Daughter kicked out of 6th form **Title edited by MNHQ**

The legal age for leaving education , in whatever form, is now 18

Compulsory school age has not changed. It is still the end of the school year in which the pupil reaches the age of 16. There is a separate legal requirement that young people remain in education or training until they reach the age of 18.

It would have been an exclusion

I don't believe the courts would agree.

Yes, the rules on exclusions apply to sixth forms. But that is not the point I was making. If you take the argument that this is an exclusion to its logical conclusion, any school with a sixth form must allow all its Y11 pupils to enter sixth form regardless of their GCSE results. So a pupil who fails all their GCSEs can demand to be admitted to sixth form.

In reality, the sixth form is a separate beast because the pupils are no longer of compulsory school age. Refusing to take a Y11 pupil into Y12 is not an exclusion. It means they have failed to meet the entry requirements for Y12. I believe the courts would take the same view about the transition from Y12 to Y13. The school can set entry requirements for Y13 and refuse to admit those who fail to meet those requirements. Provided the entry requirement for existing pupils is the same as for external pupils wanting to enter the relevant year group (as required by the Admissions Code) and provided the entry requirements are reasonable I believe the courts would say that this is legitimate.

It would have been an exclusion, 6th form and nursery classes are expressly included as school classes in the statutory guidelines.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/641418/201708311ExclusionStattguidanceWebb_version.pdf

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The legal age for leaving education , in whatever form, is now 18?

Yes I saw about the legal challenge and wondered if it would mean a lot of schools would now have to change their rules

Based on what I have seen so far, I doubt the legal challenge to St Olave's would have succeeded if it had gone to court. The lawyers acting for the parents were arguing that kicking children out after the first year of a two year course is an illegal exclusion. If the children were of compulsory school age they would have a case. However, once you reach sixth form you are no longer of compulsory school age. I would have expected the school to argue that it has simply set entrance requirements for the second year of sixth form and the pupils have failed to achieve the necessary standard. If they put forward that argument I would have expected the courts to back the school.

The logical extension of the argument put forward by the parents in the St Olave's case is that schools would have to admit all Y11 pupils to sixth form regardless of their GCSE results. I think the courts would recognise that as clearly ridiculous.

If the parents had argued that St Olave's was setting an unreasonably high bar for entry to Y13 they might have succeeded but, in my view, the illegal exclusion argument was bound to fail.

Dollytwoshoes

If she got a U at AS level I am not surprised the school don't want her to continue with the subject. I don't think the St Olave's challenge helps you. And it is unlikely you have a case against the school regarding the grades given by your daughter's teachers. Rather than going in with all guns blazing and talking about legal challenges, I think you would be better advised to point to the fact that she was a B grade student, say that she didn't take this public exam seriously (which, I'm afraid, was rather silly, to say the least) and see if they will show some leniency.

We have sent off remarks straight after results day and had them back before the start of the next academic year.

We have also had papers go up by a few grades.

bobbiepin
DD had a GCSE re-marked and it moved by 18% .....

My year (4 years ago), the psychology papers had a fault with the marking which meant I (and the rest of the class) went up 2 grades. hmmm....AQA really need to pull their socks up if this is happening every year......

How has the paper been remarked if you have requested the script back? You aren't able to see the paper if it gets remarked as that would allow you to again question the marking.

However, I am still shocked the school advised her to drop the subject rather than realising obviously something had gone wrong with the marking. Being marked a fail when it was (assumed?) a D grade is awful.

That seems to be a very fast review/remark of the paper!

So much about this doesn't make sense.

Firstly governors are not going to care about one parent kicking up a fuss. Be prepared to be ignored.

Unless every child in the class failed then there is no problem with the teaching. Its about time your daughter took responsibility for herself. The AS is an accurate picture of how she would perform in the A2 exam. If she were allowed to continue and failed again then you would be complaining that she wouldn't get into uni.

There's also something very fishy about the remark. Its been sent off and returned very quickly. Two grades is also absurd. Two marks would be a stretch.

Also if your daughter has three other subject and they are offering her a back up AS so she has something else to put on her UCAS she's been treated pretty well.

No offence OP, but you are being that parent.

Dumbledore yes, he got A, A, A, B at AS.

His grammar school also,has a policy of excluding students if their AS grades are poor. It will be interesting to see if the St. Olaves case will affect other schools.

I've seen kids make huge improvements from AS to A Level but that's far harder for them to do if they try to continue with 4 as they have more work to do and less free time to do it in. Dropping one and concentrating on getting the highest possible grade in the 3 you keep on like your DS did is much more sensible.

Ccd is fine at AS. A fail is fairly conclusive imo.

Ds school (normal comp) says you need a pass to continue. His gf failed AS biology and is dropping it and repeating year 12 with different subjects including a Btec.

Mine ended up with A* BB.

At AS he got ccdd.

Kids change.

I'm assuming his AS grades were very strong? Obviously it worked out well for him but 2 As and an A is treated more favourably than an A and 3 As. Even though the latter is harder work and worth more UCAS points. With the exception of very bright kids doing further maths I never recommend 4. Its better for the school's ALPS score if they do 4 but rarely better for the student.

DS1 did 4 A levels and did extremely well......but it was such hard work.
Relentless.

He needed 3 As to get to his chosen university. He got A*, A, A, B. Looking back, maybe he should have dropped one?

I really wouldn't advise 4 A Levels. I did 4 rather than dropping one at AS and I got 4 As at AS, it was a massive mistake and cost me an Oxbridge place. Universities will make offers based on the best 3 A Levels so she would be much better off focusing on her best 3 next year and dropping the weakest grade. Even with the remark she's only on a D. Doing 4 A Levels gives you 33% more work to do than everyone else and in most schools about 40-50% less free time in school to do it in. In most cases IME doing 4 turns out to be a mistake even for students with all As at AS. Saying she should drop one subject isn't the same as kicking her out. I think she should take their advice.

A U does need to go on her UCAS form.

All exam results have to be declared on UCAS applications. If you don't and the university finds out, your offer could be withdrawn.

What are her grades now then? In al her AS subjects?

So she got a C now? Is that inline with her other AS results? Personally I'd still apply for a remark.

Not sure why you kicked off at the school rather than asking for a review/remark in the first place. Sounds like both sides have been too hasty.

Hope your dd hasn't been too knocked by this.

Two grades in psychology ?

Must have been an admin error??

That's all right copper. I like learning things so am happy to be corrected nicely!

You haven't actually got the AS when you get a U , so I am guessing it is still all right to omit it form job applications as it isn't a qualification?

Disclaimer: I haven't got any Us my DS probably will in a year though

I do actually disagree that first year sixth form isn't for kicking back. It's a time for doing other projects, reading around the curriculum etc.

So not doing FA but spending some time away from the narrow curriculum

But that view is from the 80s, I can see things are very different now

Copper , I did say 'I think' and have already been put right. You are very rude sometimes!

sorry, didn't mean to be rude, I was responding to the first page before reading the second, and it is a misunderstanding I feel I need to correct strongly, just having had an ex student taken to court for omitting grades on an application.

bluntness I am curious too, this seems like a very quick turnaround for a non-essential/uni place at stake request, and to be contacted by the school on a saturday, and to also go up 2 grades with AQA (just like a pp).