To think this is very unfair of the teacher

[pouffepants]

Ds is in yr11, and quite bright. He's predicted As for all his subjects, and already has As in maths and english.

We have issues in some subjects though, and he is admittedly lazy and does the bare minimum. The biggest problem is in science. He is the only child in his class predicted an A because all the other clever kids are taking separate sciences. He insists that the teacher picks on him if he so much as moves, while a lot of the rest of the class are throwing things around. I suspect he is exaggerating.

Tension built between him and the teacher last year, and ds became stubborn and wouldn't try very hard. So I emailed the teacher before the summer and we set up a system whereby he would regularly give me updates of how he's doing at school. I could apply sanctions at home if necessary.

So the first few lessons, I received emails saying excellent improvement in attitude and work. Ds was pleased. Then I received an email yesterday saying that he'd not handed in his homework. I challenged ds, and he looked sheepish and showed me the homework, completed but left on the side. So not great but frankly not dreadful. I told him to give it in today.

Which he did, but when he went to see the teacher, he went mad at him, and said he would no longer teach him to A grade, due to lack of effort. Not only that but he would not enter ds for the resit of the biology paper. He missed the first resit due to a stomach bug. This was the first day off sick for about 3 years, and I didn't know whether I was supposed to get a doctors note. He'd vomited in the night and it's not the sort of thing I would usually bother a doctor for. I asked the school repeatedly whether he needed one, but they didn't respond, and when I managed to get hold of a doctor, they said it was too late to do one. The teacher eventually said he 'should be OK to retake'.

The teacher has now emailed me to say he won't get a retake, but must use his original mark for biology - a D which he obtained in year 9. He says his effort is too poor as well. Why have all the other feedback emails said excellent improvement then?

I'm also concerned about history, since that was missed on the same day, and don't know if he can retake. He doesn't have a mark for that at all!

He wants to take history and psychology at a-level.

Has the teacher just had enough of going out of their way to teach him to 'a' standard (when it doesn't apply to others) and your ds taking the piss?

I think they were willing to be nice and flexible about resit until he started and became lazy.

A fine lesson to learn now rather than later; work hard or don't bother but don't moan after. We all have to do things we can't always be bothered with.

Yabu. As if teachers have time for this.

Which is fair enough. But why has he been sending me all these emails praising his work and effort?

That's not the bit I most object to. Surely he should be allowed to take the paper when he was ill. I rang him in sick in the morning, and asked for immediate feedback regarding doctors notes, and then emailed and phoned daily for 2 weeks, but no-one responded at all. NOW, they decide he needs it, and will fail 2/3 GCSEs without it.

Sounds like the homework was the straw that broke the camel's back - if your DS has been pulled up on his laziness and lack of effort before, and was told 'one last chance' then he can't be given yet another and another last chance to prove himself. Homework not handed in is effectively homework not done.

To add to Lydias

How did your son approach the teacher when he handed in the homework?
I doubt that the teacher would have gone "mad at him" just because of late homework.
As for the emails "excellent improvement" if your son was doing nothing before then staying on task in lesson and completing the work on time would be excellent.

Can you not pay for him to do the resit if school won't do it? or contact a local college and ask if he can do it in the evening. I know people do this for A level, but haven't heard about it for GCSE

There's not actually a lot of point him going to school this year now.

He's finished maths and english, and virtually finished IT.

He will fail science and history. So is only going in for french, re and pe. His french is dreadful, so he may only just scrape enough for a-levels.

When I say he's lazy, I mean he doesn't push himself, not that he mucks about. He's always in the top stream. Surely he shouldn't be totally written off.

So he has done Core Science in year 10, and is doing Additional Science this year? If the biology exam is from Core Science, then it might not be sufficient on its own for a re-sit. 40% of the assessible component has to be taken at certification, and I would suspect a biology paper would be worth only 25%. If he were to re-take another unit in order to get over the 40%, then he would have lots more revision to do, and presumably be doing modules for Additional Science at the same time. Perhaps his teacher thinks he should put his full effort into Additional Science?

I just don't understand why it's gone so wrong, so drastically quickly.

At the spring open evening, he was targetted A for everything. He was achieving A in maths and english and B in everything else except french. The school say he doesn't do as well as he should, and coasts. He says he'd rather learn at home, and studies for several hours a night.

