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😞

I've had 4 go through this already
In my experience schools want the best grades out of their students as it looks good on the school.
Two of mine took limited subjects,one did 6 GCSES one only did 3 GCSEs
The one who only managed 3 GCSEs did .maths . chemistry and physics at A level and got BBC ..the other doing 6 GCSEs is moving to A level next year.
So far it hasn't limited them .
I've always gone with what the school suggested,as they know the child's capabilities..
If they have reduced his GCSEs to give him extra maths and English then that is a good school in my eyes .. because it's hard to go forward with out maths and English and they really need to be the focus.
It does sound like your son is having some difficulty,as he is in bottom set for maths ..it's good the school are being proactive about this .try to work with them ,you all want the same goal ....the best GCSE results . Good luck

My DS16 is finishing school this year. All the options we have looked into, College, A.levels etc are not all worried about the number of GCSE'S they are absolutely looking good passes in maths, english, science and 1 other.
If the extra support gets your son good passes in the core subjects then take it.
4 or 5 good passes, (5+ is what we've been asked for) is way better than 7 or 8 lower grades.
English is usually 2 GCSE language and literature.
Science is a double award.
I would try and see this as a positive that the school are going to do all they can to get him the core grades he needs.

on another note I’m quite shocked that they are pushing practical subject as “easy” options. Many of them really aren’t. The practical components for many like music require a level of aptitude that not all students have. The level of theory for e.g PE is far harder than you might expect. Most students in DD’s PE class got their worst grade in that subject, and that included some very talented sports people. And some e.g Art are notoriously time consuming.

As others have said the school can’t force this BUT I would really recommend a formal meeting to discuss why they are suggesting this and taking a look at the evidence- it will not be because of one mock exam where he missed a few questions.

No parent wants to believe their child is struggling academically or otherwise but if the school can show evidence to back up their suggestion then you won’t be doing your child any favours by pushing him to do more than he is capable of. He is going to be far better off attempting 6 subjects and passing them all than attempting 10 and passing 2

Are you on top of his bomework with him? I sit in with my year 8 son whike hr does this and see how he is doing and get a feel for what he is understanding.
I would ask to speak to the head of year, who will have more of an understanding than the head of your sons capabilities.
I woukd also look at tutoring. It could be he is just behind with the work and can catch up.

This PP is right @Arizona29 . It’s quite some years ago but I was told by my school I could only do combined sciences ( I needed separate for my a level and planned career choices) and second stream maths in which the max I could get would be a B. My parents went to bat and they were formidable. I ended up with an A* and 2 As in sciences, the highest mark my school had ever seen in biology at A level and a B in maths, but only 2 marks form an A so I could have had a remark and probably got an A.

So you probably can get him bumped up but do think about what is best for him. I was overlooked as I was tiny and very quiet with (at that time) massive self esteem issues and was being bullied a lot). I am not super intelligent but I am clever and at that time had an incredible work ethic, honestly so tenacious, so I made it work. I also had a lot of parental pressure to succeed and tutoring for several hours every Saturday across yr 8 to 11. Not for everyone and could have backfired massively but worked ok for me.

Not trying to kick you when you’re down but you need to be much more actively involved and inquisitive about your son’s school and academic life, waiting for the school to talk to you doesn’t cut it unless there are massive issues/behaviour problems as they don’t have capacity and that’s not how much teachers work anymore (if most ever did)

"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"

This is the KEY thing here. if your son comes over as having really high academic ability in his classes and class work and all the teachers were really shocked at his exam performance, they will maybe research why his exam scores were so poor.

If he doesn't massively stand out as NOT at this level, then they will be none the wiser that he is anything but a somewhat below average ability student, as the exam scores show. You need to start by talking to the SENDCO or maybe his tutor about how he felt that he ran out of time and why he thinks this happened. What marks does he actually get in class work/home work and are his mock results low compared to this? It sounds as if possibly he needs extra time in exams, but if he doesn't get behind with class work, getting ET in his GCSEs is going to require some delving into why his results were so poor on the year 9 assessments.

I have only skimmed the thread and may have missed something. However, @Arizona29 have you not had half yearly reports since Y7? Have you not attended parents' evenings? What have been previous exam results in the context of percentage and place? What are assignment marks like? Was it not a clue when he entered bottom set for maths? Is the school selective? There must be a huge difference between bottom set at a non selective school and bottom set at a high performing selective.

