Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Secondary modern school tells pupil not to return after poor AS results

28 replies

JRJZ · 21/08/2011 15:53

Can anyone help please? My niece has been told she's not allowed to return to school in September to complete her A level studies because she failed one of her AS subjects. This isn't an independent school or a selective school, not even a comprehensive school, but merely a secondary modern school. My niece was offered a place at the local grammar school after GCSE's because her results were very good, but decided to stay with her friends at her secondary modern school. She's had to suffer her parents getting divorced and her mum becoming ill, which probably didn't help her to concentrate on revision. She only passed two AS levels and has been told by her school not to return in September! Is this allowed? I feel the school should be supporting her, not washing their hands of her. She has 100% attendence, always offers to help on open evenings, is a very polite and quiet child and in many respects is a model pupil. She's never been in trouble with the school. She wants to complete her A levels even if she just ends up with two passes. It seems the school are just worried about the league tables.

OP posts:
kritur · 21/08/2011 16:51

I suspect the reason she is not being allowed to progress is because to qualify for funding in 6th form the student needs to be doing a minimum of 12 hours in school and with only 2 A-levels she would be doing 10. It is completely allowed although at my school she would always be given the option of picking up an AS or GCSE in order to make the hours up. Either that or the option to resit the whole year. What worries me is that this seems to be unexpected as from the perspective of someone who has been a 6th form tutor for 6 years I would have noticed that she was at risk of failing before the exams.

I suggest she speaks to the grammar school to see if they will offer her a place in Year 12 so she can start over again, fresh start i somewhere new and hopefully more supportive.

rosar · 21/08/2011 16:50

An option would be to repeat the bits of the AS level in October, and complete all 3 A levels in June. She could do this privately or appeal to the school to support her. Does her tutor know about the difficulties she's had to cope with at home?

Another is to repeat the entire year at the grammar. If she explained about her past year, they may take her on, and she would be no worse off with the bonus of her added maturity than if she'd joined them last year.

Or either option at a college?

peteneras · 21/08/2011 16:49

This is a classic example of schools caring more about their reputation than their students' welfare in terms of 'League Table' standings so that they can tell the world later how bloody brilliant (after the culling) they are. If your niece was good enough to qualify for a grammar place previously, it's proof to suggest she's academically sound.

It's obvious her secondary modern has failed her:
(a) to see her extenuating home circumstances;
(b) on their watch that your niece has failed one AS subject.

The right thing to do is for the school to allow/help/encourage her to finish her A-levels next summer with a resit in January for the failed AS.