Unwanted School Imposition

If he looks to be soaring in his other subjects, the school are not going to register him as someone who has just struggled with lockdown learning as his data profile won't show that.

You posted about catching up 2 minutes before me so no I didn’t see that. But tbh this is a difficult and packed term as it is, trying to fit in the catch up work on top may do him no favours. He may be able but there’s a limit to how much one person can achieve. And it’s unclear whether he will be able to participate fully in his lessons if the other kids are all ahead of him as so much of science builds on basic principles. How was his attainment in his other subjects? If he was in year 10 I might agree with you but I think this is going to be extremely stressful for him. A 1/2 year out of a 2 year course is a significant amount. There’s also no guarantee that there won’t be more periods of remote learning.

Will his current school allow him to do science A levels with combined science?

Honestly, you are not going to get anywhere and it's not worth the time, effort or stress to you.

There will be no detriment to your son and it may even advantage him.

If he doesn't engage well with online learning, why do you think it will be different with these online resources? It seems like you have unreasonable expectations for him, honestly.

As an earlier poster has mentioned, doing combined science rather than three separate sciences won't stop him from studying A level chemistry, biology or physics.

There are plenty of law firms who will take your money - business is business after all, but you really need to ask yourself why you are doing this. Just to make a point? To prove the school 'wrong'?
Save your money and don't put yourself or your son through a costly and stressful process.

Is he bothered that he will do combined scienes rather than x3 single? If he's not, is he really likely to put in extra effort outside of school?

What does your son want to do? What is his view?

The thing is the legal action will take too long, and the school is unlikely to accommodate just one kid in a different process (if they keep your DS at 3 sciences, then what do they say to the next parent who feel they have an equal case, and the next...)

Do you have any way to contact other parents? What about your DSs own friendship group? Anyone with a similar issue? Given the timing I suspect you need a few other parents to go talk to school as a group.

But, having said all that if the school thinks it physically can't get a cohort of kids through the full syllabus in the time available then they are right to shift to the combined one - not just for your kid but for all the students.

Ability doesn’t matter though, it may not be totally his fault but he hasn’t kept up with the work and he isn’t at a standard to take triple science. They have only transferred the ones who are underperforming and most schools make it very clear to those taking triple science that that is what will happen. They either keep up or they have to take combined. There’s generally no extra teaching time for triple science so I’m not sure how you expect to catch your son up? It’s far better he gets a better mark for double science, it could be the difference between getting accepted for a levels and not. Some schools only do double, this isn’t going to hold him back.

Honestly I would just let him do combined science and focus on science enrichment outside of school. It’s too late in the day to go the legal route and you’re risking a lot of stress for him.

Combined science is not easier than single sciences (aka triple) . You just do 2 GCSE's worth of modules rather than 3. Many schools are dropping triple science due to not having time to teach all of the content especially if it's a school where they cover the content in the same amount of time as triple science rather than it being a separate option.

Getting 77 in Combined science is much better preparation for A level than getting 666 for example.

I think you should forget about legal stuff.

Your best bet is to negotiate with the school to stay in the current group until the next round of internal school tests and then if he is still underperforming they can move him then.

However personally I'd be tempted to go with what the school advise. Presumably he is 'behind' where they would expect triple science students to be right now and the school is thinking that consolidating combined science syllabus will be more beneficial than trying to learn an additional 50% of content. 8,8 is better than 6,6,6. Furthermore he might not be allowed to do science A level with 6s but would be with 8,8. Def check A level reqs.

Have all children been moved to combined or just those that did badly on the test? If all then even if you can persuade / force the school to enter your son for the separate sciences you may have a problem as they won’t be teaching for the separate sciences.

If just some then presumably you are asking for him to remain in the set that is doing separate even though his score was lower than the others in that set? Was he close to the borderline? Was there a reason that he did badly in this test but wouldn’t in the GCSE? Would school be willing to let him do a retake and let him stay up if he excels in it?

In the end though - the school is right. 9,9 looks so much better (for him!) than 7,7,7.

@LisaRear all schools are about results how can they not be? When choosing a school most parents will look at results. Selective schools try to ensure higher results because they select their students.

Surely if your son didn’t do well on that last exam it indicates that he’s not where he should be? His ability may be good but his performance wasn’t. So switching to combined science seems a proportionate response. It’s all very late to catch up if he’s in year 11