Missed GCSE grades but offered complete change of Alevels to business, PE & Sociology

This. There are Sports Psychology units in the BTEC Sports course.

@lechatnoirI know I’m late to this (just saw it on FB) but as an A level Business teacher - not having done it at GCSE is no barrier. What I find is that in the first term, those that have done GCSE are clearly more able to answer questions / do well in tests, but beyond that and moving towards the end of the first year it is often those that are new to it that start to really shine. If you did it at GCSE you might find first year a bit dull (it’s mostly a repeat) and you are stuck in the the methods that you are taught at GCSE to do well in exams when it’s different at A Level. If you are new to it you have no preconceptions to overcome and you just take it all in.

Business, PE and psychology are a very popular combo, but PE and psychology are often harder and more boring than expected!!

I don't think it is now though!

Could it be they've offered him courses which are under subscribed and they need someone to make up numbers?

When DD was at school psychology was popular with a lot of the less academically able students as it was an untried subject and they didn't have high enough grades for the mainstream subjects. I wonder if this is why it is consider a "weaker" subjects than the traditional academic ones?

Biology is a pretty popular A-level in a lot of schools and can usually be choosy- a 5 at GCSE is a sign the student doesn't have enough core knowledge to do well. It's a huge step up from GCSE to A-level. Plus if they do it for him, they likely have to do it for others.

Headline results are often a big recruiter for sixth forms, and they won't want to accept someone onto a course only for them to potentially get an E or a U. They'll offer courses with low uptake instead and hope he goes for those!

It's definitely a thing now. Psychology has pretty much rebranded itself from a social science to a straight science over the years. All the local schools ask for a specific grade in science (at my school it's a 5 but many schools are higher).

That’s a bit odd. I’ve done Psychology A level and it has barely any biology in. I’ve never seen that as a requisite before. I loved it and it was a great subject. That’s very disappointing if they won’t budge.

@ButterPiesAreGreat
Taking subjects such as physics will get you into some really good apprenticeships and internships (so long as the grade is decent). Business studies is less likely to.

It depends on what he wants to do after A Levels and how quickly he wants to progress. As in, if he wants to be a sports therapist then he'll have to take further courses after A Levels which will slow his progression by a few years, so does that bother him? But, if he's undecided on what he wants to do, it's not a bad set of options if he wants to stay at his current school. For context, at A Level I started with PE, Biology, and Psychology. I'd lived in the US for a couple of years prior so had no GCSEs so also sat English and Maths GCSE at the same time. I was thrilled when I got offered these choices. However, after the first year I was getting really down - my biology teacher was really odd and not at all motivating, and my psychology teacher was the loveliest person but taught in a really dry way. So I ended up doing PE and Communications (with the X2 GCSEs) instead. I did the comms in a one year course - I can't remember what they called it back then but it was a condensed version of a 2 year course. I really enjoyed it and then went on to study marketing at Uni with no marketing or business studies quals. Yes I did struggle getting up to speed and was continually out of my comfort zone. But I got my BA and a job straight out of uni. I worked with marketing professionals which I very much enjoyed. Then I tried my hand at marketing itself but didn't get on with being told to redo my work multiple times when it was such minor changes that were just personal preferences. And now, some many years and experiences later, I work in a non technical PM role in an engineering company. So my advice is, don't get too caught up in what he's being offered and wants to accept. There are many options available to him after A Levels. If he's motivated, he'll succeed in whatever field he pursues.

Don’t worry too much about not doing Business GCSE. Our local college offers it at A level and takes kids from a range of schools, most of whom don’t offer it at GCSE, mostly because of eBACC. They take them through it all.
My son is now 20 and he believes that A level Business would have been more useful to him than Physics. He is a degree apprentice in Project Controls with a big multinational.

My lad is interested in physio. He's undertaking a BTEC level 3 in Sports & Exercise science. Think the actual course is not far spread. Off the top of my head you can find it at Hartpury, Moulton and Loughborough.

My son needed one mark to go from a 5 to a 6 in English Lang (he got an 8 in Lit) this was a couple of years ago- had a remark and they found four extra marks!

I presume most grammars are after A stars. It is certainly true that you are more likely to get an Astar or A in sociology with a 7 + in English .

Interesting they've offered sociology as my daughters grammar was a hard no on that because she didnt have 7s in English and history and said its a humanity so need to be strong in those subjects. Shes much stronger in sciences so now doing biology, physics and psychology and for the latter had to have a 7 in maths. Weird how inconsistent the advice from different schools is.

