GCSE reduced subjects advice needed

It sounds like communication has been very poor. One issue is that school reports are very vague and parents are rarely sent any concrete data. There is also very little money for proper SEND assessments and support, so schools often don't flag up suspected SEND because they can't put anything in place to help. This is especially the case with well behaved children.

The resources tend to be focused on the GCSE students as schools are judged on GCSE results. This is why he has been put on this pathway now because the school have focused their funding on this age group.

It is very likely he has taken some kind of standardised attainment test to predict his GCSE results. This will probably have been taken in Yr7 and will have been a computerised test. In some schools the scores from this will be used for target setting and if he was meeting those targets nothing would have been flagged up to you.

You definitely need a meeting. The head of year is probably the best person to contact as they will have more knowledge about your child than the SENCo. The SENCo won't know anything about him if he hasn't been flagged up for SEND.

If you are worried about the options form deadline, let the school know that you can't fill out the options form until you have had a meeting and have a clearer picture of the situation.

if this is all true and you have not been made aware do you know what I’d do? I’d take the day off work and drive to school, go in to Reception 20 mins before break and ask to speak to Head of Year. If HoY not available say you’d like to speak to Head Teacher and yes you are happy to wait. I would tell them, I’ll sit here annd wait all day if I have to.

Take a book to read while you wait.

No, you can have any combination of GCSEs for A-levels. I didn’t do History or Geography and I went to Oxford!

If your DS is in bottom set for maths, then I’m surprised that you’re disconcerted by this offer, which sounds really supportive. I’m confused though as to why school think two practical subjects is somehow a soft option (it’s not).

Tell them you are not submitting the form until you’ve had a proper meeting at the school. They might say it cannot be changed but yes it can, but I wouldn’t submit it until you’re satisfied that this pathway is the right choice and have spoken to SEN re any other testing he needs. I wouldn’t be satisfied at all from the limited comms you’ve had.

Can I ask what he got in his KS2 SATS?

School won’t be only assessing once a year. IME they test in class regularly so there will be a bunch of scores that ds has achieved over his secondary school years. He might not know how they compare with his peers but there may be more hints to his academic attainment like the bottom set maths thing.

As an aside, A-levels aren’t the only gateway to uni. Pupils who get grade 5/6 at GCSE often study level 3 BTECs which are treated like A-levels for uni entry purposes. A-levels are often aimed at pupils who achieve 6 or 7+.

Have you flicked through his school books? Not all of my kids discussed tests and test scores with me so this was a way to start a conversation about school work. It might give you an idea if he’s struggling in English/essay subjects and needs support.

A pp may have mentioned that schools sometimes make mistakes when pupil names are similar. I’d check that wasn’t the case here and that “Harry Wilson” hasn’t received “Harry Ward”’s letter.

Knowing the answers but not having enough time to write answers is something more concrete to look into. If his processing is slow then extra time could help him demonstrate his knowledge better.

You know your son best but do you think he studies and prepares for tests? Not all kids do but this might be a sign to start taking things seriously so that he gets his pass in GCSE English and maths which will keep future doors open. He doesn’t need the Ebacc to go to uni so I’d be simplifying his workload and avoiding 2 humanities and the language - one humanity will get him to the next stage without any issue plus history in particular is a lot of content.

And it's very expensive to take matters into your own hands. Private tuition or assistance is unaffordable for most people.

I think you are being a little disingenuous op! You say you were completely unaware he was struggling, so why did you think he was moved into bottom set maths??
This decision will not have been based on just one assessment, his teachers will have been being informally assessing the students throughout every school year, and it seems clear that he is now falling behind. The school are much better placed to determine what is the best pathway for him than you are.
You need to step up yo the plate and parent the child you have got standing in front of you, not the child you would like to have. It is crucially important that he gets his maths and English! Feeling embarrassed is not a valid reason to set him up to fail

One of our local colleges is a top performing sixth form

General A level admission there is 5 x grade 4 including Maths and English or equivalent btech etc.

Then subject specific passes at Grade 6 or 7 (depending on the child and the subject.)

Unis generally look for a minimum UCAS point score, with some courses looking for them to come from specific A-Levels. They may well look for a 5 in English GCSE as well

The EBaac is not hugely relevant anywhere.

Some questions:

When you say science - which GCSE path? Single, combined (worth 2 GCSE's) or triple (worth 3)?

Does he have a pathway in mind - i.e. an idea of what he wants to do? If he does, start by looking up what he needs to achieve that. Medicine, for example, has very high, very specific requirements.

What's the school's results like? Do they normally achieve above averages?

Have you read any of his recent school work? If not, try to. In particular look for inconsistent handwriting, incorrect or missing fundamentals in structure or punctuation, spelling issues, missed words such as 'and' 'the' 'of' and sentence structures that don't make sense.

