Granddaughter is disengaged from schoolwork

Cabbie. Easier said than done. My son was resistant to every form of inducement from me, from his teachers, from his father.....and that was without a pandemic.

“ The pressures on that generation are grim aren't they. Isolated in their bedrooms, working from home with none of the ordinary school life they may grumble about but are missing now.”
Absolutely and this is why I kind of say that messing up gcse this year does not need to spell disaster long term.
Lots of good helpful suggestions here but I’d say a kind grandmother keeping in touch but maybe chatting about other stuff could be useful.

Cabbie21 I don’t think it is right to say don’t pressurise the students, they need to keep up. I agree that there are various ways and means of support, but the girl needs to be willing to engage with them.
Sorry but this is exactly the attitude that caused my DS to be out of school from the age of 14. Fortunately he had me (a teacher) to support him and a lot of other support from out of school people who recognised his abilities. Otherwise he might have been one of the hundreds of dyslexics who finiish up in prison. It is the professional's job to engage with the child and find ways to do so. The responsibility is theirs, unfortunately the child often suffers the consequences of their failure.

trisher makes some good points about the links between creativity and dyslexia. As trisher says, even 'mile' dyslexia leaves children struggling to organise their work and school life.
tanith says her granddaughter feels disconnected and overwhelmed. That isn't being stubborn or rebellious, or cutting her nose of to spite her face. The pressures on that generation are grim aren't they. Isolated in their bedrooms, working from home with none of the ordinary school life they may grumble about but are missing now.
There are a lot of mindfulness and physical activity/yoga type classes on line now. I wonder if something like that may help, especially if school friends join in on zoom.

What does she want to do when she leaves school?

Could discussing her options and what qualifications she will need motivate her?

If nothing works, point out that neglecting her school work will come back to bite her in the bum, then leave it.

At sixteen we were all rebels and quite capable of cutting off our noses to spite our faces, weren't we?

Her mother should of course write back to the school and tell them that she has tried to get her daughter to do her school work, but that madam is not listening.

No worries tanith, you have brought it all back to me like yesterday!
They all level out eventually.

Ellianne apologies I misunderstood you ?

tanith

Ellianne far from stubborn or contrary my GD is feeling disconnected from her support of friends and teachers and overwhelmed by it all as I’m sure are many more yr11 and yr13s.

Yes tanith they all struggle in different ways (the stubborn, contrary quote by the way was my own DD not your DGD). It all amounts to the same thing though ....... the assessment grades (or exam results) will suffer. I wish I knew the answer

trisher

Ellianne that's something that worries me. My GS has always done better in exams than his teacher predictions. Don't know what will happen, he's doing A levels. I do know DS is aware of the problem and will challenge the teachers if he's not happy.

That sounds just like my eldest son trisher. He always performed very well in exams but wasn't interested in giving of his best and impressing his teachers in class. The masters who didn't know him underestimated him totally and gave him average Cs.

Cabbie it's the Head of Year's jobto ensure good outcomes for their cohort.
The HoY will also have a pastoral team.
(I am a secondary school teacher, I specifically teach children with SEN.)

Ellianne far from stubborn or contrary my GD is feeling disconnected from her support of friends and teachers and overwhelmed by it all as I’m sure are many more yr11 and yr13s.

Just like Lucca said, " how do you make the horse drink?" You can put every device, book, worksheet you like in front of some teenagers, involve their house mistress, pay for private tuition but when the stubborn, contrary madam won't accept help and support what is to be done?
Too much pressure can often have the opposite effect.

Ellianne that's something that worries me. My GS has always done better in exams than his teacher predictions. Don't know what will happen, he's doing A levels. I do know DS is aware of the problem and will challenge the teachers if he's not happy.

I have to disagree with some of the comments. First, it will be almost impossible to speak on the phone with the Head of Year, who will be busy, possibly working from home, and not able to discuss a pupil with anyone other than the parents.

I do understand your concern, as I have a grandson in the same situation. He is in Year 11 and has done very little work. He is very bright and thought he could swing it in the exams. Now he has very little time left to impress his teachers and produce quality work which might just lift his grades. He risks not doing well enough to be accepted on A level courses. I don’t know what the answer is. When I have talked to him( and I warned him at the first lockdown that there was no certainty about his exams and it was important that he complete all his assessments), he made all the right noises but did nothing to follow it up. His parents have given up.
I don’t think it is right to say don’t pressurise the students, they need to keep up. I agree that there are various ways and means of support, but the girl needs to be willing to engage with them.

