School removed GCSE for yr 11 student?

[LolaLouise]

Posting here for traffic as i really need advice.

My daughter is in year 11, she is very strong in maths and science so picked the triple award science in her year 9 options as this would give her 3 strong GCSE grades. Today she has gone into school and we have been informed the school have withdrawn triple science as an option, and all year 11 students will be entered in to the double award instead. This means my daughter is now doing 1 less subject at GCSE than her peers, and now potentially cant get on to the college course she wanted as she was counting on the 3 sciences for the 5 grades 5+ she needs to be accepted.

Is there anything we can do? where do we stand? How can a school take away a GCSE from students 6 months before they finish?

Op I would be just as frustrated as you are. You have very reasonable arguments. I would ask to see the Head and then escalate to the Governors if you get no support. It's an outrageous way to treat young people

I did seperate science as double science time + one GCSE option time.
DS could be offered seperate science as an additional GCSE in double science time and his GCSE options are not affected. If it's offered to him, then withdrawn for double science, he still has the standard spread of GCSEs.

OP's DD is having one of her strongest GCSE's removed and is losing that GCSE option choice. She is disproportionately affected by this because of a lack of reliable, specialist teaching in art, and a specific learning difficulty affecting her ability to access English Literature and Language despite additional tutoring.

I would be emphisising that this is discriminatory against pupils with additional needs (with a dyslexic, autistic child, I get it and they'd be similarly impacted) because they can't compensate in other subjects across the curriculum. I would also emphisise that that by removing a whole GCSE option, they are jeopardising her conditional offer at college (which again with her SPLD, she has fewer appropriate academic options to play to her strengths as she creates foundations for her career path.

I hope the parents meeting is constructive and can result in a re-evaluation of this ridiculous, late change so that her education is not compromised.

What is the college course? As a teacher I'd say the entry requirements are designed so students don't end up on courses they will struggle in. And maybe the triple science was causing too much work for the kids? Have you asked for a reason?

I pasted in their justification, and its a flat every child taken off the triple award, even those who got 8s and 9s in the mocks. They just withdrew it entirely.

"Query. Why is she struggling with English if she is capable in science? They both require reading."

Many dyslexic kids can be very good at maths and science but struggle with English.

People are asking a lot of irrelevant questions! My son is in year 11 doing triple science, the work is almost done and it's revision time. I'd be fuming if all of a sudden he was told he was doing one less.

I think all the parents should be at the school complaining as a group.

This seems so unfair. 6s and 7s are not bad grades, and the school is taking away her opportunity to get qualifications she's worked hard for, as well as jeopardising her college offer and making her a less competitive applicant to other courses. I'd be furious, @LolaLouise .

She chose her 9 subjects, is on track to achieve her grades for her college offer, and the school is pulling this away now, when it's probably too late to do a crash course in another subject and the only real alternatives are parents spending more of their own money to make up for the opportunities taken away (sitting privately, extra tutors, etc.).

Individual science GCSEs might not be essential for STEM A-levels and degrees, but they can be very helpful. Students get more depth and breadth, so have a better foundation for subsequent studies, for applications, interviews, etc. And it's an opportunity to shine in a student's preferred subjects - if a student has an aptitude for science, why shouldn't they be able to get qualifications that reflect that, rather than having to do another subject that's less relevant and about which they're less passionate?

Having 8 GCSEs rather than 9 could put her and others at a disadvantage in general, too. When I sat GCSEs, the expectation was that 9 was the minimum for the courses that interested me, and I was aware I'd be competing with people who would be sitting 10 or more. My school could only offer 9, so I ended up doing one privately just to give myself the same number as other applicants would have. At this stage in the courses, though, it's probably too close to the exams for the OP's daughter to do that, though.

I'd be furious and I wouldn't let this drop without a fight, OP. The school is screwing your daughter over. It might be worth your daughter contacting the college and explaining what's happening - they might be able to adjust the offer made or find another option somewhere.

Tbh IME the art students who were significant less talented but understood the criteria always did better than the more gifted artists with less coherent portfolios.
This is really good advice for pulling up grades.

Also (as preciously mentioned) really get on the school's case about what reasonable adjustments are in place and definitely not just for English.
She should potentially have a reader for all her subjects/ extra time.

Sorry haven't read past the reply I've quoted yet so maybe repeating.

It might be worth trying to explore which learning styles suit her too. People cope better with different ways of learning - listening, reading, doing.

GCSEs are a tough enough time without all this change but hopefully she can get higher science and grades and enough of everything else.

Perhaps terrible advice but I'd consider if English is too much for her use that tutoring time to bolster maths or geography.
Many colleges offer a functional English qualification that might be more suited to her with a greater ability to make reasonable adjustments and adaptations for her dyslexia.

Sorry, now see you've answered about reasonable adjustments already. A shared reader / support doesn't sound great though. It used to be my job but I've only ever worked 121.

Reading a science text requires no less skill than a literature text. Both still require ability to decode + knowledge so that vocabulary can be understood. So, I can read Middlemarch and also a scientific textbook on relativity. Understanding of the text depends on background knowledge; my ability to decode depends on phonic knowledge. Put together and you are reading.

So why does she not have these problems with science?