I suspect he'll do really well. I hope he enjoys it. Statistically, he stands to do better in business and sociology than he might have done in his original choices.

I completely get where you’re coming from with the attitude that the colleges are for those that have ‘flunked’. Which is crazy. They have all passed and often very strong passes but it’s now seen that A level is essentially for A grade students and then they can stay on and choose from a variety of subjects. I really hope they reform the system soon!
I hope your son gets on brilliantly with his new courses!!

I think Business could be a good A level to have with PE. Now that physio is off the table, he may want to go into some sort of sports admin (finance, management etc) and Business is a good subject for that.

Schools don't have the size / capacity to run full BTECs, that is what colleges are for.

This really gets me so angry at the moment with our education system and the disparity between options for 'high achievers' academically and a decent mid-tier student. I'm honestly finding the options are getting more and more limiting. On the surface - yes, they can do Btecs. I don't have a problem with this. My problem is that the choices are far more limiting and they are forcing students either to just 'pick something' and picking up a subject they've never done before or have no interest in (such as your DS) instead of an option for a subject they are passionate about. Or alternatively they end up having to essentially 'specialise' and very early before they really know what they want to do.

For example - plenty of A Level students are still assessing their options and they might do a humanity and a science that they've already done and know they succeed in and maybe pick up a new subject they have interest in. They have the breadth across 3 subjects as well. At my DDs school there's a choice of 23 A levels, but only a choice of 9 BTecs. And from those 9, a lot can be quite similar in nature, can't be taken together due to subject blocks and also some are worth 2 A levels so they would essentially study two different subjects. So their choice is massively reduced. Or they go to college and it's generally then an extended BTec so they only choose one subject. And yes they can go on to uni with that, but they can they only really go and study a very related subject at uni.

I think we are really failing a massive amount of teenagers with this system. My DD has been the same and locked out of some options, mainly due to 1 mark which is frustrating because they won't give any leniency as the course is oversubscribed. So instead, she is going to be very specialised. Luckily, she does have an idea on what she wants to do and the options do fit in with it but I know a lot of others who aren't in this situation. And I do worry (as does she) that if she changes her mind on her uni/career options, she won't have a choice. At 16, that's a lot.

Our conversation with the head of 6th form went in a similar way .e.g. well she could pick up Btec Business and that would allow her to stay on. Well, she has no interest at all in business and it's rubbish that the options being presented are so limited for the students in the grade 4-6 brackets. No issue with more vocational courses and that A levels aren't necessarily right. But I do have an issue with how this limits their subject choices. The head of sixth form essentially agreed. But obviously nothing they can do!

Sorry for the rant!

I suspect we’re going have to let him run with it and just hope it turns out to be a positive and if it’s a total disaster, he’ll just have to repeat year 12 elsewhere.

Yes if he's desperate to stay at his school then you may just have to let him do it. Worst comes to the worst he can go to college next year.

Hi OP, I’m a physio who did a physiotherapy degree with humanity A levels (although this was a little while ago now). I just wanted to say that although Biology is often preferred it is not always necessary as previous posters have said. What most physio degrees look for is a solid understanding of all of the areas of physiotherapy, e.g respiratory, neuro, orthoeaidcs and paediatrics as well as sports and msk. There is also the option of doing sports therapy or a sports degree and converting to physiotherapy from here. My advice would be to get some good volounteer or work experience in this area and not panic yet!

@lechatnoiri think it sounds fine! My DD got similar grades last year and had to quickly pivot her a-level options in a similar way to take 2 entirely new subjects (sociology and criminology WJEC) but actually it’s been great and she really enjoys them.
I think his combo sounds fine for what he wants to do - and personally I’d prefer a child who was happy in their school with all their friends than going for a different college they didn’t want to go to, even if the subject options might seem more suitable. Happiness is key.

unfortunately, BTech aren’t an option

At his school. It really does sound that there isn't a good fit subjectwise for him if he stays.

Why is the idea of going to 6th form college so abhorrent to him?

As other pp have stated, the step up to biology A level from GCSe is hard. DD achieved an A* at GCSe and found biology hard. The issue with biology at GCSE and A level is the specific mark scheme. The students have to answer the questions the way the examiner wants them to, and this catches a lot of young people out.