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Original poster

Exam policy

35 replies

allthingsred · 19/04/2024 06:08

Im actually beyond furioius with my dd school.

I was at a parents evening for my son yesterday. & spotted my dd tutor who had no parents at that time.

My dd is due to fail her subject.
(1 a level out of the 3)
The other 2 she had defo passed 1 & the other she is due to pass.
But the school are saying due to her predicted grade being a u.
They want her to leave (effectivly not taking the papers of the other 2 exams..even though she is due to pass them)
So she would leave school with nothing.
Her tutor confirmed this was a discussion
& after speaking with thr head she confirmed that the school consider how low passes or fail look on their league tables & also if someone is due to get a low pass is it finacially viable to pay for them to sit the paper.

Can they really kick her out or refuse to let her sit for the 2 exams she will defo pass with 3 weeks until her 1st exam.
For info this is a state acadamy, my dd predicted c's in a levels but due to numerous mh issues & happening she may get d or e.

The subject she failed she asked to change at the beginning of the course due to her struggle with it & she was refused

OP posts:
60andsomething · 19/04/2024 06:13

I dont think they legally can, no. I may be corrected by someone who knows how this applies to academies, but as I understand it, no one can legally ask a student to leave A levels because they are not doing well, after year 12. Even at the end of year 12 there have been legal challenges to schools asking students to leave, and the school has had to back down

It is not too late for you child to get something in that other A level. But the alternative, surely, is the school to withdraw her and just enter her for 2?

themidimit · 19/04/2024 06:20

They can't make her leave but also she can't only take 2. Funding requirements mean students have to have x hours of teaching and 2a levels isn't enough.

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 06:21

themidimit · 19/04/2024 06:20

They can't make her leave but also she can't only take 2. Funding requirements mean students have to have x hours of teaching and 2a levels isn't enough.

But the teaching is finished

Moglet4 · 19/04/2024 06:46

This has hit the papers (and the courts) a few times with a school in Brent and a school called St Olave’s. In both cases, students were asked to leave at the end of year 12 because of grades. It was determined that it is illegal to kick students out based on academic achievement. It is far more common for schools to subtly do it after GCSE. Some schools may allow a pupil to withdraw from one subject; others may offer alternative courses. Short answer is no, though, they can only kick her out for disciplinary issues.

Original poster
allthingsred · 19/04/2024 06:54

themidimit · 19/04/2024 06:20

They can't make her leave but also she can't only take 2. Funding requirements mean students have to have x hours of teaching and 2a levels isn't enough.

She is 3 weeks away from her final exams (shes year 13 not 12)
Without a doubt she would have met teaching hour requirments.

She has had such a shitty few years & school are well aware of this. How they can do this 3 weeks before she is due to finish makes me 😪😪😪
Its like 2 years of her life wasted. Esp when she had essentially passed the other 2. She will still leave with nothing.
Because of £££?
Its not ok

OP posts:
edinburghstay2024 · 19/04/2024 07:02

So her predictions are C,C,U?

I am assuming that they don't want her to sit the exams as if she gets a U it will affect their results.

Do you think she will actually get a U or has she been studying hard to pull the grade up? If she is likely to get a U I suppose I would wonder what your dd will get out of it anyway.

What is her plan once she has finished her exams? Is she going to try and sit another A level in a year next year or just move on?

TeenDivided · 19/04/2024 07:09

They are not acting in her best interests.
They can't reasonably at this point just kick her out.
Don't know how to approach it though. @@prh47bridge may have suggestions.

Original poster
allthingsred · 19/04/2024 07:39

edinburghstay2024 · 19/04/2024 07:02

So her predictions are C,C,U?

I am assuming that they don't want her to sit the exams as if she gets a U it will affect their results.

Do you think she will actually get a U or has she been studying hard to pull the grade up? If she is likely to get a U I suppose I would wonder what your dd will get out of it anyway.

What is her plan once she has finished her exams? Is she going to try and sit another A level in a year next year or just move on?

No.predicted results were
Merit D (possibly E) U

At the beginning of the course They were distinction, C C.

To be honest she wants to get apprenticship with nhs
So her results arent affecting uni chances but may affect level of next study

Its exactly what head of year said to me, cost of placing her in exams (if she will only get a merit & d or e) & yes how it affects their overall results.

It doesnt sit right that because the results arent a b or c this school thinks they are worthless.
Its that thats making me so frustrated.

OP posts:
SuziQuinto · 19/04/2024 07:42

It's illegal for them to do this.
What they won't want is for her to sit an exam in which she gets a U because of the impact on their results.
She's only got a few weeks to go. Just sit tight and get some sort of apprenticeship planned.

mitogoshi · 19/04/2024 07:48

The entrance paperwork goes in around feb, don't see how not taking them helps the school

SuziQuinto · 19/04/2024 07:49

It's already been paid for, though?

edinburghstay2024 · 19/04/2024 07:51

@mitogoshi you can withdraw students from the exams and I am presuming that the school would rather withdraw than have low results.

This late in the day your dd has nothing to lose and everything to gain by sitting the exams but is she now cramming trying to pull her grades up? If not then I assume the school think it's too late in the day for anything to change.

If she is predicted a merit, I would presume she has a good chance of achieving that at least as the coursework is presumably submitted over the course of the last two years and must be completed by this point.

