Daughter not being allowed to sit A-level?

[MellowSnail]

DD got 7s to 9s at GCSE at her current private school

Unfortunately in 6th form she got disrupted by boy issues.

She initially was doing maths, biology, and psychology, but maths was downgraded to AS, and finally dropped.

She is now due to sit biology and psychology, but the school don't think she should sit biology, having scored Es consistently in mocks. Her psychology is at C.

She has an offer of 32 pts for foundation psychology, so can do that with a C or two Es.

Her other offers are typically 2 Cs, so a C and an E or D wouldn't realistically help. (She has an AA non-foundation offer)

Her exams are

psych 1 16 May
Psych 2 21 may
Bio 1 5 June
Psych 3 9 June
Bio 2 13 June
Bio 3 18 June

She has been of the opinion that she will improve. However her attendance is very poor and reasonably this is in doubt.

The school have said:

Come into school (when others are on study leave) and the psych teacher will help you one to one until the end of exams.
Drop biology.

This makes some sense as she might therefore do better in psychology. However it might be she is lazy and doesn't want to go into school idk.

Anyway, can anyone advise:

1. Can we insist that she does biology? ultimately if she's informed of the consequences it is her decision to make
2. Is she likely to get anywhere with, say, 1 A in psychology, and no other A-levels, in clearing? I.e. is the school's suggestion/decision in her interests?

Aren't they just? There's no more I can add really, I've urged them to support her and get help, but it all seems to be about getting her to leave home. This is a girl who has told her parents she couldn't go to school because she's depressed. Awful.

Yes, I thought you were probably smiling at the OP comment rather than agreeing with them 👍🏻

100% agree.

I have been very surprised at the level of work needed for even a L2 BTEC.

I showed DD's brief for her last component to a friend who is a senior lecturer at a big name university and they were taken aback at a) what was asked for, b) how similar it was to actual real life briefs.

They are definitely not some dossy option. Unless of course you don't want to do anything with them.

It's more like the difference between IB and A level. IB suits all rounders, A levels suit specialists. BTECs suit those who do better with consistent hard work, are organised and prefer a system that isn't just testing how well you can memorise things.

Friend of mine's DD has offers from Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Southampton and one other RG based on her BTEC results.

The way you say she was ‘disrupted by a boy’ has really annoyed me. It shows a complete lack of accountability.
Why is she not attending?
What would make you think she will do any work at uni when you are meant to be more of an independent learner?
Your daughter is not a candidate for university,
What a waste of money and you need to help her find a new path that doesn’t involve making her leave.

My son did a Btech, he left uni with a first class (hons).

Push back. I went from an E to a B in Biology.

Did you also have poor attendance?

I would be concerned over whether she has a complete set of notes and if she hasn't been revising (which is likely as she hasn't done well in her mocks) then she is unlikely to suddenly make vast improvements considering the exams are only weeks away. The OP states she has been distracted (by boys) so I don't think her focus has been on academics this year.
Maybe if more time was on her side then they could have considered a tutor.

It is possible, obviously. People do it, some have to.

Bit Harsh
So whatever she does now you are chucking her out soon

Exactly. It involves renting a room in someone's house. Being a lodger. Or in a shared place. No, she won't get a flat.

School say they think she can sit as external candidate, but they will confirm with exams officer.

I work in a private exam centre. Most candidates book before Christmas. Our cut-off date for this summer's exams was in February (dependent on spaces still being available then - maths and English gcse days get full very quickly).

So it is about statistics? They won’t register her result under their exam centre. Given that only two exams overlap she can focus on Psychology then use half term to go over Biology.

Right yes. sorry, I meant that when I was younger it was possible to rent a flat and live on restaurant or shop wages and socialise a bit, and that isn’t really viable anymore, especially in more expensive areas of the country.

I'm impressed that someone at the school is working so late.

I resat my A levels at a local FE college when I messed up at my well thought of girl’s grammar. I got much better grades, made new friends and learned to drive that year. With hindsight I realised I had grown up and become more responsible and mature too. Don’t encourage her to go to university until she is really ready to give her all to it. Psychology is a difficulty degree to find subject related employment with, so you are only setting her up to fail if she goes unprepared.

Not unusual in a private school in the run up to exam season.

@MellowSnail my sibling went off the rails due to focussing on girls and not studying for A levels at a fancy private school. He repeated a year later via the local adult education college and went from something like DUU to ABB. My parents let him live at home rent free but he got a part time job locally so he could otherwise support himself. He had several false starts at uni (more girls, writing cars off etc), a couple of gap years, but once he matured, he ended up a a good uni and got a first.

Or grimacing, possibly?

Thoughts and prayers for the parents, though - all that money down all those years, with at least a chunk of the motivation rather obviously being to keep their DD away from the kind of person who 《shudders》ends up doing a BTEC, and...

OP, you know that BTECs are just a different variety of level 3 qualification? Studying for one really isn't automatically synonymous with takes hard drugs and launches unprovoked attacks on disabled nonagenarians, nor is studying for A levels any guarantee that a person will do neither of those things.

Good luck with it all @MellowSnail and your partner .
I so feel for you .
Had the same thing about my son being told to bring in £++ the next day so that he could sit Chemistry .Any communication ( with parents ) had been omitted .
I think 2 Alevels ,even one at at low grade is better than only one .
Have you seen the papers that are set ?.These poor kids .
My son did a Foundation degree and then went on to do a degree .Low level ,animal management .
But he has a degree which seems to count for something .
He's a hardworking TA with autistic children ,enjoys the work and the frequent breaks .
He's not ambitous ,lives at home but is happy and has a fairly time consuming hobby .
It's not what I pictured but the calm after those wretched school years and his happiness is everything .
He didn't fall into any bad company ,was just lazy and unmotivated .

This will be so incredibly humiliating for her op

listen. To. The. School

Degree apprenticeships are even more competitive than degrees.
A young person with lacklustre A level results and no motivation to work wouldn't get a look in.

I can't help but feel that no-one has the girl's best interests at heart.

Have to say I agree. Best thing for her would be a supportive kick up the bum and an Access course. But that would involve a difficult conversation.

This will be so incredibly humiliating for her op

why so @Mexcitedfam ? What are the arrangements for sitting as an external candidate ?

Me too. It would be nice if OP could muster up something in their delivery that hints of an emotional connection to the girl.

Why? She just sits in the same room as everyone else. No one knows. It’s only the admin that’s different behind the scenes.