Maths GCSE in Primary

[winterisstillcoming]

Hey everybody, I was wondering if you could help clear something up for me.

I was speaking to my SIL yesterday who told me her Y5 son is revising for his maths GCSE. He is at independent school. I said be careful only the first attempt counts. As a trustee of an Academy trust that has recently decided not to put students forward early for this reason, I thought I knew what I was talking about. Apparently not according to my SIL.

So was she correct, and is it an independent school thing that students are allowed to resit? Which puts my Trust's students at a disadvantage??

She was so bloody patronising too. And she got my nephews GCSE text books out at a family wedding.

She will do further maths A level and if that runs out, moocs

Not STEP preparation? Or you haven’t properly thought that far? You don’t actually have a schedule?

Bodging this stuff together isn’t great.

How does learning GCSE maths harm the child?

JustRichmal - How does learning GCSE maths harm the child?

Bit of a strange comment given that all DCs are expected to learn GCSE maths.

The LEA would arrange a teacher from the local college to come twice a week or if you're in a school with a 6th form it's a non issue

MumTryingHerBest I am saying learning GCSE maths does not harm them. I do not understand your last comment.

Rubia There aren’t enough maths teachers to go around, let alone for local colleges to be lending them out to schools. Teachers who can teacher Further Maths A-level are pretty rare.

And my school has an excellent sixth form and I still don’t know what 7 maths A-levels you’re referring to.

JustRichmal I do not understand your last comment.

If learingin GCSE maths caused harm to children, they would not be expected to learn GCSE maths, surely?

is your DC currently studying GCSEs or A Levels?

It's what happened with my brother

MumTryingHerBest, so we seem to be in agreement that teaching GCSE maths will not harm a child.
Dd is doing GCSEs and maths A level.

Rubia and how long ago was that? You refer to LEAs, which they haven’t been called for some time, and most secondaries are academies who are not under LA control. You haven’t listed the 7 maths A-levels, so still not sure what you’re referring to.

Individual children sometimes have had local arrangements made for them. There’s no official programme/guidance/requirement.

JustRichmal so your DC will already have their A level maths before they start in 6th form.

With only further maths A level to focus on for the next two years, will they not get bored?

Just I don’t really understand the details with your DD. She sat GCSE in primary school yet is still studying for A-level in, what, Y10? So that’s 4 years to do a 2 year course. It sounds like the secondary school have deliberately slowed her progress through the exams in order to avoid the problem of running out of secondary maths.

I’m not sure that people who enter for GCSE early usually expect their DC to be hanging around for 4 years for the next exam.

LEAs are still called LEAs just referred to as LA and they still supply resources and help to academy's. That's a weird fight to try to pick

But Rubia, local arrangements are not policy. What happened to your brother is not standard. LAs can’t order local colleges to send their maths teachers over to an academy to do some teaching.

What's that got to do with this though?

Yes, Noble, school did deliberately slow down her learning, but at least they allowed her to do A level. Where schools are concerned, it is a balancing match of diplomacy and it would have not have been my preferred choice. She does lots of other subjects, and overall, the education is excellent.

did deliberately slow down her learning

So either curriculum learning is slowed at primary school or at secondary school, seems to be the lesson here. Obviously non-curriculum learning can take up the slack.

Rubia because you came onto a thread announcing that colleges can lend teachers to schools to teach 7 A-levels as a solution to a problem of children sitting GCSE in primary school.

balancing match of diplomacy I really can not see any benefit to an able child studying what most children study over a two year period, over a 6 year period.

MumTryingHerBest, If you cannot see the advantage in your child doing more advanced maths, then do not have them do it. For my dd, it has worked in that she is not having to cover the same things over and over again for four years because the school has not collected evidence that she is further ahead. If you are happy with your decisions and I am happy with mine, I cannot see the problem.

having to cover the same things over and over again for four years

Why is she taking 4 years to sit a 2 year course?

You should think carefully about the effect on university applications if she completes further maths A-level before Y13.

As a parent and governor I can see both sides. My opinion now is that within a large trust there must be students who are being held back. The new GCSEs have lifted the lid on progress for most of the students but for those few achieving 9s, maybe not.

So I know why a blanket policy works for most but I would like to know if there were a few students that need to be accelerated, they are given the opportunity to do so.

I can also see lots of misconceptions on here, mostly my own. I think communication to parents probably needs improving too.
It doesn't help that lies and statistics are manipulated to confuse us all.

Again, thank you for your contributions to this and I'll keep you posted if I get a response from the board.

Why is she taking 4 years to sit a 2 year course?

Most children study Maths & FM A Level in the two years they are in 6th form. Their DC will have spend 4 years studying Maths A Level and will spend their time in 6th form studying FM. This will mean they will have spent 6 years studying what most children study over a 2 year period.

but for those few achieving 9s, maybe not.

Eh? Why are they being held back if they achieve a grade 9?

I’m a fan of further maths GCSE on top of GCSE for the most able. You can suggest that if it is not already taught. BUT don’t enter students early in order to teach further maths GCSE, it’s entirely possible to do them side-by-side.

The government may have doomed further maths GCSE for everyone by not including it in Progress 8 measures.

I know, mum, I’m trying to understand how this is being touted as the solution. Massively accelerate the DC to GCSE top grade in primary school, then spend the entirety of secondary school slowly going through what’s normally 2 years of maths, and possibly screw up uni applications if you’re not careful.

I still don't really understand how sitting exams early benefits children.