How much does he read outside of school? How much and how often does he discuss topics with you? How fast does he process change and new information? What's his memory like?

It may be that there's something else going on that he's been able to compensate for till now or he may just be an 'able talker' - some children are strong early speakers, confident and personable and it can create a false impression of their academic potential.

Whatver else, though, his Maths and English grades are critical. Without the 4s in those, he very likely won't be eligible for Level 3 courses in year 12 and will have to resit alongside whatever else he does.

If school think this is a possibility for whatever reason - and it sounds like their may be reason for them to - then they're doing the right thing by freeing space for intervention.

Definitely.

Even at my DD’s academically selective independent school, you’d get in with those GCSE’s.

8 GCSE’s is completely normal in state education.

The main criteria to progress to A-Level, which is school dependent, is an average grade of a certain level across all GCSE’s taken then a specific grade in your chosen A-Levels.

E.g. An average grade of 6 across all GCSE’s. Then a minimum of a grade 7 in maths if you want to do maths A-level etc.

This is why, in my opinion, I’d be focusing on him getting as high grades as possible, as opposed to worrying about whether he does 2 humanities or a language or not.

Also, those creative subjects can be very tricky and often have a lot of science in them. PE and DT are very science based and quite academic. They are not looked down on as “easy” GCSE’s by any means.

It will all depend on what a levels he wants to do, and where he wants to study them.

Some places will want higher grades than others.

I looked at the local fe college before options were picked, to see the requirements for subjects that may be of interest.

All said 5 gcses grade c or above ( we are in Wales so still use letters) to include English and Maths.
Some preferred a B in English
Some required b or c at the subject in gcse - sciences, computer science, art, geography etc

The fe college in our area didn't require history gcse to study at a level, but I have read on posts that some colleges do.

We haven't chosen any humanities or languages. Welsh is compulsory.

For those that go to Welsh medium schools, they take a different Welsh exam ( language and literature) ro those taking it as a second language, and that is accepted in place of English.

Depending on what he wanted to do, there are btech level 2 and 3 too.

Depends on the college and what A-levels he wants to do. Generally 5 GCSE passes that include Maths and English are the basic level needed to do A-levels.

The school should have been in touch with you to say that they have concerns but it does sound like they have considered your son's ability and worked out a pathway that will give him the best chance of good grades. Reducing his workload so that he can have additional tuition in maths and English is sensible. If you want him to have the choice of a full timetable then there won't be time for the additional maths and English support so perhaps you could arrange out of school tuition instead. Is he the sort of child that would engage with it?

It really doesn't sound like you have been very involved in your son's education up to now and have just left it all to the school. You said that your son was moved down to the bottom set in maths. That is a bit of a clue that he isn't doing so well in it. You should have been checking in with DS and calling for meetings and questioning the teachers before now.

At least you have found out he needs support ahead of the GCSE year so you have time to get your DS help to catch up. You need to stop being so passive and speak to someone tomorrow morning. Why are you sitting around waiting for a call back from the SENCO? SENCOS are notoriously overstretched and can't always respond quickly to non-urgent requests. Call to speak to your son's Head of Year or Form Tutor. Can't get them, then email the HoY, SENCO, Form Tutor, copy in the Headteacher. Escalate to a formal complaint if no-one is getting back to you. You are ranting and getting all upset on Mumsnet, aim that at the school instead.

Well, I think you’re being a bit unreasonable to be getting this worked up about it without a proper conversation with the school, to find out about why they are suggesting this. If the SENCO isn’t responding to you then go over their heads until you find someone who does respond.

I think it’s important that you approach them with an open-minded “why are you suggesting this?” rather than “no I want him to do the normal
pathway.” He scored below average in his year 9 assessments and he is in the bottom set for maths so clearly he is not doing quite as well at the moment as other students, regardless of what the reasons for that are.

He will still be able to do A-levels and go to university with the course that has been suggested for him, and in fact he might do better doing the reduced course load. He is certainly much better off attempting fewer GCSEs but doing well in all of them, than if he attempts more but doesn’t pass them.

This should never been a surprise. You either go to a really shit school or a school for ‘sporty’ people! If your son is in lowest science, that’s really basic, it’s ok he can’t cope with more. He is obviously not capable of passing top set or they would have entered him as that. I’m shocked you are not aware of your child’s abilities.

Tbph I think the entire approach of the school clearly supporting the 'practical=a soft/easy subject' opinion is problematic.

Dc2 is very academic...accelerated maths class etc. His options were History, Geography, PE and Food&Nutrition. He chose the two 'soft' options to balance the other two.