Whether there are SEN or not, might some pragmatism and realism help your ds most of all? From all you have said, it appears as though he genuinely needs some additional support to fulfil his potential.

Also, perhaps a path different from A'Levels and university might be better for him and allow him to thrive better. This country, and schools, is unacceptably snobby about the skilled trades: carpentry (found a kitchen company), catering *catering company supplyong weddings/restauranteur, builder, landscape gardener, etc, etc. If he has trouble putting thoughts to paper, he will stuggle in an office/managerial type of role in one of the professions or associated professions and even my function, HR, is driven by data now.

2 practical based subjects of his choice such as DT, art, music, cookery, dance, photography,

Does your son like any of these? These kind of subjects may be labelled as ‘Easier’ but they would be incredibly difficult for non-creative but academic children like mine to do. One of mine did DT and really struggled. Art I think is one of the hardest GCSEs. Looking at my kids’ friends, some of whom are incredible artists, used all their revision time and effort for art which is incredibly labour intensive. Music is not easy either. And how can they make him do dance if he’s not interested? I think it’s terrible to force him to do two of these subjects never mind one, if he does not want to.

Most of us have areas of weakness, however intelligent we are in other things. My brother, for example, has a genius level iq but below zero common sense. Maths is important but it is often a subject that people struggle with - most of it is down to lack of confidence but specific learning difficulties, such as dyscalculia can also play a part. Many people have mentioned dyslexia as a possible reason for not finishing exam papers but another possibility may be dyspraxia. My daughter was diagnosed with dyspraxia yet still did not get extra time for her GCSEs. She passed some of her GCSEs but not maths and English, despite being very good at English. She went to a sixth form college, where she passed a level 2 BTech with distinction. We also had her reassessed privately and, as we suspected, she was diagnosed with mild autism alongside dyspraxia. This was enough to get her the extra time she needed in exams and we also paid for a maths tutor, who boosted her confidence as well as her ability. She passed both, as well as gaining an A grade in German. Armed with all this, she was then accepted at a highly selective sixth form in an ex-grammar school - the grammar school ethos was very much in evidence in the sixth form. She went on to university and finished with a distinction in her Masters in music performance. All is not lost, @Arizona29, even if it feels hopeless at the moment. If you are able to afford private assessment by an educational psychologist and maths tuition, it could well be the best money you ever spend. It was a stretch for us but we knew that our daughter deserved the opportunity. In the end, she has surpassed many of her peers who seemed to sail through at the first go. We, and her teachers knew that she was a quiet, hardworking, intelligent girl but she simply took a little longer to achieve her potential. I agree with others that a reduced workload for GCSEs is probably a very good idea as it will take the pressure off your son and ten GCSEs are not at all necessary. I would see if the practical route could be swapped for another humanity or a language and don't let the school put pressure on you and him to come to the final decision. They have sprung this on you and you and he need more time, along with discussions with the school, to come to a decision. I would also strongly think about BTECHs for sixth form, too, as they might well suit him better than the traditional A level route. A distinction at level three BTECH is considered to be the equivalent of three As at A level.

Can you work out what he wants to do out of that mimimal list and also his preferred options out of the whole list. Then suggest they and you work closely to identify issues and put in a joint work plan to try to close the gap before the end of the year. You can then see if you can close the gap so that DS is up to speed.
Get an urgent meeting booked and in the meantime get school to send you all reports/assessments so you have a clear picture.
It is immensely dispiriting to have to resit maths/english post-16 and more limiting then rather than go into college with a smaller but better clutch of gsces

My eldest has diagnosed processing issues - visual motor processing and visual processing speed. He often found it hard to start the work he needed to do, even though he fully understood the questions and knew the answers.

This was highlighted by their school at the end of year tests and they were able to assess and then apply extra time for tests and exams going forward. Definitely worth pursuing.

Firstly don't fill out that form, secondly tell the school you need an urgent meeting with the form teacher, head of year and headmaster to discuss this and then if that is not given tell the school you will be contacting the governors. Thirdly he may need help with exam nerves and also need an assessment for dyslexia to rule that out because it would mean he gets extra time in exams. Most importantly as I'm sure you are doing it's vital you let your son know you're supporting him so he doesn't lose confidence in himself. The school have not given adequate explanation or reasons for their course of action which they are obliged to.

