recently too. He just needs to get well enough to pick up on studying as in the last couple of months he can hardly get up the energy to get out of bed most days. But I think knowing it is all still possible will help.

Great news running hope things go well for him

Good News
fingers and toes crossed