To have not known kids have to attain grade 4 in maths?

A foundation maths paper actually needs a score of 40-60% to pass at grade 4. A higher maths paper required around 10-25% but majority of students working at a grade 4 or less would never be put forward for a higher tier.
To say ‘if a child can’t get that they’re going to struggle in life’ is incredibly condescending. Just because a child may struggle with maths in school does not mean they will struggle in life. Many a people have no GCSEs and manage perfectly well or have done incredibly well in life.

Of course yabu, theyve always needed a C

DS has only got a 3 in maths despite him sitting it 4 times. They haven't made him resit again, he's 20 now. He attended a special school and is now in a SEN college. I said it wasn't fair to keep getting him to resit if a 3 is clearly his best and I doubt he would have even agreed to do it again anyway, he was fed up it.

You’re not popular with this comment. I work in a send school. Non of our kids would achieve a grease 4 on gcse. Many will sit functional skills but many won’t even get that far. No one plans to have a child with a disability and you are lucky that yours doesn’t. My eldest is autistic and at mainstream and is sitting GCSEs this year. They need a 4 in maths and English for their chosen college and it should be achievable for them as they are doing higher papers. However being autistic, anything could happen on the day. They can still get into college without maths and if they don’t get their English they’d have to resort alongside their course.

If your dc is easily looking at 7 or higher you won't have worried about the other end of the scoring scale and implications- I know that you need minimum grades in maths and English when looking for a job but was not aware of the resit requirements until reading this thread, I am lucky I have not had to worry about it.

Probably is compulsary for them to carry on? And mandatory to « pass » whatever next thing they try to pass in education…

They don't unless they have an EHCP it's 18/19 for most kids.

Nope colleges have to.accept everyone so even those kids that get grades 1,s and 2,s are expected to continue doing the GCSE despite it being soul destroying for some.

I had to do this in 1998. I got an F at foundation level. So the school made me do it again. Except you had to do intermediate level. Which I was never going to pass. So failed. It completely.

Up until the age of 25? Really? I find this a bit hard to believe. By that age,they are a fully fledged adult,so I don't see how they can be forced to do it if they don't want to.

That was to @Skyscrapersinging.

But you must surely be aware that some people do get grade fours and below ,or was this just an excuse to show off your child's grade ?
Because to rest off the world outside of mumsnet a grade 7 would be considered good it's ,s low A 🙄🙄🙄

I didn’t know this at all, but my kid went to a grammar school and a 7 was considered a poor grade. I’d never even heard of anyone getting a 4.

No biting necessary. I was responding directly to the OP who was completely unaware that y11s accepted to college would continue to resit maths for another go at achieving a pass, and asked about those who just can't (and I'm guessing those accepted with this condition stated are judged close enough / the 4 is within reach).

I don't think it's helpful to generalise 'kids who can't' and apply it to all who fail to do so in the first instance.

Many will do better after more time and practice.

Many will do better when more mature and upon realising that they need it as a stepping stone to do the next thing.

Many will do better on a November 'resit only' paper, as (in my experience) the papers seem to be set to be a bit more accessible, and those already achieving 5 and above won't be part of the cohort at all, so the field is different.

I know some pupils have immense challenges and will be nowhere near the level required even after hard work and huge support. But this just isn't the majority of the candidates on the borderline for a standard pass. And those kids should be taught moren and encouraged to try again, until they can meet the standard.

Which is what I meant. Glad your DC did well. Hard work rewarded is always lovely.

I wasn’t allowed to sit the credit paper. My husband sat that and had a private maths tutor and got the same grade 🤷🏻‍♀️ it’s pretty meaningless and has never affected us at work. I just have no interest and my ADHD. Alex that worse as I’ll procrastinate and lose interest every two seconds. I don’t want to work out the square root of shit or how long the side of a triangle is. My brother has a PhD is some maths thing so he did enough for us both.

Good for you. I’ll get you a lollipop.

I find your posts incredibly tone deaf.

I'm not being defensive because DD is bright and achieved the highest grade for maths as well, however, I know and understand that loads of young people don't find it easy.

I don't look down my nose and sneer at people who are less academic .

The Kent Test is really hard. I am educated to postgraduate level but certainly wouldn't pass the Maths element. I even got a fair bit of the verbal reasoning wrong. It was harder than a verbal reasoning test I did to get a job as Senior Solicitor in which I got 100%. And the non-verbal reasoning can absolutely get stuffed. Even looking at the right answers, I had no idea why it waa correct. To me it's like when the Faraway Tree gang go to Dame Slap's school, and the questions are like "Where do penguins live?" and the correct answer is "Wednesday".

GCSE English is a nightmare for many children on the autism spectrum - nothing to do with intelligence or ability to read. Ds got a 7 for his maths but took 3 attempts to get a 4 at gcse English. It’s a horrible exam when seen through an autistic framework.

Most areas don't do the 11+ anymore .

No, I haven't.

It doesn't have to be the current format, but should be the sort of maths skills you need for every day life and a lot of jobs at 14. Then if you really like it you can go on to study it further.

Also the way maths is taught needs a rejig.

I was doing a horticulture course six years ago and the concept of trigonometry suddenly clicked. We used it to measure and dig an accurate veg bed. If we'd gone outside and done that in a double maths 35 years ago, instead of being taught to press the right buttons on the calculator, I might have got there sooner!

Have you seen a maths functional skills exam. They're actually quite hard. Very wordy.

If it were up to me I'd make Maths and English GCSEs optional and would suggest the following:

Everyone does functional skills for Maths and English exams age 14. If you don't pass then you get further help to get to this level, along with the academic and/or vocational subjects chosen.

If you actually like and are good at English and Maths then you can continue with them after Y9.

Maybe some schools offer it but my sons school.didn't unfortunately even at college it's difficult to get them onto functional skills.