Can a grammar school pupil be forced to leave school due to ‘poor’ AS level results?

[Sunshine786]

Hi

I would appreciate any advice on guidance on an issue which is causing great anxiety and distress to my son and consequently the family.

Key questions:

• Can a grammar school exclude a pupil on the grounds of 'poor' results at AS level (Year 12) exams ?
• Does the pupil have a right to be allowed to repeat Year 12 in the same school with some different subjects?

Background:
My son achieved decent grades in his 10 GCSEs (2xA*(Physics and History), 1xA (Chemistry), 4xB (including Maths and English), 1xC & 2xD) in June 2011 and has been pursuing his A Levels at a LEA maintained grammar school. Based on his performance during the year, he was predicted 2 B's & 2 D's in his AS levels in June 2012 and was distressed to receive 2 D and 2 U grades when the results came out on 16 Aug.

Unfortunately the grammar school is now not allowing him to continue to stay there ? they state that as per their policy, pupils are required to obtain a minimum of 2 D and 2 E grades to continue to Year 13. They are also not allowing him to repeat Year 12 with a different set of subjects. My son is aware of another pupil at this school who had obtained 4 E grades in his first attempt at Year 12 and was allowed to repeat Year 12 with different subjects.

Whilst not statemented, my son has special needs - he has mild Aspergers and dyspraxia and was allowed extra time & use of a computer in his exams, following assessment & recommendation by an educational psychologist. To date, he does not have any behaviour or disciplinary issues at school.

My son is comfortable with his existing school and is very keen to continue there and be allowed a chance to repeat Year 12. He would like to repeat the two subjects he obtained a D grade (with a view to obtaining a better grade) and take two different (relatively easier) subjects instead of those he got U grades.

He is extremely distressed that the school is now forcing him to go elsewhere and if required to do so, given his Aspergers, I believe this will have a continuing greater adverse impact on his mental health and also his academic performance going forward.

I would be very grateful for advice on the following questions:

1. Can the school exclude him on the grounds of 'poor' results in Year 12 and force him to seek admission elsewhere ?

I have been advised that per the DOE guidelines, academic performance cannot be used as a criteria for exclusion. Does this apply to all schools or are Grammar schools exempt from this guideline?

1. Does my son have a right to be allowed to repeat Year 12? (with some same and some different subjects)

1. What are suggested next steps I should take to help achieve the desired result i.e. he be allowed to repeat Year 12, at his existing school, with minimum disruption?

1. I have only been informed verbally in a meeting with the Head, a couple of weeks ago, that the school will not allow him to continue and since then I have not received anything in writing. Is it necessary that the exclusion be notified in writing? Is there a notice period required to be provided by the School before the exclusion can take effect?

1. If I appeal against the school decision to exclude him, should he be allowed to attend school pending the outcome of the appeal decision (so that he doesn't miss out on the classes) or does the exclusion take effect immediately?

The new academic year starts in a couple of days time and I am concerned that if the school refuses to allow him to continue, and I go down the appeal route, it would be some weeks/months before the appeal process is completed and even if I win, he would then have lost considerable academic time.

1. Other local schools/colleges do not offer the combination of subjects offered by the grammar school, he would now like to take , so starting elsewhere, pending the appeal outcome, does not seem appropriate. If say he did start elsewhere with some different AS level subjects at another local school/college, will he would be allowed to return if I win the appeal? (i.e. having started at another school will not preclude him from returning back?)

My apologies for the length - just wanted to make sure I covered all the details. Happy to provide any additional information.

This issue is causing a great deal of anxiety and distress to my son which is having a negative impact on the whole family which includes two younger siblings.

Many thanks in advance for any advice and guidance.

Sunshine

Our LEA and the neighbouring LEA does not allow any resits post 16. Kids have had to move LEAs to redo.

Given the huge disparity between different papers. Did your DS do better in coursework than exams?

A U grade in an exam means that essentially there was nothing worth marking. This could mean a student writing their name on a paper then walking out or just putting their head down and going to sleep (DD1 reported a few people doing both of these things during her GCSEs so dont imagine AS will be different). If this is the case for your DS then getting his papers back wont really help.

If coursework is his strength then this restart could focus on that and play to those strengths. Would he be better off with distinctions in btec courses than low grade A levels?

I would be questioning how his grades dropped so much without anyone picking up on this beforehand. If the subject wasn't suitable the teacher should have said. Either way, I personally would take it as the school wasn't suitable anymore and find a learning environment that matched my child's needs better to help him achieve the best possible results. He got some fab GCSE results so his ability is there despite special needs.

I would talk to him about career options and work out how best to get him there.

Good luck.

It sounds like LaQueen's local grammar school is planning to break the law. Schools cannot exclude pupils on academic grounds (and Y8 is far too late to withdraw the offer of a place). As Tiggytape says, they need to get the entry tests right. They should not be attempting to compensate for problems with their entry tests by illegally excluding pupils in Y8.

I would think it would be much, much more damaging to a DC's esteem to be chucked out of a grammar school such as LaQueens local school than to be struggling at it. DC's who are struggling in Year 8 have plenty of time to turn things around and still do well at GCSE.

It is hard to imagine what type of parents would care about someoe elses DC getting less than stellar GCSE results at an otherwise excellent school. They sound very pompous.