College only celebrating A grade university entrants on social media

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I know why they do it but it's irritating. My dc1 2 years ago got A*AA in his a levels and obviously I was proud of him as was the college. He's now at university and doing really well.

Dc2 got his results yesterday. He got CCU and he is off to his first choice university in September. I'm extremely proud of him. He has autism and he attempted suicide when he was 12 so we are so lucky he is here at all. But the college posted on social media about "some" of the students who got into university. They all got A grades. He's not on the list along with presumably other students who got into university with B's and C's. There is a photo of 3 of his best friends from secondary school holding balloons and grinning. They could have easily included him and the other students who didn't get A grades but they didn't.

YABU. It's a marketing opportunity for the school. It's no different to promoting the art facilities on their social media if they're particularly good but ignoring the sports facilities if they're poor. It doesn't mean your DCs teachers don't appreciate their achievements.

I hear you. They didn’t do this sort of thing at my DDs sixth form but I noticed her old school named the top grade achievers and listed anyone who got As to A stars. It’s a marketing tool too - publishing their top performers makes them look good. I noticed the school said 46% achieved A-A star, which means 54% didn’t. And I’m sure many of them are going to uni too, and for an individual child getting a C may be just as impressive as their classmate who got an A, they may both have worked as hard as each other.

Kindly, I think YANBU.

I would think that one thing that might mean they don't want to choose a child who has CCU would be, your ds might be delighted and happy to sing from the rooftops, but another child might not be.

I mean ds went up from an E at mocks to an A in the real thing in one paper. He'd have been incredibly embarrassed at an article saying how brilliantly he'd done, even though he (and us, and especially his sister who helped him) were delighted at the result.
I also know someone who implied on FB that their dc got 3x As. I happen to know that they actually got a very hard worked BBC - I'd imagine they'd be rather put out to find their school had publicised the real results.

It'll be a case of choosing pupils who are obviously genuinely pleased, and that they are confident are going to be happy for their results to be known. Saves them a bit of hassle.

The posts aren't about the students' achievement, they are purely about self promotion for the institution, whose aim is to attract more able students.

Would your child really want to be one of the ones pictured jumping up in the air and waving a piece of paper around to promote their school or college? Mine certainly never did. An individual student's celebration is for family and friends, not for the local newspaper.

Well I'm all for the system being reformed so that it matches what is required by the workforce and good for the country. Useful vocational courses for those suited to that. That already exists in unis though.

Eg. Unis offer optometry, midwifery, nursing etc

You would hope they’d want more than CCU.

I imagine you weren't just as unhappy when the college celebrated your older child's As and A*s while not publicly celebrating the lower achieving students ...

This is the way of it. They will be proud of everyone who passed their GCSEs, but they will publicly celebrate the top scoring students as that is marketing the school.

Probably. I haven't checked. People with those grades would have got into old polys to study vocational subjects and would have got grants.

I think they should be vocal and positive about a range of grades and positive destinations as I think the focus on straught As is a bit toxic i was surprised to hear getting 3 Bs actually puts someone in the high achieving bracket nationally, such is the emphasis on As.

But, i can see issues with this on results day promotions.

Neither of my children would want to share the reasons why thier lower grades /alternative pathways were amazing achievements with the wider public on a level or gcse results day specifically. They dont want the world to know thier reasons.

Some children will also actually be disappointed by thier results.

I think celebrating the numbers that got thier first choice uni or job is quite a positive take though. Ive seen a school were all their pupils got their first choice or got a job they wanted. I know some of those pupil would have had low grades and some high, but you just hear success and that they chose realistic courses and the school predicted grades well.

Unless you’re doing medicine or dentistry, or study at oxbridge no degree really has employment prospects does it? They’re just degrees. You’re still starting employment with no experience and no idea how to do anything.

OP I agree, the photos are just promotion for the college, not celebration.

That's fine, but this is the college showing their up to date and (very) recent set of results, so I can see why they don't have a banner saying, 'The end result was achieved for x% of students, even when their grades were mediocre at best.'

Not true.

Completely understandable they do this. Some people are more capable than others academically. DS2 got ,A star, A star, A, a few years ago, but I had no problem with those that achieved higher grades making the front page.

I was surprised as well, tbh.

Top universities only give out EE offers to very exceptional students though. The dregs universities often give out unconditional offers as they take anyone with a pulse to get bums on seats.
I agree with the PP that someone with CCU grades shouldn’t be going to university. It is a waste of everyone’s time and money particularly the students as they will be expecting a graduate job afterwards. All degrees are definitely not equal

@TriedSoHardSoLong there is much more to university than the degree. Living independently, meeting new people, building social skills, study skills, trying new hobbies etc. Who knows where the university experience might lead? Some people meet their life partners or a chance meeting with someone might lead to a job opportunity.

Well presumably they couldn’t contextualise your sons grades in their post.

There must be better ways to have those experiences though without spending tens of thousands of pounds in the process.

In defence of the CCU and uni, lots of people with autism respond better to only studying their area of focus and some universities offer different assessment methods to A level which they respond better too as well. Plus mental health recovery takes a while so he may be on an upward trajectory.

It also give the person an opportunity to mature a bit more and practice indepence skills and social skillz in quite a safe scaffolding environment compared to just going straight to work with a CCU.

My DS got CCC - wasn't celebrated by his FE College. Didn't expect to be celebrated they were A* and Oxford all the way. Same at Secondary - you only count if you got 9. He went to Uni, got 2:1 on leaving he got a graduate job and at 24 has just bought his first house. Don't let it bother you OP and @KittyCorncrake - get back in your box

IMe autistic students often benefit for a couple more years maturing and adjusting before they have to approach the stress of the workplace.

Bullshit. I got shit grades (a D and an E) and went to uni, came out with a 2:1 and 15 years later I'm doing great - personally, financially and otherwise. A levels aren't the be all and end all. I'm sure OPs son will do very well with the level of character and resilience he clearly has.

The problem is that a 2:1 from a uni which would take DE grades isn’t worth anything. It’s great you have done well since but I doubt it has anything to do with your degree