Fed up after options evening

3 year GCSEs - that's sort of what I did at school and it's not as bad as it sounds if done well.

We had a sort of staggered options process so we dropped some subjects at the end of Year 8 (or 2nd year as we called it then!) so in year 9 we did fewer subjects but longer on each and then, at the end of year 9 we took our final options.

It allowed us to go into things more deeply rather than just rattling through the syllabus - that deeper knowledge helped gain higher grades as you knew stuff inside out rather than just the surface stuff.

I loathe the idea of 3 year GCSEs
so, so glad that DCs school does not do it - or early entry

DS has got his options evening in a couple of weeks
my only real regret is hat he will not be able to do Latin as DD has.

Do they have any evidence that he would be good at motor mechanics etc? Or has the computer just decided that if he's not good at academics he has got to be good at practical subjects? Or are practical subjects rated so low that it doesn't matter if you are absolutely awful at them?

I have a ds who until very recently was only moderately good at the academic subjects: he might have been pretty predicted C's and D's (we are now looking at B's).

But ds is dyspraxic. he didn't learn to tie his shoelaces until he was in his teens; the main reason for his poor academic results was that he did not have the motor control to hold a pen and listen at the same time. He'd make an absolutely crap motor mechanic or hairdresser! He may not get brilliant results in English literature- but he can't complete his textile work at all. How could anyone come to the conclusion that he should be set to do practical subjects?

I'd hate for a computer to set him up to fail in this way, when there is a chance that he might just be able to work hard and get through his GCSE's and manage a white collar job. At least manage it better than he could conceivably manage any blue collar job.

To my mind, this is a terrible way of looking at practical skills: don't let's try to attract kids with any talent for working with their hands, let's just bung all the hopeless ones in together, because fixing a car or building a house doesn't take any skill, does it? And it doesn't matter if you get it wrong, does it?

(I suspect that's how our village carpenter ended up a carpenter: my parents' house still shows the signs. My db's house is downright dangerous due to an electrician whose career choice had probably come about in the same way)

OP, you are right, he's 12.

You need to fight this,he may be capable of much more than the schools computer banding programme thinks. (that such a thing exists is terrifying)

FWIW back in the old days when the banding system was in place and the bright kids got to do O levels and those who seemed to perform less well got to mend chairs, my friend was streamed to do CSEs. Well it turns out that this was based on her English marks alone. She's now a professor in Physical Chemistry and has worked at CERN on major projects. Don't accept it.

Get an appointment to see someone and take an hour off work if you have to.

It looks as if most secondary schools go by the following system to correlate KS3 levels and GCSEs from the end of KS3 (Y9)
Level 3/4 (or below) expected GCSE grade G-D
Level 5 expected GCSE grade C
Level 6 expected GCSE grade B
Level 7 expected GCSE grade A/A*
So that children on the lower levels at the end of KS3 will be placed i e. BTEC group.
However if your child is only currently at the end of Y8 and is at the younger end of the year group, then you need to check that the computer program is adding on anything extra to allow for starting GCSEs a year early. For example this decision may be based on ds being level 4 now whereas he will be level 5 in a years time!
Some schools however do start most children on GCSE courses and make a decision to move to Btec later on for children who are borderline. Level 1 BTECs are equivalent to GCSE grades G-D whereas level 2 BTECs are equivalent to GCSE grades A*-C so I would check what sort of BTECs are being offered. If they are level 2 there isn't much difference in the long term ! HTH

What level is he on for maths, English and science at the moment?

In no school I've ever worked at were certain children 'looked out for' and the rest left by the wayside. Please don't generalise.

Look in your dc's exercise books. How is his literacy? Can he spell and punctuate accurately? Is he meeting his target levels- if not, how far away? This updated info should be in his ex books somewhere, we are halfway through the academic year.

You must fight this - they have no business placing limits on such a young child.

Some children who attain high levels at your sons age could stagnate and not improve that much later on and some children struggle but in year 9/10 start to flourish and everything comes together for them.

Do not let the school intimidate you, they try to choose as few as possible to enter the higher otherwise it would mean that the teachers actually have to do their job and teach, motivate and guide the children, so they just pick the children who they don't really need to work on.

