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Original poster

Low GCSE expectations - what have your state schools done to support?

37 replies

Testina · 29/05/2023 14:43

I’m trying to support my Y10 niece who isn’t a particularly academic child in the first place, and who has missed a lot of Y10, attendance around 50% and I’m not sure how much attention she pays when there.

My view is that she should concentrate on 5 GCSEs to pass and write off the others. To the extent that I think she should be doing catch up work on those 5 and not even timetabled for the other subjects.

However, before my brother has a meeting with school to talk about their ideas and what’s possible, I thought it might be useful to know if there’s a common way that schools approach this. The attendance issue won’t be that common, but ability to pass 8 GCSEs must be. Is it a “thing” to drop subjects?

Any experiences, for idea, gratefully received!

OP posts:
HollyGolightly4 · 29/05/2023 17:04

@Testina you sound like an amazing person for her to have on her side.

I genuinely think working consistently will be the answer. It can be so hard with the teenage bravado swagger.

Original poster
Testina · 29/05/2023 17:00

@TeenDivided I’ve got her into Maths & English tutoring (which frankly is a huge impact on my finances) after explaining to her that these are the 2 she would have to resit. She’s full of teenage bullshit about not caring, but actually she does care and is reasonably engaged with the tutoring.

I’ve also been through the college prospectus with her and the only course she’s even vaguely interested needs 5x Grade 4. Sadly she’s not hugely motivated by that… she’s not a bad kid, she’s just got teenage bravado bullshit and MH issues from some traumatic events.

If she was a particularly academic kid, she’d just about coast through with some support - but she’s not, so the 4s she might have got with a bit of help and self motivation are all 1/2 currently.

I’m looking for anything that would help her.
She won’t work independently online for example, so not an option for me to pay for something like InterHigh.

OP posts:
HollyGolightly4 · 29/05/2023 16:58

I think it depends on core subjects. Chances are there will be two science GCSES, Maths and then two GCSEs for English - language and literature. It would be unlikely she'd be able to drop literature (it's usually taught alongside language, if she takes both it counts for double in the school's progress figures, regardless of her grade). If it's a school of religious character, I doubt they'd let her drop RE.

Then that leaves her options. There may be some additional classes, or not. She may be able to do her own work in her options classes, but I suspect that's completely down to what type of a student she is (or even, what type of a student she is assumed to be) she could even make use of the library/student services in that time.

Original poster
Testina · 29/05/2023 16:53

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor I’m currently paying for 2 weekly tutor sessions- maths and English. I’ve also had her at my house for two blocks of 4 days where I took a lot of time off work to try to establish how much she has missed, and try to help her catch up. But I live 3 hours away and have no more time or money. I’m looking a one week core subjects summer camp option… but, I just can’t afford it all.

I don’t think her attendance is going to improve in Y11, and though I can’t go into the reasons here, I would just like to say that she’s a deeply traumatised child, not “naughty”. The reasons are complex and she’s easily overwhelmed. She tends to attend part of the day 3-4 days a week, rather than having lock blocks of non-attendance.

There’s no chance of an EHCP - parent won’t drive that. (if it were even appropriate and useful)

My personal belief is that she has a chance of passing 5 GCSEs if she focuses only on those and receives some tutoring too. I think it would be better for her to be doing BBC bite size Science online in learning support instead of sitting in the back of French messing about to hide how far behind she is. She can’t count to 10 in French after 3.5 years.

Even for children without attendance and health issues, I thought it must be pretty common that they may have more chance of 5x Grade 4 than 8x Grade 2/3 if they’re allowed to focus. Maybe it’s as simple as the school saying, “we can’t official tell you not to bother with History, but don’t bother with History and we won’t penalise lack of homework, and if you can’t cope with a full day today - then dip out of History not English.” But that’s what I’m asking - do schools do that?

OP posts:
TeenDivided · 29/05/2023 16:51

Is there MH at play?

Are there non core options she would happily drop that she is behind in?
I think you could ask to drop 2 which would be the equivalent of 1 lesson per day approx, but she would have to use that missed time effectively.

That might even mean she could come home early some days which could help MH.

(My DD2 missed all y11 with anxiety/depression).

