English teachers gcse advice. Feeling dreadful

[Myakka17]

Any English GCSE teachers advice
Our son is in the process of applying for university’s.
He received grade 3 eng Lang grade 6 eng lit. School stated that was way below their expectations of him and we paid fir a re mark. It came back the same. He was never offered a resit.
We were advised that by proxy the grade 6 stands.
However the UCAS application breaks the grades into Eng Lang eng lit which doesn’t look good for this grade and certainly doesn’t reflect the by proxy ( wherever that may mean.
To make matters worse some state in requirements Eng Lang grade ... whist others state English ( no mention of Lang, lit) so will they be using the by proxy rule?
Feel gutted we never asked for a resit, we took as red he’d got a grade 6 English overall ( as advised by school) but clearly a resit may have secured him a higher grade.
He got high grades in everything else and us predicted 3 xA’s fir A level. Clearly capable just a very bad day in the office.
We’ve read that fir the grades he was awarded schools don’t offer resits BUT my argument is if they’d explained conhesively to us we’d’’ve happily paid for a resit but to advise he had a 6 which clearly he doesn’t is wrong. This bad advice is coming back to bite.
At the time we had our daughter starting uni so we’re distracted by that and should’ve been more on the ball.
Feel totally gutted we’ve ruined his life.
We feel we’ve let him down big time.
Thoughts please.
He’s in year 13.
Thanks

[BevS97]

My understanding is in order to move onto sixth form you need a ‘C’ in either language or lit. As he has passed one of them he isn’t obliged to resit.

As for uni applications, I don’t know the answer but I wanted to reassure you that you haven’t ruined his life. There are always options, especially if he gets good A levels. He could look at a foundation year. Or a year out to do the GCSE. I’d also speak to the Unis as If he is predicted strong A levels they may be able to suggest other routes in.

[jndt]

I think the school haven't been very helpful. At ds school (he's in Year 13) everyone who didn't get at least a 4 in English Language and Maths has to resit in the sixth form and some students who got 4's but want 5's also resit. Luckily my son didn't need to resit any.

As for University check closely each one as my son needs a 6 in English Language and Maths to apply to his 5 chosen Universities.

[marypoppins38]

Doesn’t sound like the school have had their facts right which is incredibly annoying and although there is nothing that can help your son now I would be emailing them to update them. Hopefully they could amend their advice for other students going forward to prevent anyone else being in this position. I agree with the pp though that all uni’s ask for different minimum grades so worth checking all the ones he is interested in. Would you ds be able to resit at Christmas? I am pretty sure that someone I know did a resit at Christmas as he struggled to get a 4 several times.

[Edie ray]

I would go back into school to check again, my daughter has just done her GCSEs and she told me that if you got a 3 or under in Language then you had to retake until you got a 4 and that you don’t have to retake Literature no matter what mark you got

Your son obviously got into sixth form but I’m not sure how it works for Uni application, sorry not much help

[jndt]

I found this in The Times Educational Supplement although it doesn't distinguish between language and literature.

tes/news/GCSE-maths-and-english-resit

I'd go back to the school and see if they can offer a resit (unless his course doesn't require it).

[Tetrarch]

Get your son to contact each of the uni's he is applying to as some will accept the higher literature grade in place of the lower language grade. If any of them say they won't do so, his only option is to resit English Language along with his A levels next summer if he really wants to apply to them and any conditional offer will include his GCSE result. The big downside to this is that on A level results day his place would remain unconfirmed until the following week when GCSE results come out and by then, if he needed to use clearing, all the best places will have gone.

His other options are don't apply to any that won't take his Literature grade in substitution, or take a gap year and apply with all his results in hand, including a resit of English Lang the following year.

Unfortunately GCSE requirements for uni are very strict and not usually flexible so if any agree to accept his Lit result instead, please get this confirmed in writing before applying.

Debra

[WhereIBelong]

You have not "ruined his life".

My DD17 does not need any particular grade in English at GCSE for her 5 uni choices (DD got a 5 - some unis do require a 6).

She is picking places with a realistic view to her capabilities. Places requiring A levels at A*A*A generally have higher requirements for English at GCSE - those with BBB generally do not. Realistically DD will not be getting As. That is no bar to further study.

What are his predicted grades for Uni applications? Has he always planned to go on to uni? If in Y13, this should have been flagged as a problem - by himself and the school a year ago when looking at unis and grade requirements, so something has gone wrong somewhere along the line.

No use playing any blame game though - the past cannot be changed. He needs to make plans for his future - plan a year out perhaps? (DD18 is having one before going to uni next summer) get to a college and study English to resit, or apply to unis where there is no requirement for a high English GCSE.

Life goes on... see it as a minor blip and encourage him to keep his eye ahead of the ball, he'll be fine.

[Myakka17]

Thank you everyone. I just feel sick, waiting for head if 6th form to contact me. I just don’t understand how it’s been missed.
However what is done is done and we have to try and resolve. Some state English grade 4 but don’t say whether this is Lit or Language, are we supposed to be mind readers? Are we expected to assume it means Language?
We are too late to sit now as resits are November at best he could resit in May However would that be to the detriment of his a levels. He’s predicted 3 A’s and apart from one choice looking at courses that are ABB to BBB.
It’s possible he may have to go a year later. This isn’t so bad as he’s a young one for the year, only just getting in for that year group. He might actually prefer being an older one for a change!

[daftmum]

No advice on your scenario but a colleague and I have both just taken English gcse this summer. I started in the September, my colleague started with functional skills in September then joined a fast track gcse programme in the January. It may be possible for your ds to do something similar and take English again next year which from the sounds of it he should have done last year.