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To think it Is it a feasible proposal that a school might consider allowing a currently pregnant Year 12 the opportunity to repeat year 12 next yeara currently pregnant currently pregnant year 12

542 replies

redhilary · 21/10/2021 20:07

I have reposted this thread from chat due to limited traffic.

Is it a feasible proposal that a school might consider allowing a currently pregnant year 12 girl the opportunity to repeat Year 12 next year.

OP posts:
redhilary · 22/10/2021 14:06

Do posters know 4 7s or A grades is high enough to enter all but about 3 or 4 Grammar Schools in the Country . 4 Grade 7s is 28 points 4 Grade 6s are 24 points 52 points in total over 8 subjects would be enough to gain 6th form entry to 95% of English Grammar Schools !

OP posts:
redhilary · 22/10/2021 14:08

5ezds, Thank goodness my DD1 only needs 44 points for sixth form entry .

OP posts:
HostessTrolley · 22/10/2021 14:18

Hi OP,

I’m also in Kent and had daughter at a SS grammar school for A levels. Different situation, but my d was unable to take up her year 12 place due to severe anorexia, she needed a year out which involved hospitalisation etc. Having turned down her place on CAMHS advice (🙄) we approached them further along in the academic year to see what they could do to help. After a meeting with the head of sixth form and the ‘pupil wellbeing tutor’ they agreed that she could go in for an odd day for social reasons (she’d done gcses at a different school, the grammar is all boys up to year 11) with a view to starting full time with the next cohort. The school applied for an extra year of funding to enable this to happen.

I know the situation is different, and I’m not going to comment on the rights and wrongs and other options because you’ve already had a lot of info on that. I just wanted to let you know that the school does have options they can use to help. My d went on to settle in fine with the new cohort and get good grades, she is now happily at uni x

redhilary · 22/10/2021 14:19

This is from probably the best girls grammar school in the country
for the record My DD's nor my friend do not attend this one.
However, I know people who teach here and the whole situation would have been dealt with much better.

must be made via the online application platform, available from this website following our Open Evening.

Applications for September 2022 will open on the 12th November; the deadline for all applications will be the 12th January, 2022.

Further details about the application process, including a link to the online application form, will be available following open evening on the 11th November, 2021.

The minimum academic requirements for entry of applicants into the Sixth Form are four GCSE passes at grades 7 and above, plus two GCSE passes at grade 6. Grades 7, 8 or 9, are required in the relevant GCSE subject to be studied at A Level. Each specific subject has its own requirements for grades to be achieved in relevant GCSE subjects (see below).

OP posts:
redhilary · 22/10/2021 14:19

Nor my Goddaughter attend that school.

OP posts:
redhilary · 22/10/2021 14:22

That is very welcome news Hostess ....

OP posts:
StaplesCorner · 22/10/2021 14:30

"The school is at least now prepared to engage with my friend constructively" - oh so now that's happened is that it? Your friend isn't going to do any more?

Howshouldibehave · 22/10/2021 14:31

@redhilary

Do posters know 4 7s or A grades is high enough to enter all but about 3 or 4 Grammar Schools in the Country . 4 Grade 7s is 28 points 4 Grade 6s are 24 points 52 points in total over 8 subjects would be enough to gain 6th form entry to 95% of English Grammar Schools !
I’m well aware of sixth form entry-that is the minimum requirement.

I am very surprised that 4x7s (plus some lower grades) was an average score for probably the best girls grammar school in the country for the record. Which county is this?

BudgeSquare · 22/10/2021 14:34

I really think that the parents of a 'vulnerable' (in your words) 16yo who has SEN and is repeatedly violent and is now going to have a baby should be worrying about things other than her exact GCSE grades...

Howshouldibehave · 22/10/2021 14:34

I see you’ve now said it was Kent.

How are you defining ‘best’ grammar school? Results?

DumplingsAndStew · 22/10/2021 14:45

@BudgeSquare

I really think that the parents of a 'vulnerable' (in your words) 16yo who has SEN and is repeatedly violent and is now going to have a baby should be worrying about things other than her exact GCSE grades...
You don't think they are?

The baby is due in weeks, that ship has sailed don't you think? Hmm

BudgeSquare · 22/10/2021 14:51

@DumplingsAndStew

Yes, now she's pregnant all the problems are solved for ever. Hmm

redhilary · 22/10/2021 15:13

The grammar school minimum requirements is not from Kent ! It is however regarded as either the 2nd or 3rd highest achieving Grammar school in the Country.

OP posts:
redhilary · 22/10/2021 15:17

The Minimum requirements piece is not from a Grammar School in Kent. My 2 daughters Grammar school's results are some way below than the Grammar used for 6th form entry requirements.

Also my Goddaughter is at a different grammar school than the one my DD's attend.

OP posts:
redhilary · 22/10/2021 15:31

The average number of GCSE grade 7s per pupil for the school used for minimum grades required is about 6 grade 7s per pupil. For context this school also has an A- average grade at A Level. My DD's are B- and Goddaughter's one average A level grade is C+ .