The cancellation of public exams makes it more important than ever that she impresses her teachers and goes along with what they ask her to do.
My experience is mainly with teaching younger ones who are all like cute puppies and love to impress! When it comes to secondary exams growstuff could there possibly be an opening for sucking up to teachers at this stage to ensure higher assessment grades?

growstuff

PS. Did she have TA support in the classroom? It might be possible for a TA to take her under her wing and mentor her regularly.

OP has mentioned that GD gets 'help'
which I assumed meant an LSA (learning support assistant) is with her in some classes.
Those classes are more likely to be English and humanities due to the literacy content.
During lockdown it is usual practice for LSAs to have a list of students to contact.
As I said in my earlier post, the best way to help the girl is to contact the school. Either her Form Tutor, her HOY or the SENDCo.
School staff will be tearing their hair out at the current level of disengagement - they will be pleased to hear from a concerned family member who is willing to help a struggling student.

PS. Did she have TA support in the classroom? It might be possible for a TA to take her under her wing and mentor her regularly.

I agree with Teacheranne and geekesse. The cancellation of public exams makes it more important than ever that she impresses her teachers and goes along with what they ask her to do. It could very well be that some pupils return to school before the deadline for submission of teacher assessed grades and she will be expected to demonstrate what she's done. More than ever, this is a testing time for personal skills such as organisation, resilience and self-motivation.

Ask the school to email the work to the mother, who could possibly get involved with it herself.

PS. There shouldn't be a problem with her not wanting to turn her video on. I have an online tutee who doesn't like using video, so we just use the audio and we share work real time in Google Docs and Zoom.

taniththanks. In view of what is happening I think the teachers should be prepared to accept work from her in different formats. Many people think dyslexia just affects spelling, it gives problems in organisation, and other areas and change can cause huge problems. Your GD may just be really stressed. If she is permitted to do voice recordings, videos, visual presentations or other things she may feel better. Can she get recordings of the lessons which she can access in her own time? It often takes longer for dyslexics to understand things.
My DS is severely dyslexic- rejected school at 14 but now has an MA. It's only as he has got older that we have really been able to talk about how it really caused many problems in his life and how it takes much longer for him to absorb some information. It does have some benefits as well and he is an amazingly creative person. I'm sure your GD is the same. Good luck

trisher she has been diagnosed as mildly dyslexic and had help in class, extra time and was given a laptop to complete work on when things were normal, she has no problems with technology and manages to keep up with friends on phone and online forums. I'm sure teachers have enough of a job with providing the online learning and now she doesn't get her 'help' its more of a struggle to complete work so gives up. I can't help as someone needs should be beside her explaining what's expected but of course that's not happening now and I am shielding Mum works when lessons are on and Dad doesn't live with with them. Circumstances are against her but she'll survive as hopefully we all will.

Just wondering I suppose everyone has checked that she is comfortable with using the technology? Sometimes clever artistic children manage well as long as things proceed along the usual lines, but if they have a problem (like dyslexia) it comes to the surface when they are faced with something different and rather than ask for help they refuse to work.

tanith, there's good advice here from Trisha, Hetty, Lucca and others. It must be so hard for her age group, isolated from friends, unable to hang out in bedrooms or street corners chatting about everything.
Creative, artistic children usually find their way into interesting work in the fullness of time. The last thing she needs right now is pressure from anyone. Keep channels of communication open with her and with her parents. They're probably worrying x

thank you for your understanding and kind words, I know in my heart this lovely artistic kind child will find her way in the world she wants to be creative and comes up with new ideas all the time but her Mum was panicking at getting all these texts from school. I will do as some of you suggest and keep talking without pressure thank you for the advice.

Yes ellianne it’s wrong to say she won’t get a job, apart from anything else if and when this is all over she will be among many having another go at qualifications .

“ Nothing worked: scolding, encouraging, bribing, persuading, it was exhausting trying every tactic”. Been there done that got several tee shirts !

How I wish all you GNs had been around to give me such good advice when I encountered the same attitude all those years ago! Nothing worked: scolding, encouraging, bribing, persuading, it was exhausting trying every tactic. The exam results were awful. And how much harder it must be this year for pupils!
All I can say is that that thoroughly naughty, stubborn, uncaring child is now the best mother ever to her own children, and that's all that really matters.
To the person above who implied she won't get a half decent job, this is not true in this day and age tanith. Many artists and creative people have made their fortunes in life by going down alternative routes.
The thing for you to do as a grandmother is to keep the channels of communication open. Talk with her about things she enjoys. She will be fine.