Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Education

Join the discussion on our Education forum.

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 14:55

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.

It is not always possible to get three years funding for sixth form study at the same institution. It normally isn't. There are stringent criteria. Which it doesn't sound like the OP's daughter is likely to meet. hence I pointed out that it is not a likely solution

Bramshott · 19/04/2024 15:03

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 14:55

It is not always possible to get three years funding for sixth form study at the same institution. It normally isn't. There are stringent criteria. Which it doesn't sound like the OP's daughter is likely to meet. hence I pointed out that it is not a likely solution

Show quote history

"Not always possible" is very different from "not a likely solution" though! At the state sixth form college my DDs attend taking 3 years is reasonably common and seems pretty straightforward to access.

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 15:11

Bramshott · 19/04/2024 15:03

"Not always possible" is very different from "not a likely solution" though! At the state sixth form college my DDs attend taking 3 years is reasonably common and seems pretty straightforward to access.

Show quote history

you probably have no idea how many are turned down. Most, I expect. If not almost all

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 15:12

what's the point in this argument . I have decades of experience in education. Retaking a year in the same school is not likely to be possible. As I stated. Because I know. It might be possible. But it is not likely.

Bumblebeeinatree · 19/04/2024 15:20

Can she take the exams somewhere else if she's already been entered?

biarritz · 19/04/2024 15:21

@60andsomething You started the argument and are factually incorrect. Maybe your school is inflexible but others aren't.

TeenDivided · 19/04/2024 15:29

The impression I have is:

Restarting after y12, relatively common, sometimes at same institution, quite often though moving from A levels to vocational means moving institution.

Repeating all y13, much less common, normally due to clear extenuating circumstances such as illness. Repeating just due to poor results less common, why should a different outcome be expected?

If you have passed your Level3 courses you don't get funding to resit just to get higher grades. So withdrawing, if you can find somewhere to let you redo y13, could be a better option in some circumstances.

60andsomething · 19/04/2024 18:18

biarritz · 19/04/2024 15:21

@60andsomething You started the argument and are factually incorrect. Maybe your school is inflexible but others aren't.

I am factually correct. It has nothing to do with any individual school. It is related to government finding. I have worked in many schools. many try to be flexible. I have explained what guests are. Many schools have one. ONE. some don't. Some may occasionally have more than one. That is flexibility. You don't seem to understand free education is not just a bottomless pit. It is offered under very specific circumstances, including within age limits, that the OPs daughter is now reaching.

None of this is helpful to the OP. Yes she can ask if her daughter can retake the year, no she is unlikely to get it. She might. But it is unlikely.

biarritz · 19/04/2024 19:24

@60andsomething You said that the OP's child would not have been able to resit year 12 which is incorrect as potentially this could have been an option if she had health issues in year 12. It is obviously too late now. I have not suggested the OP's child resits year 13. Several of us on this thread have said that we know people who have repeated one A level year. No one has commented on how much free education should be given to 16-19 year olds so please apologise for your wild assertion.
I think there is an age limit of 19 for completing A levels in most state school sixth forms and no one has said that you can carry on at school sixth form beyond it.

themidimit · 20/04/2024 07:06

@60andsomething is absolutely right in what she is saying.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page