Year 11 DD took German GCSE last May and immediately started working on French GCSE to be taken this May. They did their first controlled assessment after 3 weeks and needless to say, most did very badly. The writing assessments were taken much later, but again marks have been poor. Almost all of the group have failed (and these are the top languages students!). Dd said the teacher has been teaching beyond the scope of the course and has over complicated matters. Some of the group don't want to take the GCSE as they've already got a German GCSE and don't want a bad grade amongst what should hopefully be good grades for most of them. Dd hasn't ever failed at anything or found any subjects particularly tough, but she is really struggling. She said the amount of time she'd need to put into French in order to do well (predicted A* but now would be absolutely delighted with a B) would mean that her other subjects would be neglected. She doesn't want to do the exam but the head says that she has no choice as it's too late to withdraw. Following something I posted about Dd2's German yesterday, I've found out that is not the case at all, and the school could pull her out.
My dilemma is this....would it be better for her to try and fail/not do greatly or, by letting her drop the subject, would that be giving her the message that when the going gets tough, you just give up? At the moment she is completely demotivated.
Do they get their grades on one certificate? Head says if she does badly she doesn't ever need to tell anyone about it, but surely if all the results are on one certificate, she can't lie?
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.
Secondary education
Should I let DD withdraw from French GCSE as she's finding it tough?
74 replies
Sobek · 14/03/2015 14:01
OP posts:
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.