• Replies 19 replies
  • Subscribers 65 subscribers
  • Views 5862 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Can I refuse my son taking his GCSE

Scotty497

Hi All,

Struggling to start here and unsure how to begin so if this seems a bit jumbled and thrown together, please excuse me. 

My son has been struggling massively at school for years now, my wife and myself were convinced he had some type of learning disability and have been arguing with his school for years. today things finally came to a head, myself and my wife arranged for a meeting at the school after receiving his mock exam grade. All of which were grades g and u. For the first time today the school actually took seriously what we were saying after we in no uncertain terms made our anger and frustrations about not being listened to clear. The SEN teacher who has been assessing our son and was adamant he was just a lazy, moody teenager completely dissmissed the idea that there was anything underlying, although did point out that as he seemed to be a day dreamer he may have petit mal epilepsy and suggested we should visit the Dr just to rule this out. less than 2 minutes sat in the Drs office and that was dismissed immediately and we were informed that she believed our son may be Autistic. I am unbelievably angry that it has taken so long for this to be picked up. Autism is not something that we are to familiar with but it was something we asked the school to asses him for and we're told it was a definet no and there was no  point. it is now less than 4 months till his GCSE exams, and he is clearly going to fail them and i believe he has been massively failed by his school. At this moment my way of thinking is why should we put him through the stress of these exams only for him to try his hardest and take another un necessary knock to his confidence. His predicted grades u, f, E. Is anyone aware if it is legal to stop my son sitting his exams. I am not talking about pulling him from education altogether and we already had plans in place for him to go to college next year to complete his Key skills maths and English. Any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks

Scotty

Parents

  • Hi,

    I've just read your situation with your son, its very similar to mine.  It's very frustrating when your child under achieves at school and its not their fault.  My sons school failed at identifying his ASD and even when he had a diagnosis it was too late for him to catch up.  He has a GCSE exam tomorrow and he has no intention of sitting it.  Don't panic, you need to get in touch with CAMHs who will do an ADOS test.  This can take months though.  If hes in year 11 I wouldn't put him through the stress of the exams.  Get in touch with your local careers advisers they will help you make sure he gets the support he needs after school.  All kids now have to achieve level 2 in maths and English and this can be done after school.  Defiantly get the parent partnership group on board they are a great support especially with SEN.  My son will leave school with nothing as well its heartbreaking but theres life after school I'm determined he won't end up on the scrap heap because school didn't know how to support him.  Write to the governor's and Head with a complaint I found this helpful to get things off my chest.  Good Luck

Reply

  • Hi,

    I've just read your situation with your son, its very similar to mine.  It's very frustrating when your child under achieves at school and its not their fault.  My sons school failed at identifying his ASD and even when he had a diagnosis it was too late for him to catch up.  He has a GCSE exam tomorrow and he has no intention of sitting it.  Don't panic, you need to get in touch with CAMHs who will do an ADOS test.  This can take months though.  If hes in year 11 I wouldn't put him through the stress of the exams.  Get in touch with your local careers advisers they will help you make sure he gets the support he needs after school.  All kids now have to achieve level 2 in maths and English and this can be done after school.  Defiantly get the parent partnership group on board they are a great support especially with SEN.  My son will leave school with nothing as well its heartbreaking but theres life after school I'm determined he won't end up on the scrap heap because school didn't know how to support him.  Write to the governor's and Head with a complaint I found this helpful to get things off my chest.  Good Luck

Children
No Data