Original poster
allthingsred · 19/04/2024 08:17

@edinburghstay2024
Yes shes acheived a merit. They have asked her to resit to try to gain the one higher.

She is putting her all in & is due to sit a paper today in the subject she is predicted a u in. To see if she could get an e

Thank you all for advice. Think it will be a very intetesting call today with the school

OP posts:
biarritz · 19/04/2024 08:20

If this is true it is outrageous. Your DC should definitely be allowed to take all their A levels. If the school had concerns they should have raised them at the end of the first year and let your DC drop the third subject then or redo year 12.

the two subjects they are likely to pass would be enough to get them on a higher education course and the school should just be helping them to do their best at the moment. If your DC doesn’t want to go on to uni, having 2 A levels at any grade will be beneficial to their career prospects.

Also school should not just be about exam results but education. Even if your child gets a U in the third subject they will have gained some knowledge.

I would speak to someone senior straight away.

Moglet4 · 19/04/2024 08:36

Did they not call you in to discuss this at all? It was just in a final parents’ evening? No letters, nothing?

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 09:25

biarritz · 19/04/2024 08:20

If this is true it is outrageous. Your DC should definitely be allowed to take all their A levels. If the school had concerns they should have raised them at the end of the first year and let your DC drop the third subject then or redo year 12.

the two subjects they are likely to pass would be enough to get them on a higher education course and the school should just be helping them to do their best at the moment. If your DC doesn’t want to go on to uni, having 2 A levels at any grade will be beneficial to their career prospects.

Also school should not just be about exam results but education. Even if your child gets a U in the third subject they will have gained some knowledge.

I would speak to someone senior straight away.

A lot of these suggestions are not likely to have been possible, resitting year 12 often cant happen at the same institution

biarritz · 19/04/2024 09:31

it is certainly possible to resit year 12 at the same institution and I know people who have done so.
Resitting year 13 is also possible but less common.

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 09:33

biarritz · 19/04/2024 09:31

it is certainly possible to resit year 12 at the same institution and I know people who have done so.
Resitting year 13 is also possible but less common.

Edited

It is sometimes possible under some circumstances and it is often totally impossible

biarritz · 19/04/2024 09:35

If something is possible you can’t say it’s impossible!

prh47bridge · 19/04/2024 09:42

I don't think any of the cases mentioned up thread actually got to court, but throwing her out at this stage is an illegal exclusion. Unless the school backs down, be clear with them that, if they throw her out without allowing her to take the exams, you will take action for illegal exclusion and seek appropriate damages from them to cover the cost of your daughter receiving tuition elsewhere for 12 months so that she can take the exams next year, the exam entry fees and associated costs, and loss of earnings due to her having to spend an additional year in education.

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 09:48

biarritz · 19/04/2024 09:35

If something is possible you can’t say it’s impossible!

I said resitting a year OFTEN CAN'T happen. Because it often can't. Depends on the funding situation. And how many "guests" a school can carry. Which is often a number determined in advance, and might be 0 or 1. And depends on other applications for that place, possibly from other students with a higher GCSE score. Depends on many things. Most of the students I know who have resat a sixth form year in the same institution have done so as "guests" ie, with no funding, and for reasons such as having cancer, or having lost everything including coursework in a house fire, or a major bereavement during the year.

There is quite often only one or two guests the school can carry, and there may be 10 or 12 students that apply to repeat the year. Or funding might be available and they might all be considered, but there might not be space in the classes.

You can't just assume it is possible to resit the year because you want to. It might not be possible for the school

It is more likely that you will be accepted if you apply to another school to restart the course.

of course, this depends on being young enough. if you have already repeated a year, then that is likely to be no-go as well

Bramshott · 19/04/2024 11:47

This sounds completely unfair at this late stage in your DDs education - hope you can get it sorted OP!

biarritz · 19/04/2024 12:45

@60andsomething you can get funding for up to three years of sixth form education and you can resit a year at the same institution. It can be for a multitude of reasons from wanting to change subjects to health issues. Some students will not want to be in the year group below at the same school or are not happy at the school itself in which case restarting year 12 at another institution is possible subject to the institution’s entry criteria. There will of course be other reasons people can’t always resit such as the school being oversubscribed or not being able to offer the subject combination on the timetable every year. However I know a number of people who have redone a sixth form year at comprehensive schools or sixth form colleges.

Therefore I do not think it was unreasonable for me to suggest that the OPs DDs school could have reviewed her progress at the end of year 12 and considered the MH issues and suggested redoing yr 12 there or elsewhere as an option.

For this school to suddenly try and cancel a student’s entire A levels at the last minute due to their concerns about league tables is shocking. I would talk to the school and insist that she is allowed to take the two A levels. With regards to the third subject I would speak to the subject teacher to see if it is possible for dd to pass it if she revises hard. If there is no chance you and dd can decide she might be better off focussing on the other two. Whilst in theory your dd could ask to resit yr 13 it doesn’t sound as though this school is the best place for her so it would probably be best to get at least two of the A levels out the way this year and look at options for doing an A level in a year elsewhere if she needs a third subject for her next step.

TeenDivided · 19/04/2024 13:01

I guess the discussion above ^^ is the difference between what is in theory allowed and what a specific institution allows / supports.

(We had similar with functional skills L2 English v gcse.)

biarritz · 19/04/2024 13:14

@TeenDivided indeed!