GCSE reduced subjects advice needed

[Arizona29]

I started a different thread about this yesterday but am starting a new one here because I've got a new question and I know many readers never read OP updates on a thread!
DS year 9 had been put onto a GCSE pathway for additional support.
He has no SEN diagnosed.
He has never had any intervention classes at school.
School have never made me aware at any point since year 7 that they feel DS needs additional support.
I have not received any communication whatsoever about him being put on to an additional support GCSE pathway. It has been like a bolt out of the blue and I only found out on Monday.
Parents evening last week made no mention of it.
So I spoke to a member of staff about it today.
It is not a mistake, as suggested by posters on my other thread.
The member of staff has told me the following:
That DS has been put on a pathway for year 10 & 11 where he will study
Maths
English
Science
1 humanity OR 1 language (his choice but only 1 of these)
2 practical based subjects of his choice such as DT, art, music, cookery, dance, photography, etc.
3 extra Maths intervention sessions a fortnight
3 extra English intervention sessions a fortnight
He cannot choose 2 humanities.
He cannot choose 1 humanity & 1 language.
He cannot choose 2 humanities & 1 language.
it is 1 humanity only.
He is only 1 of 16 students who has been put on this pathway out of the whole of year 9.
The 'standard' Ebacc pathway is
English, maths, science, 1 humanity, 1 language, then 2 further options which can include a second humanity, even a third one, but DS had not been given this pathway as an option.
I was confused when I posted on my other thread yesterday, and I remain confused.
I still don't understand how DS has been put on this additional support pathway with no communication whatsoever about any learning delay or concerns whatsoever from school in the 2.5 years he's been there.
I asked this question directly today, and it wasn't answered. It was glossed over.
DS is really upset.
A. He doesn't want to do only 1 humanity and no language. He feels he's had all his choices removed from him.
B. He says nobody at school has talked to him about this.
C. He feels excluded from the standard pathway that all his friends are doing.
D. He is asking me do his school think he's stupid and incapable
E. He fears stigma about this amongst his peers, and feels he is going to get comments and 'jokes' about not being able to do what everyone else is doing.
He has never had a conversation with, or any input from, the SenCo.
I have never had a conversation with the SenCo about DS.
The SenCo has never contacted me about DS to discuss him.
Again, he has no SEN.
So.
My questions to people here who have knowledge and experience:

1. What the hell is going on here?
2. Can they enforce this? Does DS have any choice or any say in the matter??
3. What right do school have to remove his choice to do 2 humanities, or 1 humanity + 1 language? Without any prior conversation with him or with me?
4. AIBU to feel they are 'dumbing down' his options?
5. Why does DS have to choose 2 options from a list of practical subjects? This isn't the pathway he wants to follow - cookery, or DT, or dance, or drama, etc. But he's now got to pick 2 of these subjects.

The list of the 2 extra choices on the standard Ebacc pathway contains additional academic choices.
Whereas the list of 2 extra choices on the additional support pathway DS has been placed on contains no academic choice whatsoever.
If he only does Maths, English, Science + 1 humanity, plus 2 practical non academic subjects, is this going to exclude him from doing A levels and a degree??
DS most definitely wants a career that will require A levels and degree. Will this additional needs pathway block him from going on to do A levels & degree because he won't have enough GCSE subjects?
DS is an intelligent boy. I can't believe the school are restricting his GCSE choices like this and putting him on this pathway, having never once put him into any additional intervention measures since starting in year 7.
His year 9 assessment scores were all below the year group average. Not way below. But they were below. His results do not reflect his intelligence or capability. He said he knew all the answers but didn't get to complete the assessments as ran out of time. So the unanswered questions that he hadn't got to pulled his total score down, even though all the questions he did answer were correct.
Basically I feel like I've got an intelligent boy who hasn't performed well in the year 9 assessments and as a result has been placed on an intervention GCSE pathway that enforces a reduced number of GCSEs and being forced to take 2 practical subjects instead, yet with no consent from or discussion with DS or myself about this.
I have tried really hard to speak to the SenCo since Monday when I found this out, but I am not receiving any replies to the emails I have sent her requesting for her to contact me to discuss this. I've been told this has all been based on her recommendation, yet she's never even had a conversation with me or with DS.
I am really worried aboug the impact this will have on DS's options, choices, future success and I'm worried about this affecting his self esteem.
Only 16 kids out of an entire huge year 9 cohort have been assessed as unable to do the Ebacc route and my intelligent DS is one of them? He's in the bottom 10% of kids who isn't allowed to do the standard Ebacc pathway that the other 90% of kids are following and yet he has no SEN and has never been given additional interventions at school and who is really bright?
From what I know of his blunt and highly insensitive and never-endingly mocking peers, he is not wrong when he says he is going to get put downs and negative comments from peers about this.
He has such hopes for his future career and these restricted and limited GCSEs are going to block that, because his career hopes require A levels & degree.
Help😞

But they will have done smaller in-class assessments and they'll be able to tell what sort of level he's on by looking at his class work. Does he mess around a lot? Has he spent much time out of the classroom for whatever reason?