I think that gives a context to average grades and the cohort of pupils.

OP posts:
DumplingsAndStew · 22/10/2021 15:43

Apologies @BudgeSquare I read your comment as a dig about the fact that she was pregnant. I've reread it and see that's possibly not what you meant.

TractorAndHeadphones · 22/10/2021 15:54

@BudgeSquare

I really think that the parents of a 'vulnerable' (in your words) 16yo who has SEN and is repeatedly violent and is now going to have a baby should be worrying about things other than her exact GCSE grades...
Yes OP. It’s great that the school is willing to engage, and put forward more proposals. But will that really help things?

The way you’re going on about your god-daughter - Covid was a disruptive force resulting in her getting pregnant and everything falling apart, otherwise everything would have been fine and dandy.

Now she’s going to go through something even more disruptive - having a baby. And the main think you and her mother are concerned about are her results?

Are you sure negotiating as hard as possible with the grammar school to keep her in there is the best alternative? With her already being marked out as different and the rigid environment. No matter how much ‘support’ the school gives she will still be a fish out of water and you’ve already said she’s anxious about things like this.

If she goes to grammar school and gets excellent grades the next step is university. Which will be even more difficult if she wants to go to one befitting her academic capability rather than the one closest to home for the support. If she’s not mentally prepared it will be a big shock and cause worse damage to her mental health.

I have seen many, many students head off to university straight after sitting A-levels under traumatic circumstances. The ones who took advice deferred, many dropped out completely. University doesn’t have the structure of school and the need for socialising/building your own group etc was too hard for sole people.

Her mental health is paramount at this stage. Please keep this at the forefront.

TractorAndHeadphones · 22/10/2021 15:56

*deferree,returned and passed even graduating with a first

TractorAndHeadphones · 22/10/2021 15:56

Also sorry for typos typing on phone is hard

StaplesCorner · 22/10/2021 16:07

I’m off. I thought the plan was to support a vulnerable teenager not argue over grammar school entry you sound obsessed OP.

TractorAndHeadphones · 22/10/2021 16:07

Also to add sorry OP I am not being aggressive but your god daughter reminds me so much of myself.

Adult diagnosed neuro diversity. I was a diligent student but my child and teens hood was relatively uneventful. I was sexually assaulted before leaving for uni.
I survived first year but Almost failed exams in second year when I’d never gotten so much as a C before and had i not been lucky enough to have met a lovely group of friends at uni I would have given up and dropped out.

The point is that pushing through issues with mental health never ends well. Things will fall apart sooner or later. Grades etc can wait, there’s no age limit on A-levels and going to uni. Things happen, and being pregnant is not ideal but it has happened. You cannot kid yourself thing king that ‘with X form of grammar school support and mum taking care of the baby everything will be ok’. It might , and it might not. She might pass her A levels but break down in uni.

Better to take time out now and see how things go, than place pressure on her to maintain her academics according to plan.

Howshouldibehave · 22/10/2021 16:11

Nobody is putting the girl or her baby first here-it’s the mother’s (and godmother’s?!) desire for a grammar school sixth form place that seems to be the focus which is bizarre and quite sad.

TatianaBis · 22/10/2021 16:31

@Howshouldibehave

Nobody is putting the girl or her baby first here-it’s the mother’s (and godmother’s?!) desire for a grammar school sixth form place that seems to be the focus which is bizarre and quite sad.
It’s very odd.

I would understand it more if she was super high achieving and the family were invested in her as doing really well and couldn’t let go of that.

But she’s academically quite average and already has ASD issues to deal with, now a baby. What is with this obsession with grades and grammar school?

Howshouldibehave · 22/10/2021 16:39

Exactly, @TatianaBis

I could understand it if she’d got straight 9s and was herself dead set on sitting her A levels immediately after the birth, but her GCSEs are average (they’d probably be considered disappointing by my DD’s grammar) which is why it surprised me when the OP said they were average GCSEs for this grammar (which is apparently one of the highest achieving in the country!).

This is a 16 year old with autism and dyslexia who is pregnant. I would say she is pretty vulnerable and will need lots of time and support to adjust to being a new mum.

A race to get her back to grammar school ASAP wouldn’t even be on my radar if I was her mum.

TractorAndHeadphones · 22/10/2021 17:23

@Howshouldibehave

Exactly, *@TatianaBis*

I could understand it if she’d got straight 9s and was herself dead set on sitting her A levels immediately after the birth, but her GCSEs are average (they’d probably be considered disappointing by my DD’s grammar) which is why it surprised me when the OP said they were average GCSEs for this grammar (which is apparently one of the highest achieving in the country!).

This is a 16 year old with autism and dyslexia who is pregnant. I would say she is pretty vulnerable and will need lots of time and support to adjust to being a new mum.

A race to get her back to grammar school ASAP wouldn’t even be on my radar if I was her mum.

No mention of what the girl herself thinks as well...
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