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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

  • Although I personally believe schools should have the awareness to raise concerns about potential autism in children, that is not their remit.

    It would be down to the parents to raise concerns with a GP or other health professional to get referral for ASC assessment.  Schools are not health professionals and when they clearly haven't been listening to concerns, parents need to take matters into their own hands.

    The school have certainly failed in their legal duty regarding his education however.

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/9
     
    9 Pupils to be educated in accordance with parents’ wishes.

    In exercising or performing all their respective powers and duties under the Education Acts, the Secretary of [F1State and local education authorities]shall have regard to the general principle that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents, so far as that is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure. 

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/7 

    7 Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age. 

    The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—

    (a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and

    (b)to any special educational needs he may have,

    either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. 

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/13A 

    F1 13A Duty to promote high standards in primary and secondary education. 

    (1)A local education authority shall ensure that their functions relating to the provision of education to which this section applies are (so far as they are capable of being so exercised) exercised by the authority with a view to promoting high standards.

    (2)This section applies to education for—

    (a)persons of compulsory school age (whether at school or otherwise); and

    (b)persons of any age above or below that age who are registered as pupils at schools maintained by the authority;

    and in subsection (1) “functions” means functions of whatever nature.]

    Regarding GCSE's, I found this:

    http://www.youthspace.haringey.gov.uk/home/learningzone/study_guide/your_choices_in_year_9/what_s_compulsory_and_what_s_optional.htm

    What's compulsory?

    Some subjects are compulsory because they cover essential knowledge and skills that everyone needs for the future.

    The subjects you'll have to take exams in are:

    • English
    • maths
    • science

    This usually means GCSEs, but these subjects may also be available at entry level.

    There is also a lot of information about GCSE's here: http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/gcses

Reply

  • Although I personally believe schools should have the awareness to raise concerns about potential autism in children, that is not their remit.

    It would be down to the parents to raise concerns with a GP or other health professional to get referral for ASC assessment.  Schools are not health professionals and when they clearly haven't been listening to concerns, parents need to take matters into their own hands.

    The school have certainly failed in their legal duty regarding his education however.

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/9
     
    9 Pupils to be educated in accordance with parents’ wishes.

    In exercising or performing all their respective powers and duties under the Education Acts, the Secretary of [F1State and local education authorities]shall have regard to the general principle that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents, so far as that is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure. 

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/7 

    7 Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age. 

    The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—

    (a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and

    (b)to any special educational needs he may have,

    either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. 

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/13A 

    F1 13A Duty to promote high standards in primary and secondary education. 

    (1)A local education authority shall ensure that their functions relating to the provision of education to which this section applies are (so far as they are capable of being so exercised) exercised by the authority with a view to promoting high standards.

    (2)This section applies to education for—

    (a)persons of compulsory school age (whether at school or otherwise); and

    (b)persons of any age above or below that age who are registered as pupils at schools maintained by the authority;

    and in subsection (1) “functions” means functions of whatever nature.]

    Regarding GCSE's, I found this:

    http://www.youthspace.haringey.gov.uk/home/learningzone/study_guide/your_choices_in_year_9/what_s_compulsory_and_what_s_optional.htm

    What's compulsory?

    Some subjects are compulsory because they cover essential knowledge and skills that everyone needs for the future.

    The subjects you'll have to take exams in are:

    • English
    • maths
    • science

    This usually means GCSEs, but these subjects may also be available at entry level.

    There is also a lot of information about GCSE's here: http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/gcses

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