To have not known kids have to attain grade 4 in maths?

[Pepperpotladles]

I did not know this!
I have obviously been living under a rock.
So today someone told me that if kids get grades 1, 2 or 3 in their maths GCSE, it is compulsory that all these kids have to keep on studying GCSE maths until they achieve a grade 4 or above, and they have to keep trying to achieve this up until their 25th birthday.
Is this true?!?
I can't believe my ears.
What about kids who simply can't achieve grade 4 or above in maths, for any number of reasons?

My two have ASD and neither managed a 4, one managed a 3 and the other a 1.
But they survived, work, one drives a car and both manage to navigate the world. Everyone is different, what is easy for one child is impossible for another. If your child finds education easy be thankful, not smug!

I wonder how you will achieve this ?
my daughter failed maths despite a good maths teacher, a supportive family who recognise the importance of education and private maths tuition.
She passed everything else with flying colours.
I just hope she passes this time in her 1st year of college because its a millstone around her neck.
I think a functional skills test is a very good idea.

Does anyone know the pass mark for English please? My child will do well in maths (predicted an 8) but gets 3’s or just a 4 in the English mocks and despite lots of revision I’m not confident of a 4. Especially as todays kit exam is being hailed as perfect etc so grade boundaries will probably be quite high!

You tend to need around half marks on Eng Lang iirc, but it is board dependent and year dependent. There is no 'pass mark'. They set the exams, see the scores, and then decide where to make the grade boundaries.

40% of people sitting GCSE maths last year didn’t get a 4.

Unfortunately some children do struggle. Including my very capable, bright,hard working daughter. She’s on her 3rd try this year. It won’t stop her achieving her goals but will be a pain in the arse to navigate. It’s likely she has dyscalculia and dyslexia. Doesn’t mean they will struggle in life.

Give over yourself.

My DD just cannot get to grips with maths and I will be ECSTATIC and hanging out bunting and doing a street conga if she scrapes a 4. And – horror of horrors – she's doing the Foundation paper too. Yes she has anxiety, but that doesn't affect her ability to calculate. She just can't grasp numbers. Not every kid can.

At least i am finding other parents of GCSE resit students. Given the lack of response to my thread on Further Education I was beginning to think I was the only one .
We gave up on English and did functional skills independently.
This is last ditch at the maths, hoping if DD can cope to roll into FS straight after the GCSE to give a chance of passing one.

You may be thinking of the higher paper which doesn’t have the easier questions on it. Grade 4 on a foundation paper will be a significantly higher percentage.

That poster is totally wrong about the pass rate. It's far higher than that.

Same.

This isn't true. With Foundation, they need about 70% to get a 4. With the Higher paper, a 4 is the lowest you can get but level wise it's much more difficult. Most students taking Higher will be after a 7 plus. So for average students wanting a 4 and taking Foundation, it's actually quite a tricky task.

Im.desperate for my son too.do functional,skills
His college assured me last September he had been enrolled on functional rather than GCSE ,only to find out that didn't happen and he's got take maths and English GCSE for a third time this summer I not overly optimistic.

No, they're not wrong, it's the 4+ rate for everyone sitting maths GCSE in England, which includes resit students.

It's far higher for 16 year olds - 72% got a grade 4+ in maths last summer
But for 17+ (the resit students) - only 17.4% got a grade 4+

This drags the total percentage getting a 4+ down to about 60%

I think all the people who think getting a grade 4 is easy live in a bubble of high academic achievement and don’t realise the range of abilities children actually have. Ironically they are highly academic but extremely ignorant of others lives.

How weird, so your son got a 9 but others struggle with maths, that sure is a puzzle isn't it, I just can't think how that could be, anyone else know?

and what’s your point?

And I am aware and have posted saying I can’t edit my post, unfortunately.

I meant the percentage rate required to get a 4, not the pass rate. My mistake!

My ds is resitting his maths gcse on Thursday for a second time at college, despite passing English and science. He has been stuck on a low '3' since his mocks and had tuition during school but just can't grasp it.
He will leave college with a level 2 and that's ok.
His brother didn't pass his resit doing carpentry at college so left with a level 2 and now is a paratrooper,travelling the world.
I tried the functional skills online quiz and found it really hard and couldn't do it so no hope with the gcse paper!

I meant percentage, not pass rate!

Shouldnt average students be taking the higher tier paper.

The foundation isn't aimed at them is it?

Colleges insist on retakes for Maths and English if they don't get a 4. If they don't attend the retake classes, and teaching reputedly not great and with large classes, they're not allowed to continue their (possibly vocational) course. Funding is dependent on the retakes for the student so they heavily push it.

It’s not compulsory to keep trying until they’re 25 no, but a lot of college courses require maths GCSEs
Needing to pass maths and English was definitely a thing when I was doing my GCSEs in the 90s too so it’s hardly new

No it is not true. They don’t have to stay in school. Their education will still end at 18 (unless EHCP) but their options will be seriously impacted.