Application to 6th form rejected due to social anxiety

Hi,

Can anyone give us some advice please?

My son really struggled during lockdown as many did. He went from a bright student to struggling to attend lessons. However we pushed through, and with lots and lots of hard work he did at home himself, he managed to achieve 8 GCSE passes.

He then strugged to make it into 6th form. He tried, but the same problems reared their head. And so we decided to take a year out to sort out the social anxiety problems.

In the past year he's done really well. Re-connected with society, had therapy, and has taken on various volunteering jobs, one of which was actually working in a local school in classrooms to put his dislike of classrooms behind him.

We've applied for different Sixth Forms this year. The one he really wanted him to go had an interview day in March. We worked wit the support team, who say they recommended he should be allowed to join but with a 6-week care package in-place. They passed that on to the admissions team, who duly rejected his application!

We're gutted and a bit angry. He's trying to put his struggles behind him. But also confused - how can it be that the student support team gave him the thumbs up, he has the required grades and yet he's been rejected?

We're going to appeal, but are wondering where we stand with this? It seems to me to be almost discrimnatory - social anxiety is classed as a disability, he has the grades and he's been turned down due to his disability.

Any thoughts or help would be really useful. The college usefully took 4 months to decide this (and didn't ask for any extra informstion in the meantime) and only let us know yesterday so other college options are limited. Thanks in advance.

JS619.

Reply 1

Charl1e14

How awful, so sorry your son had to go through this. But also well done to him to getting 8 GCSE's and for doing the voluntary work despite his anxiety - that shows real grit and resilience! As for the school/college - sorry they let you down. I'd maybe get on the phone to them and ask them why he was rejected, maybe they can give a good explanation and if they can't then it sounds like it might not the sort of school you'd probably want him to be at!

I would also n parallel start to look at other local sixth form colleges, I am sure there are still some taking applications (there definitely isn't in London). Also I think most admissions departments are now open again (as it's coming up for result dates), So I'd get on the phone to some other colleges on Monday, explain your predicament and see if they can help.

Best of luck!