Sorry cross-posted with you, it's got to be some sort of processing issue or something like that. I'd still want a proper meeting with head (or head of year or whatever) and write down all the questions you have.

Does he have any idea what he may want to study at A-Level as yet? Which subjects is he going to lose that he really wants to do by changing onto this reduced pathway?

tbh, if this new pathway means he will receive significant additional support in English and maths and therefore push him up a grade or 2, I’d take that over him getting a GCSE in French.

Haa he has a SEN assessment?

My daughter has several dyslexia but was bright enough to work out how to get by. I paid for a private assessment and it has made so much difference to her. I am paying for private tuition too

It's very passive to just expect school to do everything

No - I've got no time at all!!!! We have got to submit his limited choices by 27th February! Bearing in mind school will be shut next week for half term!
I only found this out on Monday! I have had no reply to my emails from SenCo. It took till today to speak to a different member of staff but I still have so many questions.
I only have tomorrow & Friday, then 4 days after half term, to be able to communicate with school about this before submitting his options form!

I think some people just aren't particularly academic but also don't have any SEN. If he's bottom set it's likely doing the streemed programme is the only way he'll get any decent marks.

Sounds harsh but put your ego aside and support him to come to terms with the change. Or plow on and get him on the other path and face consequences of him having bad/no GCSES and what that means for further education /employment

Well things can still be changed after that

You sound very defeatist

Get an email sent to the head teacher and chair of.governors now

Look for a private SEN assessment even if you have to use credit to pay for it

I agree with this too

What do you mean 'just expect school to do everything'? What does this mean?
I have never been made aware that there are any learning concerns. Not once. So I took that to mean there were no concerns. Therefore I have not been expecting school to do anything at all, except to continue teaching him.
What a bizarre conclusion you've made.
And no, he hasn't had SEN assessment, because school have never raised any issues or concerns. So I never knew there were concerns.

Ring the school, don’t email. Go to the head of year. They may have made a mistake, mixed him up with someone else with the same surname or something similar. Get some facts, and then go from there.

I agree with @SundayMondayMyDay

One of my daughters has dyslexia. Her school recommended we have her tested in year 11, when she failed to do herself justice in her mocks. They said her results were out of line with the quality of her homework and with her contribution in class.

The assessment found that she was struggling with phonological processing and working memory and it recommended that she be given extra time, which she was.

I’d start with the head of year. There is time to sort this out before September.

@Arizona29 He might be bright, in terms of savvy, but he’s not when it comes to school work. I’m amazed you had no idea this was coming. What have all his school reports said? What were his sats results at primary? Meeting expectations or not? Has he actually been working? Parents always think dc are bright but that’s not the same as being academic. I’d ask for an explanation though. With two practical subjects, he will be busy. I’d try and negotiate to drop one of these for a humanity. But - if his writing is poor, then that might be a struggle. Not finishing usually means dc don’t process the questions/answers quickly enough.

Surely you've had reports and feedback during his time at school? Test results?
Has he never talked to you about how he is doing?surely you knew what sets he was in and how his grades were looking?

It's not all down to school. It's great when schools are great but we are the ultimate safety net

Have you never read any of his work ?

It's bizarre to have so little idea how your own could is doing

They offered me the same for my son .. offered, not told me it was happening. We were so confused as to why it was offered, he was bright, middle to top sets for maths, English, science. School explained it was because he was an anxious quiet boy who gets stressed easily - very true at the time. We declined, ds did great in his exams. He found his confidence and ‘place’ in friendship groups etc which in turn helped with his anxiety and stress levels. You know your child best, do what you both feel is right.

In practice, there will be more time than that. You don't need to accept their excuse of running out of time or this arbitrary deadline for choosing GCSE options. What if a new child joined the school over the summer? They would have to fit them in and timetable their GCSEs later than Feb. There will be a way around this. The main thing to do is to escalate this as high as you can, call the school, ask for a meeting with his form teacher and head of year - and preferably the head teacher too. Query the SenCo involvement and tell them about the poor communication that has landed your son into this stressful unexpected situation. At the least I would expect her to have sat down with you and your son and explained why the school thinks this is the best option for him.

