Really bad parent's evening

[stellarossa]

Having struggled to get my son through GCSEs (in the end, they were not great, but not terrible either) I thought he was getting down to work in 6th form and all seemed to be going well. However last night at a parent's eve I got such a shock (as did he) when we found out he has U in Maths and Physics (but A* in computing). We think he can turn the physics around, but if he doesn't make a massive improvement in maths by mid-Jan they will throw him off the course. He is very immature, struggles to focus in class and tends to sit with mates and mess around. At 16 he really should be taking more responsibility for his learning and his teachers are clearly pretty angry with him.

I'm rather exhausted as a single parent, coming home from a demanding job to then have to intensively supervise his work, test him, check what he is doing. I wake up in the night worrying and am really tired out emotionally and physically. I don't know whether I should let him fail and that might be the 'wake up call', or to continue to try and help him. He's devastated and seems really lost. His teachers say he should be getting Bs or even As. I'm not sure if I'm looking for advice or just someway to try and reduce the stress and anxiety I feel. I don't have family and my friends children are all high achievers so I don't feel I can talk to them about this.

[condaleeza]

A few initial thoughts:

1. maths, physics, computing are all 'hard' subjects and really only suitable for those willing to commit to academic study.
2. School/college should have made clear to him that he is not doing well enough long before now and put an action plan and support in place for him to catch up (obviously requiring effort and work on his part as well).
3. School/college should not be allowing him to mess around with mates in class and should move him and make him work in class (and out of it). Sixth formers hate this but it is the teachers' responsibility to ensure that they do everything possible to give him every chance of success.
4. Realistically from what you have said his chances of success in these 3 subjects are slim so you might want to start thinking about possible alternatives for next year eg different subjects, vocational course etc.

Sorry have not read whole thread in detail but looks like there is plenty of sensible advice here.

[furlinedsheepskinjacket]

been through this op - you have my sympathy.
a levels are soooooooo different from gcses.my ds told me at least 50%drop out after first yr of 6th form.the students that are left really have to want to work at their subjects.some of ds peers dropped out after yr12, some messed up their a2 exams and had to resit and defer their uni place.it really is tough and a huge learning curve.
ds got a b for gcse maths and dropped a level maths really early on as he was left behind in a class of a and a* pupils. if yr ds gcse grades weren't great then maybe it is just too much.dd is now in yr12 and I think a and b grades at gcse = confident student for a levels.