DD struggling with anxiety about College

[CatrinVennastin]

Hi,

My DD16 started a fashion course (Btec) in September and her anxiety is through the roof. A big part of the problem is they are only in two days a week, the rest of the time they work on their projects at home and she is finding working in this way incredibly difficult. I am helping as much as I can but both DH and I work FT so she is on her own at home Monday and Tuesday.

She is dyslexic and was assessed for ASD in year 6 but I was told although she shows traits it wasn't enough for a diagnosis. Through out secondary school she had periods of school refusal. Any change makes her very anxious. Her sister has moved away for Uni too so this is also fuelling the anxiety.

I need to talk to her this weekend and help her decide if she wants to continue with the course or to explore different options.

To swap to A levels I think will be difficult as all the local 6th forms have very high entrance requirements. Her GCSE's give her the grades to do English and Media but the other A level she was interested in was Drama and she got Level 3 and the appeal was unsuccessful. Both her mocks were Grade 6 but on the day of the filmed performances she was unwell and as she put it "went to pieces and forgot everything."

There is another Btec course in Fashion at another college a bit further away and I am wondering if it is worth phoning them and seeing if there are any places?

Or whether what she needs is another couple of years with a more structured environment at 6th form? As I understand it you have to do 3 A Levels so her only other option would be Dance as her GCSe was an 8 for this but no 6th forms offer this in our area.

When we went to see the 6th forms last year she was adamant that she did not want to be in another school environment.

Any advice would be appreciated. I've survived two rounds of redundancies at work and I am feeling really wrung out and I want to help DD make the best decisions.

Thank you and sorry this is so long.

Does she want to be in college more?

I have an anxious/depressed DD too at college. Well I say at college, she didn't make it in this week or last.

There us a BTEC support thread on the Further Education board you may find helpful.

What is it she is struggling with? The unstructured time at home with no support? Any chance she could work in college? Or team up with someone else and work at the same location a couple of days a week?

Or drop to a level 2 course while she gets the hang of things?

Have you contacted the SEN team and/or her tutor to discuss?

Hi, my dd is studying a levels but struggled to do any work at home. She is only in college two full days and two half days. Dd is autistic and she really just cannot seem to get a thing done at home, home is for rest in her head and college is for work. She was the same in school, never managed much homework and would attend homework club to get things done.

so she’s got around this by her staying in college on their half days. So she’s in Monday half day. morning for lesson, then she will have lunch, then goes to the study hub and gets work done for a few hours. So far this is working out (fingers crossed as it’s only been four weeks).

also see if they have learning mentors in college. My dd has one who is checking in with her and making sure she’s staying on top of things. Been very helpful x

@tripleginandtonic Yes she does. At the moment it's two days 9 - 5:30.

@TeenToTwenties thank you, and sorry that your DD is struggling too. I didn't know there was a further education board, will have a look at that. She is able to go into college to use the library but the project work is practical so she can't use the library for that. I have talked to her about going in but no one else from her class goes. Part of the problem is students come from all over the place for this course so there's no one more local.

I have emailed the SEN team but no reply yet.

My dd is doing the same course.
There is a btec thread as @TeenToTwentiessays, do pop over!
It's very early on in the course and btecs are very "pacey" in that their work is graded from the outset (unlike A levels where you just need to pass the mocks to go onto the 2nd year)
My dd, like yours, was desperate to leave the school environment.
Is it the travel? Meeting new people?
Has she had a check in meeting with her tutor yet?
Could she/you contact student wellbeing?

@Showerflowers I'll see if they have a learning mentor.

She found out yesterday that her tutor is leaving at half term so that's another change thrown in.

I am wondering if as the course progresses and they get more into the actual design stuff she can go in on other days to use the sewing machines etc.

Oh, and we installed photoshop on her PC so she can work at home (it's a long way for her to go to college to use the CAD computers and there's no guarantee one would be free...)
Some of her group do go into college on other days to use the computers/library...would that help her?

@potato08 no one else from her group goes into college on the other days, they all live out Kent/Essex way. We are in London.

DD has just texted me, she talked to her tutor and has been to see someone in Learning Support.

Getting a job has helped by dd massively. She works at a local hotel and it's just given her something else to think about. She is 17 so the pay isn't brilliant but it's been a game changer.

Firstly, what were her GCSE grades in general. You don't need GCSE drama to do A level, in fact many schools don't offer it, however I would say that to have a good chance at success you need to have good grades in writing based subjects such as English Lit. Most schools and colleges I know ask for 6-8 GCSE's at grades 6-9.

Btec does need independent work but she should be able to go into college on her days off. My (ND) son did a Btec in music and his contact hours were 2 and a half days per week. I think the musical theatre students did 3 days and they had more workshops alongside.

Does she have any career/university ambitions or is the btec just to keep her in education another two years whilst she matures/weighs up her options? I'm wondering if a switch to a subject like musical theatre would work as she seems interested in that area but it is quite a narrow Btec in terms of the types of things you progress onto.

I used to teach fashion/textiles Alevel. Kids were always in all the time using the machines. There was no other way of completing a lot of it. They just used to sit quietly at the side and ask for bits of help if needed

I thought that a Btec was meant to be 3 days in college. It is in our city. It is unrealistic to expect someone to complete the majority at home with no knowledge. And also how can they verify it’s the students work? Anyone could be doing it? You could be paying a dressmaker.

@Comefromaway For her GCSE grades she has an 8's for English, Dance and Media. Everything else is a 4 including Maths. Drama was a 3.

From her talk with the learning mentor I think it sounds like once they progress onto the pattern making/sewing side of things it will be easier to go into college. Right now its visual research and sketchbook work so she needs to get all her art stuff out which she doesn't think she can do in college on the other days.

Her original career plan was to be a professional dancer (she does tap, ballet etc out of school) but as the GCSE went on she changed her mind and says she wants a career with more longevity.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow its only 2 days at this college. It's longer days than other colleges to fit it all in. It is pretty intense. I think it is unrealistic too expecting them to do all this work from the off.

But she has spoken to her learning mentor today so I will see what she says when she gets home.

There is another fashion course at another college which is five days a week, I called them and its full.

I understand that. My daughter trained as a professional dancer, worked in small scale stuff for a couple of years but injuries and just how hard the profession is and she has decided to retrain in sports science so she can work with dancers on injury prevention etc.

My son is a musician but a lot of his work is the tech/behind the scenes stuff.

It looks like her academic profile is a bit spiky, I get that, bit like my son so Btec is a good option although it is obvious from her good English grade that she is capable academically. It is early days with the Btec so hopefully things pick u a bit for her.

I’d be complaining.

A course like this needs a lot of access to technical equipment and machinery which can’t be kept at home. Squashing it into 2 days instead of the 3 it should be leaves no time for staying later or other catch up times.

I’d be looking at how other btec or diploma courses are timetabled in that college. Because 2 days isn’t enough to complete practical work.

It’s equivalent to 3 A levels. Imagine studying 3A levels in 2 days with no access to teachers on the other 3