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?

@MrsGhastlyCrumb times have changed

A grade 1-9 is a pass at GCSE.
Only 70% of students taking GCSEs at 16 gain a full Level 2 qualification (5 GCSEs including Maths and English at grade 4 or above). Those who don't gain the magical 5 at 4 are known in the FE sector as the 'forgotten 30%'. For those that gained a grade 3 in English/Maths and re-sit them at college, the 'pass' (grade 4 or above) drops to 20%.

Our current education system only meets the needs of 70% of children. Imagine if the driving test only 'allowed' 70% of those taking it to 'pass'. It would be deemed as not fit for purpose.

Functional Skills qualifications in English and Maths at Level 2 are equivalent to a grade 4 in GCSE (they're not directly comparable but for the sake of the DfE Level 2/GCSE grade 4 requirement they are). FS L2 aren't 'easier' or less of a qualification, they have a different set of assessment criteria and are more relevant to real world English and Maths usage; writing an email/letter/article etc. Lots of FE colleges don't do L2 FS and push students into GCSE re-take courses, where they're caught in a constant cycle of re-takes. There is the option to take FS privately - as PP mentioned above - but at 16-19 you have to pay (unless you take them at college in addition to a funded vocational course but if the college doesn't do L2 you have no option other than to do GCSE). At 19 funding starts again but just for English and Maths, at this point you can do a fully funded GCSE/L2 in English/Maths.

I suggest your DS applies for the job, is completely transparent about his grades but in the section where he can state why he wants the job to explain why he didn't achieve a 4 in English/Maths but that he is going to take them privately. Some employers value a good work ethic over a raft of grade 9s and may offer him support to achieve his L2 or they may not need him to have L2 in Maths/English in which case he can decide if he wants to take them at a later date. In either case he should definitely apply because the application process in itself is a useful skill. Good luck to him.

When you say an apprenticeship may also offer the maths/english part, do you mean as a FS course or as a GCSE?

It may be that he just bites the bullet and re takes the GCSEs - but he is so keen to not go back to school and I think it would be hard to work and study for GCSEs at the same time. I feel like he would pass FS fairly easily looking at papers and BTECs being more practical and with assessments spaced out, rather than just a single exam, would work better for him as well as being directly aligned to his interests.

Also, any ideas where to look for college based apprenticeships or any others for his level?

He could certainly look at those types of roles but he sees that as short term and doesn't want to take time away from being in a role where he can work his way up either in the company or the industry. He is really ambitious and his ultimate aim is to be an entrepeneur and have his own business but he has very quickly learnt that his inspiration comes from working with others and learning business skills on the job.

I guess the ideal thing would be some kind of business apprenticeship where he can grow his skill set and earn relevant qualifications at the same time.

I have been told that the FS course can be taken as an online course. This was by the education and youth department at the council who we are meeting next week.

I have been told that the FS course can be taken as an online course. This was by the education and youth department at the council who we are meeting next week.

That's good, my EA seem very lacking in this being a stand alone option for 16-19.

Can't really offer any advice about the CV but wanted to say that even if your son had received more support at school it still might not have improved grades. My son has autism but extremely bright, went to special school from Y3 and sat no GCSEs.

He plays guitar and got accepted to college for music and got a distinction in first year. He just got a 3 in GCSE English but having paper remarked as not far of a 4. He's now doing Maths GCSE and hating it, wants to do functional skills level 2 but no longer offered at college so looking at paying for it privately.

Hope your son finds a job he likes :)

Any job with a large company or public sector organisation will use a screening process to whittle down applications and a minimum will be maths and English gcse at grade 4. It is more likely to be 5 passes at 5 or above. They won’t get the chance to be impressed with them because they won’t get shortlisted. He sounds like the sort of person who would do well once he’s got a foot in the door but that’s going to be tricky without any qualifications. Small businesses might be easier because it’s a more personalised recruitment process.

It’s not for everyone, obviously, but has he considered the army? My friends ds joined at 16/17 under similar circumstances (failed all GCSEs and started a college course and hated it) and he intended on doing his 4 years (or maybe it’s 5) and getting some qualifications but he’s still in about 10 years on and has done really well. He was never an “army barmy” kid, or even particularly physical or sporty and it was all a bit left field but he’s really found his place.

I think it might depend on what grade he got at GCSE I know our local college offers both GCSE resits and functional maths.

You can look at college websites to see if they support Apprenticeships and they usually have links to employers depending on the course typ or my DC applied direct to the employer. He found the ones he wanted to apply for here. you can filter type and location

https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

if he clicks on one that is of interest it will tell you who the training provider will be whether that’s college or an independent provider. You could then enquire with the training provider about the maths.

You can also filter the search by the level of apprenticeship