Exam results day

What a ghastly experience this has been. After doing well in his GCSE results, ending up with a good crop of C grades and above, Stephen embarked on 4 AS levels. And now, the 16th August arrived - the day of the AS level results. Stephen had been told that if he did really well, he might even manage an A for his Design and Technology as his course-work was A standard and his most recent mock exam had resulted in an A. Realistically, he was hoping for a B grade and three Cs as he never does quite as well at exams as he does during the year and with course work. He'd revised really hard - I'd helped him with his revision timetable and even sat with him as he went through some of the material he found more difficult.

I can't imagine his feelings when he phoned though and found out that he'd got, if he cashes them in right now, three Es and a U (as in a fail grade). The U was in Business studies, one of his two favourite subjects and one he was planning to take on to A2 level.

We drove to the school today to chat with John Dunstan, the head teacher. I suppose they all go to diplomacy school or something, he was as wonderful as ever, but we had to face the fact that academic subjects with an emphasis on end of year exams may not be the best way for Stephen. He assured us that Stephen could continue at the school if he wished, but raised the question of whether the school had the right sort of courses to offer him. He suggested some alternatives and gave us time to research the options and consider alternatives, saying we could phone him when I get back from Edinburgh, next Friday.

I now wish I hadn't planned this four day trip to visit my old friend for the Edinburgh fringe, but I really didn't anticipate anything like this happening.

I'm back to my "waking up in the middle of the night" pattern, having been up since 4am researching alternatives. It's really hard having moved to a new area and not knowing the ropes, however I've found the Connexions website which has proved helpful and I think I may have found a College that might suit Stephen. It's called the Cambridge Regional College, and has a range of digital photography and media-based courses that are course-work based. Stephen has decided that he might like to pursue this route for the next year until he is old enough to apply to the police force. I would just be happy for him to be able to study something that he enjoys and can be successful in and rebuild up his confidence. It is really disheartening to try so hard and get such disappointing results. The police force is certainly a reasonable alternative, but at least if he spends the next year doing something educational, he will have a choice when he gets to 18.

The nice thing about the Cambridgeshire Regional colleges is that it offers a range of one and two year courses, is govt. funded, offers bus passes (it's to the North of Cambridge in a lovely science campus so I'm hoping Stephen can get there OK) and, more importantly, has a phone line open tomorrow Saturday - well, today actually. It also has two open days, one next Friday and one the following Tuesday 28th for people to discuss their options after getting their exam results and seems to be encouraging people to get in touch now after receiving their results.

I do hope this works out.