He has told me almost since day 1 that his PE theory classes and Food written assignments are far harder than his actual double science classes, or his Geography. It's something I've heard from quite a number of teens tbph.

Reducing a timetable seems sensible in some circumstances but telling them 'you can do Food but not Geography' seems barmy.

This will be a load of rubbish my DD was offered the chance to change 1 subject at the end of year 9. Her school start GCSE prep.in year 9. She had no idea if she had gotten onto her new course until she started back in September of year 10. Nothing is set in stone until they start taking exams.

Schools state a date and say they will.no move from it as the amount of work that would be added by some kids wanting to.swap and change would be a nightmare.

I also have twins and neither wanted to take a language. I made the request I person and then in writing and the school got them to.pick another subject.

How did they grade him at the end of Year 8? They also will have done other assessments in lessons before the ‘big’ one that has been reported to you.

I think you should ask for a meeting on Friday and give them tomorrow to send a Round Robin to his teachers for info.

This shouldn't be something that has been sprung on you. His ability in maths and English impacting his options is something that the school should have raised with you at least once before now.

My understanding is that when it comes to exams, they can request access arrangements without a diagnosis, and that a diagnosis doesn't automatically mean extra time.

Despite knowing there was a diagnosis, and both dc and I requesting certain adjustments for gcses, the arrangements weren't put in place until part way through year 10. Even then, the school needs to do an assessment of writing speed themselves before it could be agreed.

If there is a history of him not finishing on time, and struggling with certain things, it should have been raised with you or looked into sooner.

Has anyone mentioned processing speed being slower before. I had never heard of dyscalculia until a few years ago. It is similar to dyslexia, but impacts how the brain processes numbers. May be totally irrelevant but if he has dropped that much in maths but is generally intelligent, it may be worth looking into. That combined with not finishing exams could be linked to processing speed or working memory.

Some of the subjects you have listed as being less academic aren't necessarily easy options.

Art is a lot of portfolio work, that also includes written analysis.
Product design includes elements of chemistry, and potentially other sciences, plus an element of art. Also requires practical skills and coordination.
Music they need to perform at grade 3 or above. The list of terms they need to understand for the exam is long. They need to do their own composition too.
Cookery I don't know much about- doesn't strike me as an easy option. ( wouldn't be for me anyway).
Photography assessment is similar to art, but understanding all the elements of taking a good picture, and the digital manipulation involved may be more complex than you think.

They may have more practical assessments than subjects that are all exam, but if your son isn't interested in them then it seems stupid to force him down that path. He will get more enjoyment, put in more effort and achieve more in subjects he is interested in.

I would be contacting the head of year and or tutor and asking for a meeting. Hope you can work out something ds is pleased with.

My son realised after 5 weeks of year 10 that music gcse was not for him ( he was grade 6 drums, but really needed to be able to read piano-style music, which he couldn’t. He liked the sound of Business Studies instead ( a friend was doing it), so we asked the school if he could swap. They made a massive fuss about it. And said they never usually let anyone switch subjects this late, but I researched which timetable slot business was in, and it was the same as music, so I asked on the parents WhatsApp for information on what they had covered so far, bought all of the revision guides, and told the head of year that I would help my son learn the missed content over half term. I was a bit of a steam roller!! And he crammed it in all well, and they gave him a trial. In his first lesson (after half term) he was putting his hand up and answering questions, and the teacher was very impressed! I think it is more usual to swap in the first couple of weeks of term, but I didn’t really give the school an option to refuse..

So all is not lost. You should go through the options and work out two scenarios. The options he would choose if he had free rein, and the options he would choose if he had to go on the reduced pathway. I would at the same time book him in for a private dyslexia diagnosis, and if the assessment shows that he has the potential to achieve, with accommodations (if he has dyslexia), then you should make a case for him to choose better options. If it were me, and if he has dyslexia, I would be tempted to reduce the number of GCSEs down a bit anyway, but on your terms if that is possible (eg 2 humanities if that’s what he wants, rather than a lot of vocational choices). Having got 2 dc (both with dyslexia and one with autism as well) through GCSEs, it can be exhausting for them, and spread them very thinly. Which is why we will try to reduce down the number of GCSEs for my youngest (also dyslexia, and pathway for autism)..

It sounds like he's struggling so a reduced number of GCSEs plus additional help with the crucial ones seems like a good idea to me. Why set him up to fail by taking on too much?

Go to the head about this. It’s a lot to take and won’t benefit his confidence at all. I’d rather him try as he’d planned and repeat if necessary than be excluded from peers without any longterm evidence of his extra needs.
Surely that’s your choice as a parent.

What subjects does he want to take @Arizona29 ? And for A level and degree? It may still be more than possible with a reduced set of GCSEs as long as he still takes the ones that lead to the A levels he wants to take.