My son is in year 9 and the school are trying to push him into double science not triple- even though he got an A* on a paper he did at the start of year 9! Go figure...

The teachers have certain children they look out for and the rest are left by the wayside - it's disgraceful!

I'm going to my sons options evening tonight to TELL them he's doing triple science.

Good luck and let me know if you need any more advice.

"MrsBright is right. Schools do everything they can to massage the results because of these stupid league tables."

This is true - many schools do play the league table game - sometimes, sadly, at the expense of the needs of students.

Which is why I think this situation is so odd. The league tables that will exist in 2016 will be based on the 'best 8' qualifications which can include a max of 3 non-GCSE subjects (and stuff like double BTEC only counts as 1 subject).

Most schools 'playing the game' are running a mile from these 'double' or 'quadruple' BTECs and towards a more traditional GCSE based curriculum for most students.

Pictures. Plenty of schools do have a 2 year GCSE course and that includes very many independent ones. If your DD had to leave, you probably would be able to find her a suitable one to match her current learning. Her school is probably not worried about league tables. I expect dance results count more.

We had a similar situation last year, DS (also 12) was given the non Ebacc options form, which other kids spotted straight away was for 'thick kids' - we were not happy!
After a bit of a chat at school they were happy to change him over, it was just a starting point and not fixed in stone.
Ironically he is now being forecast Bs and Cs from his original Cs and Ds target and will hopefully continue to make progress.
If you're sure he can do more fight for it. Equally BTECs are more rigorous now so don't discount them out of hand.

I'm not a big fan of the 3 year KS4 but starting in June makes sense, my ds's school doesn't but a few around here do - they even refer to the children as being (say) Year 10 from the June of Year 9.

"Lol at the academic year starting in June"

I think quite a few schools do this now. It means that they work at school right up until the last day of summer term. No winding down for the last few weeks.

Also the GCSE results were significantly up last year and school has moved up the ofsted ratings so they must be getting something right.

Lol at the academic year starting in June

In June (after GCSEs are I've for year 11s) normal timetable is pretty much suspended for the annual dance show rehearsals.

It's a vocational dance/ballet school

They can assess out any year (except year 10) but usually in year 9

"The school she is currently at sometimes asks children to leave after year 9"

Why? What kind of school is it?

DD's school are entering some year 9s for GCSE maths this year. DD is in the top set and they are already covering GCSE level subjects. Her class has some real Einsteins in though and they are already getting A* in GCSE maths tests.

They also start the new academic year at the end of June and it works exceedingly well. The pupils hit the ground running when they go back to school in September.

Genuine question as I have to keep all dds options open

The school she is currently at sometimes asks children to leave after year 9

So if other schools at doing GCSEs over three years what happens to children who transfer for year 10?

Agree with Fir Cones. Schools spread the syllabus over 3 years to massage the tables. It means the children do not get a broad education and are pigeonholed early. I would insist OP that your son does science GCSE as well as English, Maths, History and an Art subject. I am also aware that schools that offer quite a few BTEC streams have far fewer GCSE courses to choose from. They tailor their curriculum to the lower end and then expect the pupils to fit it. 8 GCSEs would be fine by the way.

If he is having difficulty with his subjects at school, have you spoken to anyone about his lack of progress or what help the school can offer? I think you MUST talk to the school and try and get a bit of time off work. The school will have made projections based on tests they have run and also his SATs test results from primary school. They should, at least, explain why they are suggesting mostly BTECs. Make an appointment with the head of year right now!!!

There's a few threads around GCSE options around. It seems to be increasingly popular for schools to do this in year 8 and start the GCSEs in year 9, so to cover the syllabus in 3 years rather than 2.

Two year courses starting in year 9, with flexibility to do additional subjects/re-takes in year 11?

I remember the banding business at school. I wasn't doing great academically and had additional support after school in some subjects including maths and health and social care which I took as a double GCSE. I went from second top maths group to second bottom in a matter of months. With support and encouragement I still didn't do great but done better than what I would've if I carried on pissing about. We were put in grouped classes depending on our ability from year 9 onwards