to think this is a great way of getting top A-Level success rates - I can't believe other schools haven't cottoned on

[orlantina]

Simply don't let the pupils in Y12 who aren't going to get As not do year 13.

Then you are looking good for a high success rate and can market yourself as a great school.

www.theguardian.com/education/2017/aug/29/grammar-school-unlawfully-threw-out-students-who-failed-to-get-top-grades

Unbelievable the school did this...

I don't understand, Copperbeech. The government isn't insisting that children be chucked out after Year 12? And they don't have to retake a year just because they get a C.

it's the government itself that makes it necessary for students to leave, they do not fund students retaking a year, so if a student has to redo year 12, they have to change schools. In special circumstances, the school may take them unfunded, but no school can afford more than a handful of unfunded students. Normally 1% or less

Is this true? Because it was offered to dd very quickly?

the government do not fund retakes.

The schools encourage teenagers to use the loophole of switching schools.

The government does not 'make' students do it.

Dd is not retaking. She is carrying on one subject and taking two new ones. I think that is funded.

Has anyone mentioned that in most cases it might actually be beneficial to leave school 6th form and go to college?? Btecs are brilliant if kids struggle with exams (although they now have an exam element) and colleges are often really excellent. Universities accept btecs.

FWIW I don't mind the idea of grammar schools as centres of excellence (or exceptional ability) even if it was my PFB who got selected out.

I don't think that it's fair for independent schools to do that or cull her exam choices either. Since my dd would be there based on my ability to pay, not her ability to perform.

And after spending 100k+ I'd want to see a bloody return on investment.

A student who is only getting Cs and Ds at as is not finding the work easy. At A2 the work is often more difficult is building on AS and you still have to know the AS stuff even though not being directly tested on it.As well as that it becomes more mathatically difficult to raise your grade.The odds really ramp up against the kid.They are better off choosing a btec or less academic a levels which the GS won't offer

diamond
That depends what they think the purpose of taking the A levels is.
Most people are not planning to progress to an RG Uni.
They have lots of other options for which even C grade A levels are the right thing.

It's not new!

I am surprised this has been brought up as an issue now. This happened to me 20 years ago. Doubts I would pass a maths paper (partly due to poorly timed bad glandular fever) so if I wanted to do it I had to pay for the exam. Paid. Passed. They offered me my money back so they could claim the result. Bog standard comp.

I am surprised this has been brought up as an issue now.
Because parents challenged it rather than accepting being kicked out of the school
and now its in the public domain, the gaming of the tables can be stopped

NB doing a retake is very different than being kicked out of the school

This is definitely not a new thing. When I sat my A levels back in the 90s the school allowed you to take the A level course for any subject you got a C or above in at GCSE. However, anyone who didn't look likely to get a decent A level grade was given the offer of either leaving school or paying to sit the exam as an external candidate. I can only assume that this meant that they got cash for having the student on the course but didn't get her/his poor result included in the school results. I know a few people who were given this choice half way through upper sixth (ie the year of the exam) so it was definitely not to encourage them to find a better way of spending their year.

oneinfifty
You are not reading what has gone on.

Kids were excluded half way through an A level course.
Not legal.
Never was.

It's not a new thing, but children having to stay in compulsory education or training until they are 18 is new. These are 2 year a level courses with the exam at the end., acceptance on to the course is based on GCSE results at the end of year 11.

Well I think there are reasons you should expel students from Year 12, like taking drugs in school trips, but not because you didn’t get enough As or Bs in your AS levels. St Olaves was chucking out boys from Year 12 for ‘poor’ exam results but not for taking weed on school trips. Seems like they have some really screwed up standards.

Bloody Zombie thread from last year!