Because they are shorter answers, she can answer in bullet point for the most part not blocks of continous text that have to flow and cover a wide varoety of points to obtain the marks. Because its facts and calculations she can remember or work out. Because English requires her to be creative on the spot and use language to articulate that creativity, something not required in a factual subject. They can prepare for English exams, the style of writing etc, but they never know 100% what the question focus will be, trying to do that under exam conditions is very difficult for her.

Im not sure why you are being so rude about it. She is naturally better at maths based subjects, she is naturally better at remebering facts than she is at being creative with language. All lot of kids hapen to be better at some subjects over other. If Id come on an said my daughter excels in English, art, drama, music, dance etc but struggles with maths, would you be as judgemental?

Dyslexia is not just about reading, pity you cant put your top notch reading skills to some use and educate yourself.

As well as the problems already mentioned, the symptoms of dyslexia in older children and adults can include:

• poorly organised written work that lacks expression (for example, even though they may be very knowledgeable about a certain subject, they may have problems expressing that knowledge in writing)
• difficulty planning and writing essays, letters or reports
• difficulties revising for examinations
• trying to avoid reading and writing whenever possible
• difficulty taking notes or copying
• poor spelling
• struggling to remember things such as a PIN or telephone number
• struggling to meet deadlines

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dyslexia/symptoms/

Plus, the reader in exams is allowed to read questions on exam papers, the reader is NOT allowed to read aloud any extracts of text included in the papers. So for her science papers, if she is struggling to understand a question, she can have that read to her to help. In English, if she is struggling to read a piece of text, she has to struggle, as they are not able to read the extract.

Could she pick up another subject where I'm guessing she now has a timetable gap?
Does the school offer Statistics? We did that in 6 months when I was at school. It would suit her maths side.

She has a few months until her exams so I doubt it.

I can totally see how frustrating this is for you and your DD. My own DS had one of his GCSE’s changed to a BTEC half way through (the whole cohort not just him!) but his school did 3 year GCSE’s so they started in Y9.
My thoughts are (and I mean this very kindly)…paramedic science is incredibly competitive to get into. Many many students have to apply for 2 years just to even get an interview and that’s with all 8’s and 9’s at GCSE’s and A’s at A level. The college may accept her with 5 GCSE’s at grade 5 and I absolutely appreciate that she is dyslexic but the reality is after college it will be incredibly hard for her to get into paramedic science.

@CarefulN0w they aren't allowed to have devices with spell checkers for the exams. Even for students with additional needs. But typing and being able to rearrange text can be really helpful.

Op I'm dyslexic and was very strong in maths and science yet struggled in English. I would speak to school but also contact college, I think you will that they will be flexible given the schools decision.

That reasoning sounds like gaming results. Presumably they did badly as a cohort in the mocks. Really poor from the school but absolutely standard these days - league tables and ofsted combined with tight staffing and budgets. Education and the students are the losers.

It is crystal clear you have no experience of learning differences.
Your view of dyslexia, and the different ways it affects different people is woefully lacking. Dyslexia affects so, so much more than "just reading a text". Some people with dyslexia don't read phonetically.
Please accept what several people have told you on this thread that the OPs daughter is going to be badly affected by this switch. We would be in a similar situation if it happened to my child - a child looking to do 4 A levels, but will be "lucky to get a 4 in English".

@LolaLouise good luck to your daughter. School have behaved appallingly. I hope you can sift through the unhelpful replies, and collect the useful ones into a compelling argument to support your daughter to achieve her next goals.

I was not being hostile, I was wondering, since dyslexia is a complex of symptoms. It is a bit hostile to tell me to 'educate myself' (always a hostile instruction afaik) - I asked for information.
I now have it, I sympathise and I understand better. (Though I am always curious that dyslexia appears more frequently and with more complex problems in English speakers than anywhere else, but that's another problem, of course.) Thank you.

It’s very unreasonable for them to do this at this stage. That said, it is very unusual to offer single sciences to pupils who are aiming for 5s - they seem to just be a bit late to the game in realising this! It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they are struggling with having specialist teachers and they are right that it will maximise the students’ chances of getting higher grades; it is poor to have done this at this stage though. I would look for a plan B - speak to the school and ask if they would enter her for separate sciences if she self-studies the remainder of the courses (it’s an extra third in each science) then pay for a tutor yourself. Speak to the college and explain the circumstances- they might offer flexibility if she could get a 6 in one subject, even if she then got a 4 in another. Third option would be to get a tutor in one of her other subjects to pull it up to a 5. Not sure there’s much else you can do tbh

You could tell school to still enter her for the triple award and get a tutor for your DD one evening a week.

I have never known this to happen in a state grammar school as all sciences have to be covered in NC.
If they drop from 3 to 2 that would be separate to dual award.

Because you have to disable the spell check for English Language. 32/160 marks go effectively on spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Your right to be angry, this change should have been for the next academic year. At dc’s school, only the top 30 of the year do triple. It doesn’t use up an option- they cover the content in the same number of lessons as double science. If dd has actually used an option for triple, they shouldn’t be removing it at this stage. From the schools perspective (and most of the students) two 6’s is better than three 5’s so that’s how they are looking at it. But I appreciate that’s not the case for your dd. I’d push back on this one and speak to school.