I need to go in and see the teacher, don't I?

I have a dd at the end of Yr9.
I would not expect her to feel she had to "admit, after much wheedling from me" that she got an unexpected low mark - I know we have a relationship where she could tell me this herself, without fear, and know I wasn't going to over react (with her), and that I wouldn't go storming into the school.
She's 14 - if she got a 'd' in a subject she would probably be expecting an A in, then I would expect that she had sought out the teacher and asked about it, if it wasn't gone through in the lesson they were told the results.
I certainly would not expect a personal phone call from the teaching staff if she dropped under the radar with one test in one subject. These people actually have teaching timetables you know.

I'm frankly at a loss to understand all the hostility towards the OP in this thread.

She's told us she has a bright boy, working hard, but for some reason he got a D (a fail) in his pre-GCSE test which was based only on what he's been taught so far, rather than the whole syllabus. OP and OP's partner are particularly concerned because they understand the subject, helped DS to revise, were sure he'd covered what the teacher told him to cover and therefore can't understand how he's gone so badly wrong. In OP's position, my own concern would be that the teacher has not taught the syllabus effectively enough for DS to get a passing mark. Maybe that's OP's concern too: I don't know. It sounds as though the head-teacher is also concerned and confused, though, and that OP is not the only parent to express concern.

What's the problem with OP coming here to express her concern? This is the place to let frustration out, isn't it? OP has told us that she approached the school tactfully, and that she was met with understanding because other parents had expressed similar concerns.

Yes, it's 'just' a test, but so is a GCSE 'just' a test. Isn't it natural for involved parents to be concerned if their DCs fail practice tests, because that suggests they might fail the 'real' test too? And so not get onto their preferred course at uni? To me that seems like quite a big deal.

lborolass Here is a school site with the same sort of thing on it.

My silence was only because I was busy: I still think you needed to calm down and stop being so confrontational. I do hope your 'what went wrong?' was said in such a way as to avoid sounding as rude as it might in print!

Also if your ds has to be 'wheedled' before he will admit a low result, you might want to think about why.

Perhaps you were wrong to dismiss this as 'a gift of a subject' and an easy GCSE. It sounds as if you didn't help your ds learn the material to the required standard (maybe he'd have done better if you'd let him get on with it himself?) probably as you'd dismissed it as a soft subject.

Fair enough I won't argue with you. You know your children best and if they are able to cope with the pressure then that is great

If you had said in OP that you knew the school had departed fom its settled procedure (ie sending a letter at time of issuing results) you would probably have had a different tone in the responses.

It is right to expect a school to follow the procedure it has chosen.

Ho hum.

Litten, our ds is also allegedly rather able. I've just opened his report. He has managed every possible result from A* to U across his end of year exams. Ah, no, sorry, he missed out F and G.

I'll be very very interested to hear how he (rather than the teacher) manages to explain that little lot. Too much music-making and bugger-all work, I suspect. Am hoping it will put a rocket up him for next year.

Right so you expect each teacher, after they've marked all the end of year exams (that's all it was OP, not an actual GCSE, or CA, just a common or garden end of year exam), to phone each kid's parents up and give them a blow by blow account of what they did wrong?

Presumably they're more concerned with making sure those kids know where they went wrong (either in the next couple of weeks, or early next year), and keeping an eye on particular areas of weakness.

If you didn't know it was a past paper, and had the words 'Test' on it, rather than GCSE, would you be so bothered?

FWIW my year 9 quite often gets set past GCSE papers as end of year tests. But at the end of the day that's all they are - just tests.

Your assertion that your "deep and full understanding of what your ds was allegedly learning" should have somehow imbued him with this knowledge is; quite frankly, bizarre.
He was being examined, not you.

What communication did you expect from the school, beyond being informed of your ds's result? Calling you to "discuss" it in person is absolutely not standard procedure.

Unfortunately people don't usually come across well when they're having a rant.

But there is a difference between a concern that your DS hasn't done well in an end of Y9 exam at school and then comments such as I'm not blaming the teacher as such and I shouldn't have to go and see, if not confront the teacher.

You did go in all guns blazing in your OP and have delighted in the two apologies the teacher gave you for messing up on the timing of the release of the information.

I wonder did you apologise for starting a thread about her and putting in enough information for her to be identified by parents of DC and other teachers at that school? Probably not.

That should say, I really hope that this isn't your style at work.

OP I can see why you were unhappy, but your method of expressing yourself, on here certainly, has been awful.

You've come over as superior, arrogant, the over-use of putting things in quotation marks is massively annoying. Really hope this is your 'style' at work, because if you had posted in a different way I think you would have got a very different set of responses.

Dejected if you want to do anything that requires remotely academic qualifications within any kind of normal timeframe and build a full career in it, then GCSEs really do matter.
Health is of course important, as is happiness. IME it is far more likely for a person to be happy if they have the maximum number of choices available to them.

"I'm glad you got the outcome you wanted. Perhaps next time you should trust that the teachers in the 'best performing comp in the county' to be doing the best for your DS."
DS1 was up until three weeks ago at one of these. IME no one in their right mind should trust the teachers at a "best performing comp" or any other comp probably for that mater to be doing the best for anyone's DC! [bitter and twisted smiley]
Litten you are right to enquire/jump up and down/ write stroppy letters to governors/threaten legal action etc etc if you don't mistakes/issues go unchallenged and you only find out when its too late that everything is not as rosey is the garden as you were lead to believe.

I'm another one who doesn't really understand the problem.

In the grand scheme of things GCSEs don't matter. They are simply a stepping stone into other avenues of education. Not all children are academic and the pressure put upon all children to achieve numerous academic qualifications makes my blood boil.

Exams can be taken at any time in your life. Life skills are far more important along with health and happiness.

As I said before it is not a surprising grade half way through the course when measured against the end of GCSE standards then!

I'm not sure why so many people don't seem to be able to understand your concern. I do.

I understand the concern too, but the reaction was OTT.

I really wish I were the sort of parent who'd just shrug if my DS, one year short of a GCSE he and I had every confidence he'd pass, and pass well suddenly got a D for his end of year exam

I think the minimum expectation would be to wait for the Y9 reports and if it wasn't addressed in that, speak to the teacher afterwards.

Not 'confront' the teacher assuming that she's let your DS down by marking the exam poorly & not phoning you personally to discuss your DS's disappointing result.