GCSE results, school in special measures

[Peclet]

DD did very well, but not amazing and not tracking their minimum wage expected grades.

Joined school in Lockdown in Y7, then school went into special measures and head walked out. It’s has slowly come back to form but it’s been hard. Fights daily. Poor behaviour policy follow through. DD kept her head down and worked hard but it has had an impact.

She is driven and wants an oxbridge place but perhaps not within her grasp? Specifically she has had 3 different teachers for history and no subject specialist for physics.

maths 9
Further maths 8
statistics 8
chem 7
physics 7
biology 6
English lang 7
English lit 6
history 7- possible remark -/ very close to an 8
pe 7
philosophy 7
geog 7

she wants to do economics/maths at oxbridge?? Is it worth ploughing on for it?

a levels are
maths, further maths, history and economics

@Paaseitjes 18 months is a bit misleading tho – in fact she would need to apply (unless intending a gap year) to Oxford or Cambridge in 13 months’ time (mid Oct 2026); and with the prep that is really needed, she would need to be planning it very seriously by Easter of year 12 – if not before, tbh.

Ah, that's just adding unnecessary pressure. Yes she needs to do early application, but that's not really anything else that actually needs doing. Work experience is a good idea whatever university. She needs a personal statement wherever. If she wants to do open days in the summer, great, and good for helping make the decision. The only thing that would need planning are special applicant days, but they're really not obligatory. She really can make up her mind a couple of weeks before the deadline and it won't harm her application. The pressure to make big decisions in y12 helps no one apart from the application consultant companies

Many schools work on applications to Oxford and Cambridge tbh so I imagine they do something with the groups they choose?

She needs to work on super-curriculars – reading round the subject, attending online courses, anything else that will show her passion for her subject. The sooner she can do that the better.

No need to involve application consultant companies for sure. But equally 18 months from now is the end of February so while that may be the time to decide between university offers, it’s far too late to be thinking about where and whether to apply, with application deadlines in Oct and Jan, and what you might need to do. That's why I said 18 mo was misleading.

DS had similar GSCE results (but fewer!) from a similar sounding school and is about to start his second year at Oxford (PPE). He thinks his results were the best that year, and our understanding is that this did play in his favour. So please don’t let that put your daughter off.

I’m not clear from your post whether she’s stayed at the same school for A levels? In DS’s case he had to move (no 6th form) and went to a really good sixth form school that gave him a lot of help with his application. He only did 3 A levels.

I can’t remember the exact timing now but the earlier points about needing to think about this fairly early on are correct - the Oxbridge candidates UCAS applications have to go in a few months earlier than other candidates’. Entry tests were in October/Nov the year before A levels (ie the same school year).

Good luck with whatever she decides.

It may be worth her looking into PPE at Oxford, the offer grades for that are AAA whereas Economics and Maths are 2 A stars and 1 A. It still contains a fair amount of Economics and A level Maths. 3 A levels would be fine. See how things go but might be worth adding to courses to investigate.

Just returned to this thread and thanks for the additional information especially about time lines and other courses.

I like the idea of PPE, so will add that to the list.

PPE is AAA whilst economics & management (E&M) is A star AA or economics & history is AAA. There are no other Oxford undergraduate economics options.

Economics isn't a preferred A level for any of those combinations, but maths & history are. DD took PPE with history, maths & English language A levels.

E&M maths is required but there aren't any recommended subjects. https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/economics-and-management

The E&M admissions report shows offers by GCSE scores - number of 8s/9s or A stars and last year they started at 4 (4% chance of offer with 4).

This is the one for PPE which has a larger intake than E&M and also has GCSE grade breakdown and they have made offers to people from 1 GCSE at grade 8 /9 / A star.

www.ppe.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/ppe-admissions-2024-25-information-for-applicants-final.pdf

When doing a UCAS application, there is a box in the teacher reference for additional context. In Y13, your daughter's school should be asking all students about any additional context and then deciding whether it should be added to the reference. She should tell them that the school she sat her GCSEs in were put into special measures. In my opinion (as a UCAS & HE Advisor), that should definitely be added to her application.

If she's not sure or if no one asks her, she should ask her tutor or UCAS advisor. This needs to be done before her UCAS application is sent, otherwise it can't be changed.

Unis like Oxbridge definitely take things like this into account. Some unis even send students an 'additional context' form once they've received the student's application for them to fill out themselves too.

Hope that helps :)