Despite the studying getting very intense at home recently, we're on the verge of a complete fail.

There's not actually a lot of point him going to school this year now.

Maybe this attitude he has kind of what's the point'.
Also as you suspect he tends to over egg things maybe the homework handing went worse tahn you thought.

Contact the teacher and find out exactly why. I can see the teacher getting fed up with all this extra stuff for someone who can't be bothered

The new rules state that a pupil can only be entered for a resit of a module once. So, technically your son can't take another resit. However, the school should have responded and told you this at the time.

You need to ring and leave the Science HOD and the exam secretary a message tomorrow. If they don't respond write to the head. Your son also can only take a resit if it's 40%. So, if biology is only 25% (what exam board?) then he'll have to resit something also too-usually controlled assessment.

However, if your son is taking the mick in lessons then I agree with the teacher. I teach science (and grade A work is the same content as grade B etc) and am responsible for exam entries etc. The teacher has just snapped because he/she has had enough. I'm sure if your son has improved he/she won't hold you to this.

OK, a D in one unit is not on the verge of a complete fail!
What modules has he done, and what does he have left to do?

X-posted fallen.

I don't know what science he's doing, have just been told he has to use the biology mark he got in yr 9, which seems mad. Especially when I was asking them for months about it, and they never responded.

He may be bright but studying at home is clearly not enough.
He needs to put effort in at school. The 'i prefer to study at home' needs nipping in the bud. Sounds like he is setting up to try and get you to agree he doesn't need to attend.

I think the teacher is a bastard (and I am one - teacher that is, not bastard)

frustrating or not, you don't teach a child a lesson by bollocksing up his future

it's stupid to stop him from retaking an exam just to make a point

teenagers, especially bright boys, can be infuriating and difficult to motivate, but this is not the way to go about things

I would forward all of the previous emails to the Head along with a summation of what has happened since, and request an appointment to talk about it.

Surely teachers are there to motivate and its a teenagers perogative to be a lazy arse sometimes. Not that it makes it ok but fgs, if all teachers acted like this no one would get any grades.

Also, to not get to resit a GCSE over one homework is OTT and a bit insane.

I think you need to arrange a meeting, get all the facts (because Im sure your son isnt an angel in all this) and then go from there.

I do see where you are coming from though!

I'm not sure the new syllabus was around to be taken in year 9. Our year 11s first exam was jan of last year and it was the first entry for the course.

He's only 15, I think he should be fully entitled to do the resits which he only missed due to illness. His GCSE grades will matter for his future, I don't think the teacher should be entitled to say at this stage that he cannot do the resist when they previously said he could, that is just moving the goal posts. As to how he is taught in his science class, perhaps there he has had his chance and the teacher is within his rights to say he will not go out of his way for your son now, although I would want to meet the teacher/head of department since as you say he has had good progress reports up to now.

You didn't realise he would need a doctor's note to explain his non attendance at an exam? And instead of erring on the side of caution you just left it?
I suppose that's the teachers fault as well.

Oh, I guess I'm upset, I thought he'd really sorted himself out.

He told me he'd realised that Bs weren't going to be good enough. Right through the summer and in the evenings now he's been doing study all the time. Never seems to have a break to be honest. I just figured that the coasting must have stopped at school too.

Maybe baby is right. There is no way a module from year 9 could be used by a year 11 this year, unless they did the legacy specification for Core, and are doing the 2011 spec for Additional...

If he's done core sci he will have an official grade. What was it? a B?

You need to speak to the sci HOD (ha-in our sch he doesn't understand it do would not be much help). I'm pretty sure the bio resit is not an option anyway unless he resit something else too.

You are surebhe's actually studying all these hours at home, are you?

Yes flogging, I realise that was daft. But what happened was I had to go to work very early that morning. I came downstairs to find him vomiting, ad then out of it on the sofa. I was concerned about something at work, and hadn't realised there was an exam that day. Ds phoned me later, when feeling better, when he'd panicked and realised he should have taken an exam.

I immediately tried to phone the school and the doctors unsuccessfully. The doctors would only come out to an emergency, and it didn't seem wise to let him go into the surgery. By the next day, the doctors said they couldn't do it because of course he wasn't ill then.