Depressing letter from school

[tubby]

Hi all,

We got a letter this week from school stating categorically that DS need to buckle up his acts, if he wants to pass his January AS exams, they said he is able to but need to be consistent with his work, he is studying Physics, Biology Chemistry and PE, when we call him the answer is always a yes or no can't seem to get anything out of him.

Anyway what l am hoping is if you can help with any sort of advise, he is a boarder comes home every other week for tuition, but like the school says he must also want to do the work himself, also going through the 11 plus at the moment with DD

Thanks all

[fatbananas]

I think you need to talk to the school because they ought to have some idea what's going on with him.

And you probably need to go and see him and talk with him. It sounds like he's struggling with something emotional. He's clearly a very bright boy, taking those subjects and the school alerting you to the fact that an able boy is not exerting himself. So that must be something going on with him that's affecting his motivation/ ability to concentrate.

[Belinda]

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[Guest55]

I would guess that he is a bright boy who did not have to work very hard to get good grades at GCSE.

It is often a shock when they begin AS levels - the rate of work is much faster and the need for work outside the classroom steps up.

Is he handing in work? How much is he doing outside lessons?

The school should shoulder some responsibility ... what support has been offered?

[XCRGSMUM]

And maybe consider dyslexia? I am still in shock in respect of my son, who is now in his first yr at Uni, and their screening has picked up a problem. His As and A2 results were not consistent with his performance up to that point, and whilst we all though he was not working hard enough it seems now that there may be another explanation!

[tubby]

Thank you all for the replies, you know the saying a trouble shared is a trouble halved goes hand in hand with this forum!! You are all spot on with your replies, he was diagnosed with slight dyslexia in year 9, school has been really helpful cannot fault them really.

He is coming home next week and will try and l mean try to talk to him, which we have in the past he is just not a child that enjoys talking at all, unlike my DD. l will definitely take on board the revision guides, and talk to him about that as well, he said he enjoys his subjects, anything to do with essay he struggle with as you can imagine.

l am so grateful to all, thank you.

[Looking for help]

You know, I've been thinking about this for a wee while toady. My oldest son really struggled in y11 due to pressure (no modular exams then) so maths and Science all one exam at the end, some coursework etc . He really felt under pressure, and it was all getting to him. The low point was his parent's evening that year (which fell on his birthday) and the last appointment was with the PE teacher (he loved PE). This teacher told us how disappointed he was in our son, and that if he really didn't turn himself around he wouldn't amount to much. I remember being absolutely gob-smacked, as we'd never really had any idea it wasn't going well. he's a lovely happy lad, usually, and I admit he'd gone a bit quiet, but I had just put that down to him being 15/16 and moody.

Anyway turns out he was really struggling with constant demands and work in things like French, and DT which were really bogging him down, and he ended up doing pretty well, to be honest (not in French ) . I'm kind of rambling here, but my point is that your son has a heavy lot of subjects there...perhaps he's getting bogged down in one subject, and that may be contributing to the situation, perhaps he's concentrating too hard on one because he's finding it more difficult?

One of mine only took 3 subjects through AS and A2, and it hasn't hampered her at all, better to do 3 well than 4 and struggle. Just a thought - perhaps when you have a word with him, you'll get to the bottom of it all.

Good luck

[katel]

What is the school expecting you to do? Surely if he's boarding they have some responsibility for keeping him on track?

[ourmaminhavana]

I think it's good the school are on to this and are alerting you, rather than waiting until it's too late to intervene. I hope it all sorts itself out soon. Hang in there!

Katel I expect the school is expecting the op to discuss it with her son and to encourage him to be self motivated.There is only a certain amount that the school can do.

[Belinda]

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