11 Plus Exams Forum

DS in Year 9 has started the GCSE triple science curriculum. Unfortunately, he has had non-specialist supply teachers in Biology for most of the school year to date due to teacher sickness absence. This situation could continue all year.

As Biology is DS's first love and preferred subject for university study, should we consider private tuition at this early stage or let him get on with self-study and wait to see what teaching he gets in Year 10? I've been thinking of immersing myself in the GCSE Biology curriculum to try to support him, but he is generally resistant to parental involvement in his studies and I don't want to put him off!

How do other DCs cope with long-term teacher absence and supply teaching?

Point him in the direction of senecalearning.com. Make sure he uses the correct GCSE one for his exam board. He can reinforce his learning on there. GCSEpod if the school subscribes and any resources the school has on their portal to help him understand what he is being taught. There are a lot of resources out there. If biology is his first love he should be motivated to use them and I would caution against parental tutoring at this stage. Resilience is a skill they need to learn. That said, keep an eye on his interim grades and his feedback about how he thinks he is getting on. If he is struggling, get in contact with his head of department to find how they can support him and what they suggest.
Good luck.

Thank you for those helpful suggestions, MrsChubbs. I'll have him explore the online resources you recommend and see if he can find out if there are any available to Year 10 and 11 students which he and his Year 9 classmates could be permitted to access.

Parent-teacher evening is coming up and I plan to contact the Head of Biology if no suitable provision is made to discuss Biology progress in the teacher's absence.