Just to reinforce what others have said. He only needs 6 gcses to access a levels. If doing less gcses will get him higher grades in those, that will be a lot better for him in terms of access to a levels.
I wish that more schools offered this as a option as I think a lot of kids would benefit from less gcses.
I also agree that I would be asking about whether he has been assessed for access arrangements for exams and whether he might be able to access extra time, and/or a smaller room to work in (if he is getting distracted). It's still worth pursuing this as it can be put in place over the next few years and could really make a difference for him.

When l was teaching it was normal to split students onto different pathways before options.

However all parents were informed of the decision and invited to come and discuss it if needed.

I agree you need a meeting with the school to understand their thinking on this.

It is very rubbish of them not to have communicated with you on it before.

If they feel that he is unlikely to get a 4 in maths and English without the intervention I can see why they would do this, however, as your DS is not interested in practical creative subjects it's a real shame for him to drop subjects he likes for subjects he doesn't like.

To answer your earlier question about the subject choices, they would not stop him doing A levels if he gets decent marks. DD is doing a similar selection and is predicted mostly 7s & 8s which will get her into A level eng lit, film & photography which is what she wants to do, no problem. He obviously would exclude himself from mfl a level if he does not do the GCSE though.

Finishing tests was hard for me because dyspraxia made my hands shake. Then I'd get stressed and they'd shake even more. No one noticed because I was bright and keeping up in every other aspect. They just thought I couldn't handle pressure, not that I had a developmental issue.

Sounds to me like your son has slipped through the cracks. I would get him assessed by an educational psychologist straight away and say your not accepting any kind of pathway, he'll choose whatever he wants, until we're sure we have all the facts.

I don't think it is uncommon for schools to split the kids up like this. My son's school has two "pathways," one of which is designed to give extra support for those struggling in Maths and English. But all this is clearly outlined to the kids and the parents well ahead of GCSE choices being made. A couple of the kids in my son's friendship group were put in this "supported" group and they got a little bit of ragging, from what I hear, but it was short-lived and the group all remained friends into A levels, and beyond.

The point is that the school are probably doing this with good intentions but have not gone about it in the right way. The poor communication is an issue. If I were you, I would call the school and make an appointment with the Head to discuss. If you really think he can cope with the higher GCSE demands, perhaps you can set out a plan to the Head, a structured period for homework, perhaps some extra tutoring to get him up to speed. How does he feel about it? If he is the bottom set for Maths, he must be struggling and might be happy about the lower levels of pressure in the supported route? Please don't project onto him if you are just thinking it reflects badly on you as a parent - it might be what he needs. But I don't know, nor do you really, so talk to the head and get the school's rationale (which they should have told you already!)

Just here to say that the reports I got throughout primary school for my kids were all ‘on track’ for the Kay stage that they were at, which was a 2-3 year window. I asked how they were performing against their class / against the whole of Scotland average in the national tests they sat and the school didn’t give this information.

Then in secondary, same thing. picking subjects with only the vaguest notion of whether my child was good at them, no test grades in reports etc, it was only after prelims for Nat 5 exams (like GCSE) that the education system put a grade to their work. You could ask and ask and ask and only be told they were ‘doing fine’ and made to feel hysterical if you asked for more detail.

Lack of info from schools happens all over the place. Teachers don’t want to suggest a child could get X grade to be proven wrong.

Just a thought. If your son is bright but was unable to finish his school tests it may be worth getting his hands checked.
My DD got extra provision in exams due hypermobility in her hands which made wtiting difficult and painful.

Oh and OP what the school have done here is appalling. I’d go to reception and sit there refusing to move until a staff member of suitable authority appeared to help you. I found this was the most effective way to get traction with secondary.

English also has two - language and literature

Some families would be biting the schools hands off for this option. I know of people who fight to allow their child to drop a gcse or to veer away from the ebac pathway.

The exams are an assessment of how your DS is doing. You can’t just say he didn’t do well because he didn’t answer all the questions, this is what will happen in his GCSEs. No exam is without a time pressure.

Take the extra tuition and take the softer pathway and let him thrive. Take your pride out of the picture.

he's bottom set maths. that's your priority. not a level discussions. lots of other options at 16. im crap at exams. did a btec. went to uni. earn 6 figures.

Oh yes. He will need to get a 5 in maths and English to be able to do any a levels so it makes sense to prioritise those.