Anyone else have a 16 year old not gain any GCSE 'C' grades this year?

suejb2

Well done. saying your piece that way I can feel the passion in your words. They are so true,we do seem to have a culture of the degree educated thinking they are owed a job .You gave excellent advise.

TeaCake

Please please don't compare your child with the next who has achieved a million A*'s, not every person works well in exams. This can be down to many different reasons, various learning problems, hormones and all the other stuff that can happen at 15, being a late developer, bullying, a school that didn't give the right support or even not being able to retain the right information etc.

There are many routes after GCSE; apprenticeships, work, BTEC and NVQ level 1 and 2 courses at college that will lead onto L3 / A levels. FWIW I think its better getting out of the high school environment that as a year 11 you at a 'big fish in a small pond' and going to a different sixth form or college. Learn skills that can help you in the world of work or uni and not protected by teachers who have seen you gown up over the last 5 years.

At college he could do a level 2 course that will lead to his A Levels (if thats what he wants to do) and retake his maths and / or English GCSE (he may be able to do both in one year if they run the classes at different times) during the year.

ViolaLass

tillycat123 wrote: »

He did revise but clearly not enough. We did have battles over not much time spent doing it. He does find it difficult studying alone, loses focus very easily. Possibly didn't know HOW to revise - not uncommon at that age.

Maths yes did try - Private tutor every week never complained once having to go and got on well whilst there. Grade would have been lower if not for the tutor. Did he do as the tutor expected? Does the tutor think he could have done better if he'd had a little more time? They should be able to give a view.

Science - He attended help classes with the headmaster who suggested as he had progressed well and could take the higher paper. Teacher laughed at him and told him he would fail so take what ever paper you like. So which one did he take? Did he go back to the head and talk to him?

English - Bottom set, young fresh out of uni teacher who struggled to control the class. Outrageous that the school would give bottom set GCSE year to an NQT. I was an NQT this year and the only exam set I got was AS. You should complain. Equally, did you say anything about it during the year? Also school screwed up his exam entry. In what way?

I think if he were my son, I might be tempted to get him to look at something like an apprenticeship or try to get a job locally and work at that for a year. It would give him experience on his CV and time to think about what he wants to do. Could he carry on with the summer job?

If he likes it, it might be an avenue to look at. If he hates it, it could be the spur he needs to find something better.

Desperado99

tillycat123 wrote: »

Maths yes did try - Private tutor every week never complained once having to go and got on well whilst there. Grade would have been lower if not for the tutor.

Science - He attended help classes with the headmaster who suggested as he had progressed well and could take the higher paper. Teacher laughed at him and told him he would fail so take what ever paper you like.

English - Bottom set, young fresh out of uni teacher who struggled to control the class. Also school screwed up his exam entry.

Oh bless him it does sound as if the school certainly should shoulder some of the blame.

I don't have any kids at GCSE age yet, but my brother left school with D's and E's. (long time ago mind) he ended up doing a YTS, city and guilds, and then a HND. He worked for a while but then went back to uni to do teacher training, and is now happily working in a job he loves.

He was completely written off by his school, labelled as thick and left to rot, but he bounced back and made his own way.

I think it's shocking the school haven't talked him through his options

Prothet_of_Doom

He wants to do motorsport ? as in Engineering which You'd need A level Maths, Psyhics, and another subject at Grades A to C ?

Why put him through the pain ? He needs to just get a job, any job, at the bottom, in any field, and work hard, and maybe look at night school when he's ready.

GoldenShadow

spacey2012 wrote: »

Listen, practical advice.
We have a generation of parents who think their kids are geniuses who can work and never get their hands dirty.
We also have an abundance of unemployed graduates and many of those with a job are flipping burgers and waiting tables.

Low academic marks does not mean failure, it means some people are better at using their hands than writing down what they read in a 30 year old book.

Someone has to do the work, someone has to get their hands dirty, the whole countries youth can not be brain surgeons.
We have a million young people unemployed and it has to be connected to the mentality that everyone kids are too clever to work syndrome that New labour sold us.

Start looking for a trade apprenticeship for the lad and forget academic trinkets.
He will be earning a living wage whilst the other kids are in 23, in 40k of debt with a cornflakes box degree and unemployed.