I would also add that practical subjects like DT, art and cooking can be very intense and can require a lot of coursework. Not to mention natural talent for eg sketching out ideas. If he prefers languages then he might well actually do better with being able to choose his options fully. Very odd of the school, wonder if they are pushing this because they want their results to look perfect so would rather not enter an uncertain student. Be aware too of the difference between foundation GCSEs and regular ones. If their plan is to only enter him for eg fpundation maths it is not possible to get higher than a grade 4 equivalent I believe, they just don't teach or examine the harder material but spend more time focusing on the basics.

Hey OP I was on your other thread.

A lot of questions from you (understandably) but firstly be assured that maths, 2 x Eng, 2 x science, history or geog or French plus (say) DT and food tech will not stop him from taking A levels and a degree. Obviously if there is a specific subject he may want to take at A level (geog, history, MFL) he should pick that; but he could also take science or maths or English A levels or subjects like psych, sociology, economics, class civ, business without the GCSE. He would need to get the grades ofc.

But for sure i can see that you and he don't want that. I agree it does seem very narrow and perhaps overly focused on creative subjects which you say he is not interested in – often the advice is not to take more than one of those anyway bc of CW. So I would want to raise that with the Senco. I agree you need to have a meeting with them to discuss. I agree I would raise it with the head. It seems odd if he is one of only 16 out of the year group (of 200+?) to be on this pathway with no indication of an issue.

It does sound as though he needs some work on exam technique and maybe some investigation of why he is not finishing exams; a friend's DC had this issue all through GCSEs and only later discovered there were issues that could be supported. That is maybe where I would be focusing – bc when he gets to GCSE it won't be any good if he knew the answers but didn't write them down. I also wondered about dyslexia as it sounds like a processing isseu maybe?

Re assessments – the teachers will have been doing assessments through the year; he may only have done one tranche of exams but there is more to assessment than that. I'm also thinking was anything not raised in reports over the last 2.5 years?

Re your question about can he just do the exams anyway – well no. The school is the exam centre and will enter him. He can't just rock up to the history GCSE and obvs if not studied it would be impossible.

So from my OP, where I have made it clear that I am challenging this decision, and where I have explained how I have been emailing the SenCo this week to ask to discuss this further, and where I've explained how I've requested and subsequently had a conversation with a member of staff about this, anx then I'm on mumsnet asking for advice, your take on matters is that I'm being defeatist?
Okaaaaaaay😂

From the fact you acted like 27 Feb is some kind of cliff edge when quite clearly it won't be

Be fair! She is being made to feel like time's up and rushed by the (lack of) comms from the school. Better get down from your high horse before you strain yourself.

OP, the biggest risk to your DS not being able to do A-levels and degree would be him failing maths and English.

I also echo PPs, ignore the arbitrary gcse options deadline.

Thank you.
But we haven't got till September.
He's got to submit his choices by the end of this month and school have said it can't be changed after that.
This is what's making me panic!
Knew nothing of this before Monday and now we have to sort all this out within the next 2 weeks, when one of the weeks is half term so school is shut!😣

Ah I took too long to reply.

@Arizona29 you or he must have been aware that he was not finishing tests and was thus getting low marks. Whatever, I think some investigation of why would be helpful.

I wouldn;t worry about the school's deadline – it’s arbitrary and I am sure that if you are continuing to discuss, changes can be made.

Is the major issue the two creative subjects which he is not interested in?

YY what subjects does he want to take that he cannot? Are they A level choices? as in he would want to take French and geog (for example) for A level?

The intervention would be a good thing if he is going to struggle to pass maths and English. Without those he probably can't do A levels and deffo not go to uni.

So I would focus less on "my child has no SEN" and more on "look, he doesn't want to do these creative subjects – he would happily do fewer than the norm but can he not do geog instead of food tech" or whatever he actually wants to do. I know it’s tough but sometimes it’s best to be pragmatic.

Of course it can be changed after that if school have messed up
Or you could move school if needed.
Nothing is final at this stage
Even when people say things are final they rarely are

I've got a senior member of staff telling me no changes can be made after that date.
This is backed up by emails I've received from the school.
Thank you.

This sounds very stressful OP.

When you say “science” is that single science, or double award, or all three sciences? I ask because the number of GCSEs your son gets will affect his options going forward.

It is bizarre that they are forcing him to do 2 creative options when a) you need to have an interest/talent in them to get much out of them and b) they are among the most time-consuming of subjects!

Having said all this it sounds like they have valid concerns about your son’s likelihood to pass his English and Maths GCSEs, both of which are crucial for whatever he wants to do next.

I fully understand your assessment of your son as being bright and intelligent. He may well be, but if he’s in the bottom set for maths,
for example, he is definitely not getting something and will need lots of extra help in order to achieve the magic grade 4.

At the very least it sounds as if there’s been a huge breakdown in communication here and I really hope you manage to speak to the head of year pronto.