BCBird · 29/05/2023 16:50

I am a teacher of MFL
There were 2 very disruptive pupils in my GCSE group but even though one of them.told me French was not his priority and the other k
lied about me I was told they had to continue, as they needed to have the opportunity to achieve. Frustrating for me those thst wanted to work and the two pupils who didn't. My point is schools are reluctant to allow this. If she has missed 50 percent of y10, she will be feeling even more pressure than the others. Good luck

Octavia64 · 29/05/2023 16:49

There are two systems that many schools have that might be helpful.

The first is that often the lower attaining students are on a pathway where for example they don't do languages but do extra maths and English. These are sometimes known as boosters or support lessons. You may be able to get her into one of those classes if she drops a subject. However, behaviour can be a problem and well behaved kids who join those classes sometimes want to move out of them quickly.

Most schools will also run some kind of support room, where students who are anxious/ etc work on their own. Again, as the year goes on more and more year 11s wind up in the situation where they drop a gcse in order to try to do better on the others, so these rooms fill up over the year. There may well be an expectation the student works on their own, and while quiet will be enforced, there won't usually be any adult help if she can't do the work, and if she doesn't want to do anything she won't be made to.

TeenDivided · 29/05/2023 16:46

We found you could drop 1, but it would need to be exceptional circumstances to drop down to 5.

In the empty lessons they need to be 'supervised'. If only doing the core 5 they would have 10 hrs a week untimetabled. Someone would also need to set / support work during those times.

it would be highly unlikely they are allowed to drop a core subject, so it also means that the curriculum could become very boring / hard. If all you are doing all week is Maths, English and Science, it might be that subjects that interest the student more such as History or Drama or PE are missing.

They aren't going to let a student drop stuff because they don't 'pay attention' in lessons. They may be more flexible if non attendance is due to illness rather than can't be bothered. There may be more flexibility if there is an EHCP.

A motivated student could catch up a fair amount with adult help of 2hrs per day in the 6 weeks summer holidays.

If things are still bad by Feb half term y11, that might be the time to strategically decide which subjects are being revised for.

The other thing is to know what the desired next step is. e.g. A level 3 BTEC or a level 2 BTEC or apprenticeship and to understand the entry criteria.
Also of course to know that failing maths or Eng Lang means resitting in college.

Original poster
Testina · 29/05/2023 16:40

Plumbear2 · 29/05/2023 16:30

If she only did 5 who would teach for her the extra catch up lessons in school? They carnt just magic up extra teachers, they will be busy with their normal classes. It sounds good but you carnt expect them to alter the teachers timetable for one student

@Plumbear2 I’m not suggesting that anyone magic up extra teachers, I’m asking other people’s experiences for ideas of how she might be supported.

For example, she currently has a card which allows her to leave class at any time and go to sit in a (manned) student support room.

It might be more productive for her to sit in that room with the homework worksheets provided by the maths tutor I’m paying for, than to go to say - Food Tech - which she hasn’t a hope in hell of catching up, and just adds pressure on her.

In my own child’s state secondary, there are intervention English classes that are deliberately timetabled alongside French with the view that French is less likely to be a good subject for someone with poor English attainment.

I am not “expecting” anything. I am asking what other schools do, in the hope that it’s something my brother can discuss.

OP posts:
Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 29/05/2023 16:38

Languages (French, German etc) frequently are the first to be dropped because many of those dropping a subject have conditions such as dyslexia. One of my dc, for other reasons spends a fair amount of time in learning support. There are a number of students who for various reasons are off timetable some of the week, however they generally have to work independently, with a little help from TAs, obviously some have a 121 if there is an EHCP. My dc often helps other students so your DN might be lucky. Sometimes a sixth form student might be asked to help be a tutor for specific subjects so that is something that might be possible.

Do you think that the reason for the absence is likely to have been resolved? Is there anyone in the family who can either spend time out of school 121 working through things or can pay for a tutor for some subjects?

Plumbear2 · 29/05/2023 16:30

If she only did 5 who would teach for her the extra catch up lessons in school? They carnt just magic up extra teachers, they will be busy with their normal classes. It sounds good but you carnt expect them to alter the teachers timetable for one student

cansu · 29/05/2023 16:30

Schools do not do this generally. My niece was able to drop some subjects but she had several major surgeries and ongoing severe medical issues that meant she needed to rest during the day. Even if they allowed this the school will not be able to offer supervision and extra lessons in just a few subjects.