carpentry AND physics !!!!!!!

Did you email it to work address? Or yahoo? the crap bionicle one... Otherwise won't get it= got about 3 email accounts that don't work which is v annoying. Will look at all accounts asap

Do they have teachers at the school who can let you know what's an ok combo, custs? Agree (with much less expertise) with mb that enjoyment is gonna be important to get them through whatever they decide.

Your daughter could also look into the theatre studies A level. All depends on what she wants to do afterwards. For further academic study at uni they may not recognise performing arts as one of the three, but I am not sure.

Re your DD, you are Mrs Worthington, and I claim my £10

If the A level is in Performing Arts I'm assuming that she will have to do more than just drama....otherwise it would be an A level in Drama? But no idea really, I'm just guessing

AS is the first year of A level, and you do get a certificate....it is 1/2 an A level, but if you want to go to Uni you still need the two year AS/A2 qualification IYSEIM

I think in general that kids need to enjoy what they do at A level. Fine to do something you don't like if you know that you need it to get into Uni (I did this with physics, loathed it, but needed it).

But unless they have specific reuirements I always give the same advice. Do the subject that you love

Nowadays you do in the first year of Sixth form or Sixth form college or whatever, AS levels and then you go on to A2. So you do one year AS (advance subsidary I think is its real name) and then in the second year A2. At the end you receive an A level.

You take an AS exam at the end of the first year and recieve a grade A to E, all of which are a 'pass' or U which isn't. Then you do the second year (A2) and at the end receive what we would have known as an A level! Grades A to E again. But what is different now is that you can re-take modules and so get the grade up as you go along, if you see what I mean, ie you could do well in several modules and badly in one but retake the bad one and get the overall grade up.

You can drop the subject at AS level and i presume would be an equivalent to half an A level and is a qualification in it's own right I think but most people go on to 'complete' it at A2.

You can do AS/A2 in drama, so your daughter could do that with English and law.

Hope this helps. i'm no expert but have two older DCs who have been through this plus work in a sixth form in an administrative capacity!! Am sure martianbishop or teachers can be of more help.

Ooh, excellent. Thanks for the info.

Good point!

Have a shufti and see if he could do an applied science A level.

It will cover all three sciences, is a 'real' A level but is geared more towards poroject based work than death or glory exams. It also coveres a wider range, so sligtly less of the ball breaking stuff is covered.

fgs don't push him into to going to uni. He has his whole life ahead of him and can always go later.

More work from carpentry than physics the way things are going.

Is there any science course he could do that isn't as difficult as A level Physics but would still nuture his interest in physics somehow? Like a general sciency type course not leading to A levels but with still with a qualification at the end of it. Sorry I don't know if these sort of things exist. A teacher at a post 16 college might know.

I don't think that a physics degree opens up as many jobs as it did in the past. There are far more vocational degrees than in the past. For example degrees like audiology, computer networking, software design graduates take jobs that physics graduates would have done in the past. Generally you have to do a masters to make yourself employable after doing a physics degree.

Anyway if the OP is more practical than academic why not look at some NVQ/ BTEC courses in engineering. It would satisfy his desire for carpentry and physics and physics. My brother did a BTEC in engineering as he was similar to the OP ds.

You can still go to universtiy with a BTEC and if he chooses not to go to uni then it will prepare him for the world of work better. There is also less chance of him coming out with absolutely nothing. (Ie. getting a bunch of Us at the end of an A-level course)

If you did a PGCE/GTP and went into teaching the world would be your Oyster!!!!!

Physics teachers are so scarce on the ground they would snap you up in seconds flat (also chemistry...but physics is the key)

Supply teaching agencies would probably want you to have a teaching qualification....they want you to 'jump right in' and teach, rather than learn on the job IYSWIM.

You could probably offer private tuition.

Have a shufti at the OU PGCE, you can do it part time and take up to 3 years over it. Or you could do the GTP, train as you work scheme.

If you don't have a teaching qualification you can work in the state sector (in spite of what is often said on MN! I did this for 2 terms while training) but you will be limited to the 'Unqualified register' and they pay you a lot less.

MB, when you say anyone with a physics degree and a pulse can get a job, what exactly do you mean? I did physics and chemistry at a university level and then got my masters in chemistry as well. So what kind of job could I look at?

Actually, what would I need to do to get some sort of supply teaching thing? Could that work at all?

Custy, good luck to your son! Agree that he has to be good in math to do well in physics. I don't know anything enough about the UK college system to say anything else.

I've had kids drop from a B grade to an outright fail.

there is a hell of a jump from GCSE to A level. Every year I warn them that they have to work as they go along, every year some of them ignore me!

My DS got an A in Biology and Physics. There is no way he could have done A level Physics, did Biology AS and got an E!

I don't want to be a downer, but I would be very, very worried at someone starting A levels with an over all Grade E.

You'll hate me for typing this, and I bet I know what his answer will be, but could he do the woodwork A level and resit his Maths and Science GCSE and bump up his grades. then start his AS Physics when he is doing his A2 in Woodwork?

will the school/ college let him start with an E grade? I know that we wouldn't let anyone start A level without a minimim of a C grade, and that is par for the course round with us.