The only difference will be he will have one of the few remaining manual jobs, for sooner or later the unemployed million youth are going to have to get of their backsides, stop kidding themselves they are brain surgeons or rocket scientist and go get a manual job.

Now get behind the lad and find him an apprenticeship in a real trade such as building trades, mechanical or engineering.

Trust me this kidding ourselves bubble is going to burst and anyone who has a trade will be the ones who survive.

So chin up, the lad has a bright future and his lack of academic qualifications may be just what saves him from washing up with the other million who think they don't have to graft.

You do realise that for some apprenticeships you need GCSE's A*-C?
http://www.apprentice-forward.org.uk/YoungPeople/DoINeedQualifications.asp

You normally post some pretty good advice, Spacey. But chunks of that post come across as rather rude to a lot of graduates. Being a near graduate myself, I think my degree is more than a box of cornflakes.

OP, I cannot offer you specific advice but this is not the end of the world. People flunk all the time, for varying reasons. Perhaps this is a good chance to really establish what he wants to do and help him find a path to get there. What I do know is that to do well, a lot of people need to want it by having a specific source of motivation.

19lottie82

Everyone is talking about apprenticeships, but you need to remember that these are very sought after these days, all the ones I have come across require good GCSE results, and even if you meet these requirements, they are still VERY competitive.

OP, does your son WANT to re do his GCSEs? If you think that maybe failing this time round might be the kick up the backside that he needs to pass this time round, then encourage him to re sit.

Also, I don't mean to sound harsh, but from your post, you seem to be blaming everyone else, apart form your son, for his results, even when you admitted he could have done more studying?

partialycloudy

GCSEs are not the be all and end all.
Personally I did rubbish, 2 Cs and the rest where Ds & Es! Which wasn't enough to do the course I wanted to do (BTEC National) so I had do the BTEC Foundation course first which took a year. Passed that then went on to the BTEC National as orgianlly planned. 6 Months before I completed the course I decided I didn't want to work in that field anymore (it was a childcare course) so left and started temping, doing different office jobs to gain expereince. Now working in the City and doing quite well....considering I have "no qualifications".
I don't know anyone who at 16 knew what job they wanted to do for the rest of their lifes!
I am 27 and still dont know what I want to be when I grow up

Maybe your Son should look at what courses he can do with the grades he already has? Maybe sixth form, work or apprenticeship?

19lottie82

GoldenShadow wrote: »

You do realise that for some apprenticeships you need GCSE's A*-C?
http://www.apprentice-forward.org.uk/YoungPeople/DoINeedQualifications.asp

When I worked for BAE Systems , there were 70 applications for each apprenticeship. They needed AT LEAST 6 credit (equiv of A/B) Standard Grades, and many applicants also had highers (sort of Scottish equiv of A-Levels).

The company I work for now is taking on apprentice engineers and welders, and the bar is roughly set the same.

My OH is a mechanic and says things are the same in his industry.

GoldenShadow

19lottie82 wrote: »

When I worked for BAE Systems , there were 70 applications for each apprenticeship. They needed AT LEAST 6 credit (equiv of A/B) Standard Grades, and many applicants also had highers (sort of Scottish equiv of A-Levels).

The company I work for now is taking on apprentice engineers and welders, and the bar is roughly set the same.

My OH is a mechanic and says things are the same in his industry.

I have heard they can be very competitive. Its crazy, because it sounds quite tough doing some of them. I suppose because of the little pay but then at that age its still pay.

I am aware you can get onto apprenticeships with no qualifications, but if OP's son has struggled at school I would worry that he may struggle with the apprenticeship to a degree because I am told (by my cousin who is doing one) that there are still elements he has to be up to standard on.

One of my friends does a construction course at college and he still has to do quite a lot of written work. He only just scraped into college. He's really good at what he does and has a vision of where he wants to be, just finds the written stuff *really* hard and it has held him back. He has had to seek out a lot of help and support at college to get through those bits, but luckily he's good at seeking out help where he needs it.

I think OP needs to try and establish and help find something her son *wants* to do so that 1) its a motivation and 2) its a goal. Apprenticeship seems like a possibility but not an easy route to get to. If he can find a college course he really wants then perhaps research more into methods of GCSE retakes. Its a shame that english and maths aren't broken up more, I know with A Levels because there are modular exams you can just resit one paper and if you do really well the whole thing gets bumped up...