Leaving school at 16 with no GCSEs

[Girlmum2024]

I wonder if anyone can help me out here - trying to manage alone and becoming quite overwhelmed.

My eldest has just finished Year 11 and failed all his GCSEs. Long story short, school was a struggle, despite the fact that he is sharp, bright and extremely articulate. I wont bore you with the details of his school life but this is where we are at. He is not going back to school full time.

He did work experience over the Summer at two companies. He is hard working in a non school environment and thrived for the first time in his life. He loved working and being in the real world and the feedback I got from the employers was that he was a total pleasure, charming, hard working and super bright and analytical. They said they'd gladly offer him more experience and would provide references should he need in the future.

He is going to re sit Maths and English (he says just for back up and to please us rather than because he really want to) but alongside that he wants to get a job. He has found an excellent junior office role that is a great starting salary (£20-£25k), offers on the job training courses and opportunity to work your way up in the company and is in an industry he wants to work in. So potentially perfect for him and the same industry where he did his work experience. It does not specify any qualifications, just a number of office based skills, relationship building, microsoft etc. all of which he has in abundance. He has put together a great CV but I am worried about the education section. How does he handle that? I know if he were to get an interview he would have a good chance of progressing but we need to get him there? He would be totally honest at interview about his experience of school and exams. Should he pre empt with a phone call? What should he put in the education section? Is it ok to simply list the subjects he studied but without mentioning grades?

Does anyone have any experience of how employers would react to someone with no qualifications if they were otherwise impressed with them?

Don't pre-empt with a phone call.

List the subjects and the grades.

When you say failed so you mean got below a 4 or got an ungraded?

If school expected him to get ungraded he should have been sitting entry levels (qualifications below gcse). Did he sit any of those?

Why was school a struggle? If he has diagnosed additional needs in some companies he should automatically get an interview, if he meets the minimum criteria. He would be better placed with English and Maths at level 2, ideally plus three others. Are there no level 2 apprenticeships or college courses that appeal?

Hi, He got all 3s. Really think he should list that? I genuinely don't know what is the right thing.

Whilst we didn't expect very high grades his teachers expected he would be capable of at least 5 with no effort and 7 plus if he worked. He is bright but cant seem to do exams and cannot sit through a 2 hour paper. I expect he left questions out at the end. So not a true reflection of his knowledge or ability.

Assuming you mean he hasn't passed anything, frankly he isn't going to get an office junior type role. Obviously i don't know the circumstances, but you and he needs to be realistic. He needs to go back to college and do 5 GCSEs. He won't get a look in till that happens.

List them and indicate plans to resit. It does sound like there may be attention issues though.

He is diagnosed with severe ADHD but not on meds (never agreed with him despite trying all types).

What is English and Maths level 2? Off to google...

(and yes, school have been rubbish offering any advice or support - STILL waiting for his papers back to see if there is a chance to move up a grade in any of them)

How about just a very short line, at the end after all the soft skills are emphasised and clear like the below.

(X number of GCSEs at grade 3, including maths and English. Grade 3 is a level 1 pass. I am hoping to complete level 2 maths and english in November) or whenever.

Cross post. Yes list them, but my previous post also applies. This time you need to be really proactive about getting him assessed for a specific learning disability. I suspect if you'd done that a couple of years ago he'd be in a very different position now.

Cross post again! With AHDH diagnosed for example it could have been possible to arrange someone to prompt him in exams to keep him on task.

Did he have any adjustments for exams, rest breaks for example? Level 2 is gcse equivalent, Functional Skills numeracy and literacy or more vocational courses which can run alongside.

Hey Op, he hasn't failed them. My ds got mainly 3's ( with only English and science at a 4). They did ok.
Lots of kids retaking maths and English,I think it's a third of all year 11 students.
I hope he does well in whatever he flourishes at in the future.

DD is in a similar situation, except she is prevented from the vocational course she has a talent for by 3s at GCSE. She is doing an urgent Functional Skills level 2 in English as that will allow her to do the vocational course if she passes.

It will cost £220-240 to sit the exams, and £200 or so for a tutor who specialises in functional skills. A functional skills pass is equivalent to a 4 in GCSE (she only failed by a few marks, so was very close).

May be worth looking at, if you could afford it.

A friend's daughter was able to do functional skills maths instead of GCSE at her state school, when her mock results suggested she would fail GCSE. I wish other schools took that approach with young people who are working hard but just not coping with the GCSE syllabus.

He was assessed by a psychiatrist and an educational psychologist and other than the ADHD there are no learning disabilities. Definitely attention issues. But IQ high, good at creative writing, was initially planning to do the Higher Level maths paper etc. Just can't sit and study and can't do exams. Was always the same since primary school.

Sorry cross post here too! This was never offered. He was offered extra time (this was definitely not for him!) , he sat in a room alone for the exams to avoid distraction and was offered a laptop for writing his answers but he preferred to handwrite (even though his writing is so messy)

See my last response re exam adjustments.

All this level 2 and functional skills stuff is new to me. But thanks - will do some research.

As a retired health care manager I was always impressed by candidates who took time and initiative to visit us prior to interview. I’m not sure why more applicants don’t do this. It’s a real opportunity to shine and impress with personality and drive. It also allows for a more personal interview. I’ve interviewed many applicants with multiple degrees to their name. For me personality and commitment are far more important to me than wafty degrees.

I would worry that even if he was successful with the current job application, he’d eventually hit a qualifications glass ceiling and progression/climbing the ladder would be much much harder or impossible. This might not matter to him if eg. he wants to work for himself in the future, but I think it would limit his options.

This is so interesting and I had no idea. It makes so much sense. He is so good at writing stories and great at maths practically.

A basic qualification in Maths and English would have mattered for most roles, though?

At twenty five grand a year, they're going to be inundated with applications from people with better qualifications, experience, evidenced literacy and numeracy. Are they really likely to select a kid with not one qualification to his name over all of them?

He will fly at an apprenticeship!!

Most office roles will expect Maths and English at grade 4, so I’d encourage him to spend a year doing a level two course at college -maybe a business/ IT course of some kind and to resit those two subjects at gcse.

PM me if you would like further info. It has been a crash course for us in other options, and the info hasn't come from school/ college.

I can’t comment on the GCSE angle but my son treated work related qualifications very seriously compared to school qualifications and has amassed some vocational qualifications along the way. If your son’s work offer that sort of training then hopefully he will grab those chances with both hands and gain them to bolster his cv.

DD has just done a mock paper, and found it a lot easier than GCSE, we are looking at 6-8 tutoring sessions, then the exams in a couple of weeks. Results within 10 working days.

Admin is very competitive- my 17 year old son with work experience and 5-7s didn't even get an interview for admin type positions when we applied. He'd be better off reapplying after his GCSE resits and looking for an apprenticeship possibly.