fortismere 6th Form

[likethefish]

Has anyone else got a child threatened with being thrown out of Fortismere 6th Form because he or she hasn't gained 3 D grades at AS level? I think this is the first year that the school has brought this policy in. My child has 2 Ds and 2 Es and has been told that he may not be allowed back in September but I can't get anyone to talk to me at the school. Does anyone have any experienece or advice?

Don't have any experience of Fortismere but am a teacher at 6th form level. Where I work we would take into consideration a student's whole record before making a decision about whether it's worth them coming back with grades like this. If the results were due to bad attendance or lack of effort then we would probably advise a student not to continue. Then again, if your child was working really hard and this was the best he could achieve it's still worth considering whether it's worth continuing bearing in mind that A2 is harder and marked more rigorously. What does your child think went wrong?

Well...he was retaking two modules from january-one of which he got an A in on the resit. Strangley he failed all his Maths modules including a resit where he'd originally got a C and was predicted to get an A. And this is usuually his best subject. I can't understand how we've had no warning that he was struggling from the school.Son claims he doesn't know what went wrong.

That does sound strange. If the grades your son received were far below his minimum expected grades and there were no indications that he was struggling then the school should be taking some responsibility and certainly discussing options with you.

Probably worth recalling some of the scripts to have a look at what went wrong rather than speculating.

If there is no record of poor behaviour, not meeting deadlines, poor attendance and signs of commitment to improve on your son's part then I would have thought the school should allow your son to continue and retake the worst modules. BUT, when all things are considered (which means speaking to teachers and possibly looking at a couple of the exam scripts) if there is not a good chance of improving these grades at A2 then your son should seriously think about whether it's in his interest to continue.

It does sound like something odd happened somewhere. Maybe your son panicked in the exams or hadn't revised thoroughly enough. Sometimes students vastly underestimate the levels at which they're being assessed at A Level especially if they've breezed through GCSE with very little effort. In my experience as an examiner boys are more likely than girls to write enough or in the case of one poor student I examined this year nothing at all

Sorry, that should say NOT write enough although, obviously that wouldn't be the case in maths.

Thanks fivecandles. Just trying to get the school to discuss the situation with us at all at the moment but those are all good and relevant arguments-thanks.