DS1 is 'able' as in 'is capable of 9 or 10 decent GCSE passes, and most probably university'.
He attends the 'best performing comp' in the county as measured by exam results.
They do 'Business and Communications GCSE' at the end of Y10, presumably because they recognise that to a 'good', 'school-ready', 'MC' cohort it's 'a gift'.
DS has just admitted, after some wheedling from me- he got a D in the end of Y9 exam.
I am Not Happy.
He and I revised the reasonably detailed 'revision sheet'. Block a business letter? Check. H&S? Check. Methods of reimbursement? Check. All his notes were presented in text boxes, as in:
-a
-b
-c
etc.
I am a H&S officer; DH is in IT. DS has had lots of help in his revision.
I have No Idea why he did so badly. He is a quiet, well behaved DS who is generally achieving well. Or as well as our expectation would, well, Expect.
So. D?
Why have we not received a personal communication from the teacher who is the Head of IT telling us of our DS's, well, FAILURE? Why has his exam not been sent home? Why did a 'D' from such a DC not ring alarm bells?
Why have our comprehensive schools not grasped that fundamental of a successful educational outcome, i.e. Child/Teacher/PARENT?! The famous Japanese three legged stool? Is that So Hard?
I am not blaming the teacher for his failure as such but I am suggesting that this glaring failure should have been immediately drawn to our attention so we can see what went wrong.
Did he give one word answers to questions? He claims not.
Miss the point entirely?
He has No Idea why he did so badly. He hasn't been told, just that his performance was 'disappointing'. And we have no exam to look at.
Like everyone, I am busy. I shouldn't have to go in and see, if not confront this teacher. They should have told ME there's 'a problem'.
Rant over but I am Not Impressed.