To pull my child out of a public exam

[Menopausalprincess]

My child is supposed to be doing 10 GCSE’s, but the teaching and organisation for one of them has been so bad that it is stressing them out. There is a practical element and there has been zero support, and deadlines are only now being communicated

This is making my child so stressed that they aren’t able to concentrate on their other subjects.

Would I be unreasonable to pull them out of the exam for this subject? Can I stop them being entered?

might as well do it, try and get a bad result rather than not try at all?

How has the organisation been bad? I'd let them sit it, they might pass.

Is this possible? My child is struggling with one subject too.

Not unreasonable and yes you can. You need to tell the school so they don't register them ( usually happens early next year). Also be prepared to stand your ground.

Don’t want him to do it because the stress will (is already) affecting his other subjects. He’d actually probably get an ok grade, but everything else would be worse. Basically I’d rather he did 9 well than 10 badly

MBL, thankyou, that’s really helpful

pinkyredrose, yes the organisation’s been awful.The teacher is only just telling them about deadlines next week, and while dc has already submitted stuff, the teacher never got back to them (as promised) so there’s no time to do a revision. Dc is really organised - as a way of dealing with stress - and this is becoming a real problem

Be aware that your child is still likely to have to turn up to all the lessons and do the work - even if they don't sit the actual exam.

The school will have them timetabled for this subject - and even if you decide you don't want them to sit the exam they may well have to continue with where they are supposed to be that lesson.

Many schools won't have somewhere else to send them (apart from possibly an exclusion room) when they are supposed to be in RE/French/whatever it is.

Hatty, thankyou. Yes, I get that, and I’d expect him to still engage positively. There’s no reason why he can’t enjoy doing the lessons without the stress of having to submit work when the structure which he’s supposed to be working in is truly chaotic

Withdrawing him seems like a good plan. 9 GCSEs is more than enough.

My only question would be to check requirements for post 16 courses he might want to do and then double check that he doesn't need that GCSE or one of that type.

Thankyou, good call, and yes in this case it’s not one he needs for the A’levels he wants to do