Would you let your kids give up on some of their GCSEs?

You may have already said, but what A levels does he want to do and what are his predictions? You've said 'pass', but I believe that's a 4?

Lots of schools require a 7 to study an A level subject and a combined total from the top 8 results of, say, 50.

Then, highly competitive university courses look at GCSEs to differentiate between students with the required A level predictions so if your prediction meets their standard offer but so do many others, you might not make the cut.

I think it's a good idea to drop 1 or 2 to focus on core subjects, but still sit all the exams, he might still get 5+ on the 2 he has stopped learning in anyway. As long as school is on board, IME they are reluctant to let kids drop GCSES.

Absolutely not. He should be working hard in all subjects. I don't think it sends a good message to.let him walk away from them just because he is finding them hard. Think.about his future and encourage him to persevere and build resilience.

He’s capable but lazy? What kind of message are you sending him if you allow him to just drop 3 subjects because he’s not motivated to study and revise?

I think this is a terrible way to start his academic life. If he can’t manage 10 GSCEs, he won’t cope at a-level, when the demand are much greater.

Have the school given you any advice about revision planning? Flash cards and the Leitner system?

@ElsaLing are you saying the school only requires a grade 5 in subjects chosen for A level? Or a baseline ask of 5 x grade 5s (plus higher grades for A level choices)? If the former, that's quite unusual tbh and would concern me.

For most subjects a 6 would be considered a minimum. For a number of subjects, such as maths, MFL and IMO sciences, a 7 is needed.

Is he likely to gain these kinds of grades? Otherwise I tend to agree that, coupled with his lack of commitment to subjects he chose two years ago, A-levels may not be the best choice for him and another path may be preferable. Is he likely to go on to uni?

Not give up, no.
But there are 2 subjects dd won't revise as much.
She's not going down a traditionally academic path, like older dd, so as long as she gets what she needs for the next step, I'm happy.
She is SO stressed about gcses... this cohort has been badly let down imo.
Ignored by the DfE for 2 years during covid, then expected to pull it out of the hat in y11.
Dds school has been particularly bad, and I don't think that age results will be what is predicted.

A university will probably look at his GCSE record in addition to his A-Level predictions to decide whether to make the conditional offer, particularly if he's borderline. Deliberately failing a few is a terrible idea. Better to talk to the school and get him to withdraw from the courses properly.
BUT: The average student takes between 8 and 10, so he needs to accept that he's putting himself at a bit of a disadvantage if he only does 7 when he could have done more with a manageable level of effort.

I think this is a good idea. I told my daughter I supported her taking her foot off the gas with one that she was struggling with but she still got 10 GCSEs.

I wouldn't have supported her doing it with three.

Agree with a PP about Business Studies. DS did it in Year 9 and they basically covered the GCSE curriculum in a year at 13/14.

A child who is finding 8/9 GCSEs too demanding is unlikely to have the sort of academic profile to do well in A Levels.

There are lots of scenarios where it's not unreasonable to reduce numbers of GCSEs, but this would imply to me that he needs to consider other options post 16.

He needs to knuckle down and get on with it and stop whining. Sorry but really come on.

You are making the assumption here that he will definitely pass the rest

Right, well, the reason I suggested a tutor was because you mentioned tutoring in secondary if it was needed, which implied you can afford it.

I‘m sorry that your school and the council have been so unhelpful. However, I still assert that no way can a 10 year old know what he wants, especially if he’s had a poor experience of education so far.

My niece is ND, struggled quite a bit academically in primary (though her school were quite good) but going through secondary her interests have definitely veered towards the academic and she wants to do academic rather than vocational choices for A level and I think is starting to aim towards uni. Not something that was really in the cards when she was 10.

I think it’s really important that we enable our children to have as many choices and options open to them as possible.

My daughter is takings hers this summer. I am pushing her with maths, English, science and the courses most relevant for her next steps but I’m not so fussed about some of the ones that are there just because she has to choose something. I’d like her to get passes in everything but I’d like the good grades in the relevant ones.

I cannot force the council to change his school. He has been on the transfer list since reception. I also cannot force the school to teach him properly, despite having weekly emails/meetings and so on.
I/we also cannot afford a private tutor. He has to make do with me, I am an ex-SENDCO, but because I am also “Mum” it doesn’t work very well.
It is clear you do not have an ND child that you fight for every single day.

He’s 10!!!!!! By no stretch of the imagination is that old enough to know what he does and doesn’t want to do as an adult. Good lord.

I agree Yr 6 SATs aren’t the be all and end all but you say his school has been failing him since year 3, and yet you’re just allowing that to happen. Why? Why not get a tutor who could not only keep him up to speed but challenge him, stimulate him? Move school?

Instead you seem completely passive and are allowing a child to call the shots. Who’s the parent here?

First of all, there is no doors closing, just a simple reminder that SATs exams are not the be all and end all.
He is 10 years old, he is quite old enough to know that he doesn’t fancy university and his current primary school is a waste of time.
He knows this because he is being failed by his teacher every single day.
On the other hand, he is very excited about having specialised teachers with subject specific knowledge who actually KNOW what they’re teaching, so I have no doubt he will flourish in secondary. If he does not, we will assess it then.

It depends on what he wants to do.

Whilst having 5 good grades is the basic standard, if he then wants to go to university he'll be looking at competing with others with similar grades. A lack of GCSEs even at a lower level will count against him in this scenario.

3 subjects is a lot to let slide, especially if there is no particular difficulties involved. It's a gamble to assume that 5 strong GCSEs in core subjects is enough. It could be... but it could also close doors, for breadth of knowledge/ skills or implying that an applicant is tunnel visioned of gives up easily.

At 15-16, it's best to keep as many doors open as possible.

If it's viable to arrange tutoring, please do it sooner rather than later. As they get older the gaps widen and it gets harder to fix their self-esteem. It gets harder to engage with teenagers than younger children.

DS2 is dyslexic and struggles more than dyslexic, autistic DS1. DS2 fell behind in the Covid years and just wasn't catching up. School were zero help on the dyslexia front (or indeed DS1's autism). We started tutoring at the start of y6 shortly after we finally got the dyslexia assessment. He is now after 18m roughly closing the gap at double the rate of his academic age progressing. He scraped through the SATs which is good, not for SATs sake, but because he has age appropriate knowledge for starting secondary life rather than being below age expectations and struggling to keep up. Now in y7, the tutor is able to focus more on DS's weak skills of comprehension and open writing.

The biggest thing is that DS knows that he struggles in some areas not because of stupidity but because his brain is wired with particular strengths and challenges, but it is so hard to shake off those damaging negative self-beliefs.

The difficulty with weaknesses in English is that the skills are essential in so many subjects. Autistic perceptions of the world can also significantly affect the skills used in English and comprehension/ interpretation of texts/ information which isn't very well recognised.

Absolutely agree with this - we shouldn’t just quit things when they get a little bit difficult or we’re not good at them straight away. It won’t set him up well for later life.

Agree FKAT. Frankly if he’s struggling to work so he can’t manage the normal suite of GCSE’s he surely won’t be able to do a levels. They are a real
leap academically and require hard work. He’s falling at the first fence.

I can't believe some of the responses to @CerealPosterHere - basing university entry on GCSE results is not discrimination or bias. What am I reading? If you have 5 GCSEs you must know that would rule you out of getting on a university degree 2 years later unless there are extraordinary circumstances. There are NO disadvantaged schools where it's impossible to get 8 GCSEs if you're capable of going to university.