quote:

---

15Discrimination arising from disability

(1)A person (A) discriminates against a disabled person (B) if—

(a)A treats B unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of B's disability, and

(b)A cannot show that the treatment is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

(2)Subsection (1) does not apply if A shows that A did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, that B had the disability.

---

quote:

---

Disability

(1)A person (P) has a disability if—

(a)P has a physical or mental impairment, and

(b)the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

---

quote:

---

know of a suitable website we could enquire on

---

Mumsnet have an education section, and their website is full of parents who know about the system.
 

---

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Are the college (and the University) authorities fully aware of all the extenuating circumstances?

When we lived in Northern Ireland I worked in the office of a university and it seemed to me that it wasn't that difficult to be permitted resits or repeats if you had a medical certificate. Also, it wasn't unknown for applicants to defer their entry by a year if they could claim "extenuating circumstances"; one that sticks in my mind was someone who had been offered a place on a course but was badly injured in a bomb explosion shortly before she was due to start.

Having said that, it was 12 years ago, and rules may have changed since then.

that you can get it all sorted out.
 

---

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
No advice from me as our system is different - just lots of prayers
 

---

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
Has he set his heart on one particular University, or are there other possibilities? ISTM that

quote:

---

college have told him that the university will not allow him to bump up his UCAS points with another qualification - it's the extended diploma this year, or nothing.

---

cannot possibly be true of every University.
 

---

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :
 
My guess is he has an offer at a particular university based on expected BTec results, and some jobsworth has decided that they can't change the offer. Which would mean going through the UCAS application process again. Or, waiting to try to get in through clearing (which is probably another pile of stress that is undesirable). If he is going to take a further year before starting university, and nothing else works out, then going through the application process again may be the easiest option.

At the moment you want to get one of two different groups of administrator change their position. Either the college allowing him to sit the missing units next year (have they said why they won't, because other than this is the last year they're going to offer the course I can't think of a good reason), or the university to allow a variation on the UCAS points for admission.
 

---

Posted by Sarasa (# 12271) on :
 
If he carries on with the course and completes it, even if he doesn't get quite the required grades are the uni likely to look on that favourably?
My son totally buggered up his first year at his first university. It was about 50% down to him and 50% down to them (told to do options he hadn't the background for, not enough support for his severe dyslexia). They refused to let him restart claiming it would give him an unfair advantage. Is this the sort of thing the college are saying?
I hope you get something sorted and prayers for you and the Smudglet during the process. The whole thing with my son was horrible, but in the end he went somewhere else and did well.
 

---

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
Thank you so much for all your responses. (Can you tell I'm a bit stressed?)

His college tutor is being extremely supportive, actually, and doing all that she can to help him achieve his potential. The two half days a week that he goes in to college are actually spent with her giving him 1:1 tuition.

It seems that the college policy is not to allow a resit year which seems to be down to the fact that it's a popular course and will be full. They said it was also to do with funding, despite me saying that we would pay the tuition fees.

Based on your comments, Albertus, I have emailed the college principal and also my MP, and later today I intend to contact the university and UCAS.... though it is frustrating as they will not willingly talk to me without WRITTEN permission from my boy. (I got round this when I first contacted them by telling them that that was fine, I would talk to them and they surely had no policy against listening without written permission!)

He's not up to talking to them at the moment, though he would be usually, and I am determined not to be a helicopter parent.

We will be trying one other university too, but there are not many places which do his particular choice of course and he's feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole situation, having set his heart on Coventry. The last thing I want at the moment is for him to lose his motivation and sink into despair.
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
The other places to try are the local Parent Partnership, IPSEA - ignore the special needs bit - illness counts, or SOS SEN

I'll pm you with what I suspect is your local parent partnership
 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 


Hope you and the Smudgelet manage to get it sorted out.

One-to-one tuition is much more intensive than sitting in a class with a lot of other people being lectured at, so two half-days a week of tuition may be enough to help him catch up with everyone else if he is well enough to work by himself when he's not in college.
 

---

Posted by *Leon* (# 3377) on :
 
Not knowing anything about the actual situation -

If you're prepared to pay tuition fees and your son is receiving 1:1 tuition, is there any option for moving to another college for the extra year. I'm wondering whether your college is obsessing about grades and so on, while there might be other institutions that are more flexible. In particular, would a private school be more interested in whether or not there's money on offer.
 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 
Another thought -

I notice that you said the *college* told you the university wouldn't allow the Smudgelet to do an A-level next year to bump up his qualifications and you haven't talked to the university yet. It's possible that the university admissions office would be more flexible in practice, so it's definitely worth talking to the university on Saturday even if everything goes pear-shaped on Friday. Universities are being heavily 'encouraged' to make courses more accessible to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to accept qualifications other than the traditional three or four A levels. Wave the Disability Act at them too, if it seems appropriate.
 

---

Posted by Smudgie (# 2716) on :
 
I have just come off the phone after a long talk with the RIGHT people at the university. They agree that the Smudgelet's circumstances are indeed extremely extenuating circumstances and are going to look into what they can do to ensure he has fair access to the course he already has an offer for. I am SO relieved. Thank you so much for your support (continued prayers very much appreciated!)

He worked at such a high level last year that, even if he only gets passes in the remaining three units for the diploma, he will still come out with the highest possible grades for that certification.

Leon, I'd already starting to look into the option of completing his extended diploma at another college, but there's nowhere around here that does it, apart from a college which is in much higher demand than the one he attends now.
 

---

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
That's good to hear, Smudgie.
 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 
Smudgie:

quote:

---

He worked at such a high level last year that, even if he only gets passes in the remaining three units for the diploma, he will still come out with the highest possible grades for that certification.

---

He sounds like the kind of student that the university will be bending over backwards to try and accommodate.

Continued prayers ascending...
 

---

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :
 
Sound very positive.

for ongoing talking to people who want to help, and can.
 

---

Posted by Sarasa (# 12271) on :
 
Glad you managed to talk to the right people. Prayers that things go well with the college on Friday.
 

---

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :
 
What AC, Sarasa and the rest said - prayers still ascending.
 

---

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
I have just come off the phone after a long talk with the RIGHT people at the university. They agree that the Smudgelet's circumstances are indeed extremely extenuating circumstances and are going to look into what they can do to ensure he has fair access to the course he already has an offer for.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Smudgie:
Marvin, does it make you feel old, imagining the Smudgelet as old enough for university? I don't think you've seen him since he was 11.

---

© Ship of Fools 2016


UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0