GCSE retakes in an FE College

Spirit_2

My niece did better than expected in her GCSE's in getting C's in English and Maths and D's in RE, History and Business Studies. She is the child of !!!!less parents and has spent much of her young life as a carer or "at risk".

She has just started at an FE college to do a two year level 2 and level 3 course. Prior to her results she had been expected to enter at level 1.

I would like to help her to improve her D's to C's and hope for advice from readers on how to go about it. Is it possible to do them in FE? How do we ensure the syllabus is consistent with previous studies?
What costs are there likely to be?
Anything else I need to know.

We can pay for the costs and for tutoring if that is what is needed.
I live a few hundred miles away and need to be able to help/organise in loco parentis from a distance.

Thanks.

divadee

To be honest if she is doing a level 2 and 3 course at FE she won't need to retake her gcse's. She has the important ones (maths and English) and if she hadn't have got those most FE colleges will of made her retake them alongside her course she is doing (where I work we do!)

A level 3 qualification is the same level as an 'a level' so will supersede any of the gcse's anyway.

missbiggles1

Spirit wrote: »

My niece did better than expected in her GCSE's in getting C's in English and Maths and D's in RE, History and Business Studies. She is the child of !!!!less parents and has spent much of her young life as a carer or "at risk".

She has just started at an FE college to do a two year level 2 and level 3 course. Prior to her results she had been expected to enter at level 1.

I would like to help her to improve her D's to C's and hope for advice from readers on how to go about it. Is it possible to do them in FE? How do we ensure the syllabus is consistent with previous studies?
What costs are there likely to be?
Anything else I need to know.

We can pay for the costs and for tutoring if that is what is needed.
I live a few hundred miles away and need to be able to help/organise in loco parentis from a distance.

Thanks.

I taught in FE for several years and, as long as she has Grade Cs in English and Maths, I don't think she should bother.

A level 2 course is equivalent to 5 grade Cs anyway and she'd be much better to concentrate on doing really well in this than fiddling around retaking a couple of GCSEs on top - if she didn't already have the English and Maths, that would be different.

She's obviously done much better than expected so concentrate on supporting her in the next stage of her education rather than looking backwards. Well done for supporting your niece but I don't think that this is a useful way of doing so.:)

whitewing

Is she still living with parents?

I am thinking that she may benefit more from some kind of local 'mentor'/ in person parent-figure who can help her look forward but who may also help her with the emotional side of the past duties and missed opportunities. Someone perhaps who she could talk to about the content of the FE course.

I wonder if her previous school would help with 'resits'. I agree with the others on here that she doesn't need to take them. However, I also know that disappointing GCSE results can stick with the way an adult sees themself for many years in the future (in a way that future disappointing situations don't seem to stick).

missbiggles1

whitewing wrote: »

Is she still living with parents?

I am thinking that she may benefit more from some kind of local 'mentor'/ in person parent-figure who can help her look forward but who may also help her with the emotional side of the past duties and missed opportunities. Someone perhaps who she could talk to about the content of the FE course.

I wonder if her previous school would help with 'resits'. I agree with the others on here that she doesn't need to take them. However, I also know that disappointing GCSE results can stick with the way an adult sees themself for many years in the future (in a way that future disappointing situations don't seem to stick).

But her GCSE results weren't disappointing, the OP said she did much better than expected. Suggesting that she resit them simply implies that she hasn't done well enough, which she has.

divadee

whitewing wrote: »

Is she still living with parents?

I am thinking that she may benefit more from some kind of local 'mentor'/ in person parent-figure who can help her look forward but who may also help her with the emotional side of the past duties and missed opportunities. Someone perhaps who she could talk to about the content of the FE course.

I wonder if her previous school would help with 'resits'. I agree with the others on here that she doesn't need to take them. However, I also know that disappointing GCSE results can stick with the way an adult sees themself for many years in the future (in a way that future disappointing situations don't seem to stick).

At a good FE college they should have a good student services team that can offer counselling and mentors. Also some colleges have 'learning coaches' attached to each curriculum area who are there to help them with the course and emotional issues and even housing issues etc.... First port of call should be the student services welfare/wellbeing team.

Spendless

Has she got at least 5 GCSE's at grades C or above in total including English language and Maths? If so, I'm with the others who say she doesn't need to do the re-sits.

I say this as someone who wanted to do A levels but only got 4 of the required grades instead of the 5 needed to take them. I took/re-took subjects to bring me up to the required amount in sixth form as this is what school told me to do. A year later I had an additional 3 bringing me up to 7 O'levels.

The only difference it has made is that I now have the above 5 GCSE (or equivalent) grades that are sometimes asked for in job ads, or when I've done college courses since, I've gone in on a higher level than entry.

I think it's lovely that you are prepared to help your Neice financially, but if she doesn't need to take re-sits, there's probably something connected to her college course that you could get her instead.

Spirit_2

The advice and information is very helpful, I am not au fait with levels of equivalence. Her course is focused on entry into uniformed public services, does anyone know how transferable that is if she does not ultimately want to pursue such a career. Also does it provide entry to HE if she wants this?

Spirit_2

Spendless wrote: »

Has she got at least 5 GCSE's at grades C or above in total including English language and Maths? If so, I'm with the others who say she doesn't need to do the re-sits.

She has the two at C , which was why i thought she needed five.

divadee

Spirit wrote: »

The advice and information is very helpful, I am not au fait with levels of equivalence. Her course is focused on entry into uniformed public services, does anyone know how transferable that is if she does not ultimately want to pursue such a career. Also does it provide entry to HE if she wants this?

Depending on what ucas points she gets out of the level 3 course (the points depends on the grade she gets at the end of the course) she will be more than able to go on to uni after finishing the level 3. If she gets lower Ucas points she can always start with a foundation degree and then do a top up year to a full degree. (My other half is HE advisor and I just double checked with him!)

Support her in what she is doing now and forget about resits. Use the money to pay for a tutor further down the line if she needs it or put in a fund to help her at uni!

.Gigolo_Aunt

I would try and get more than 2 O level passes at GCSE if possible if she wants to keep her options open. Would evening courses be possible?