Eastwood Hight School S4 studies Enquiry

[Masooma78]

I have recently moved from England to Scotland in Newton Mearns. My kids are expected to go in Eastwood High School. Can anyone help me understand which courses do they do in S4 in Eastwood High School as I have found out that different schools work towards diffrent courses in different year groups. What will be the course of studies in different months for different ability levels in S4? Any ideas? Many thanks in advance! Plus as my son will be starting S4 here so would they take his tests for each subject to put him in a course or would the school ask his old school for his results? Anyone?

Our high school doesn't seem to do text books except in maths.

Pieces of random paper were the order of the day.

We don't have txt books either, we had to buy the English literature book for Nat5.

Giving a talk is part of the new Higher I think wankers, Ds just missed having to do it as he was the last year of the old higher.

We got all the books (from Eastwood High) that he needed, the only one we paid a returnable deposit for was Graph Comm - but that was because so many pupils were not returning the books to school when they were finished with them.

Thanks Lidl

He's pretty good at his public speaking and apparently his discursive and creative pieces were very good (the creative piece a somewhat dark short story about a serial killer ), so I'm not concerned. To give him his due, they really are all his own work with only guidance from his teacher and zero input from us. I've only heard descriptions from him about his work - never actually seen it.

Close reading was the area he struggled with in his Prelim - but I think that was partly to do with his scary teacher being an incredibly tough marker

It'll be interesting to see how he gets on for his Higher: he has a new teacher after having had the same one for 4 years . He seemed to like the new teacher for the couple of weeks he had her before the end of the summer term. She should be good though: she's the new HoD - and as the Headteacher is an English teacher by training, presuming she had a fair idea what she was looking for

No idea how the school manages its budgets so that it doesn't expect pupils to buy their own text books. The Parent Council does contribute funds to two different special budgets: one, the Achievement Fund, which is available to ensure that all pupils have access to educational opportunities (at the discretion of the school to maintain confidentiality), so it funds some lunch time groups, trips to Open Days, access to DoE If required etc, and the other is a Purchasing Fund, for optional extras the various departments would like (they have to make a case for it). So it wouldn't include Business as Usual (so no text books ) but might include, say, special knives and display plates for Home Economics (used in competitions?) or costumes for the gymnastics team.

If they did want people to buy text books, I would imagine the Achievement Fund would get lots more requests

Thanks BeJay that's not good news. I think we will struggle to get him to do Higher English at all though he did promise that he would do it in S6. He has been supposed to be getting support for social anxiety etc at school since P5/6 - he's had sod all. He does however get to use a laptop for written work which is a good thing but wouldn't have been top of my wish list.

Could he do RME instead? A large part of "English" is involved: writing essays, arguing a case, analysis - but as far as I am aware, no speaking.

Don't need to be religious to do it - in fact, not having a religion might make it easier to be objective

That would be a good idea prettybird but he is not good with discursive type essays. He wont participate in class and wont give an opinion on anything, and I mean anything. As a family we like a good discussion about lots of stuff but he will never participate, we try to get him to express a view on anything but as he also doesn't like being put on the spot it's tough. Even getting him to tell you whether he prefers one type of pasta to another is a trial - apparently they are just the same . We aren't sure if this is a legacy of bullying or whether it could be linked to possibly being borderline aspergers (this was a CAMHs view not just us googling). All his subjects were chosen (by him) based around the likelihood of him having to participate in class (i.e. Geography which he hated rather than History or Modern Studies)

We are atheists, but as you say that is no barrier to doing RME, DS2 already has that in sights if he needs an extra crash higher. He loves a debate. Never get two the same

Would a group talk be less a source of anxiety Wankers? Talk can be assessed that way too. Not trying to force my subject on anyone but regardless of future choices English is so important for developing linguistic skills and FE and employees recognise this.

RMPS is a great subject, for pupils with a good command of language, as they can argue and expound. Lots of in class discussion and debate on the topics - would that be worse than English for your DS?

Any kind of talk causes major anxiety unfortunately. he won't do it in front of DH or I either. It's only been the last year or so that he's been able to order his own food in a restaurant! The English teacher told him to ask a sympathetic friend to come along as he needed an audience for the assessment. He asked DS2 who is in the year below. I was proud of them both, DS2 said he was willing him on and was desperate to help him but obviously had to sit on his hands and keep his mouth shut. Obviously the smaller group the better but it is stressful regardless. We'd love him to have English as we agree that it is important. RMPS would be worse as every class would be an anxious event. His talents are in the technological side mainly and he does have a good command of English and is a voracious reader but it would be good to have it on his exam sheet.

Lidl - I'm with you on the importance of English as a subject (but there again, my mum was an English teacher and it was my best subject even if I chose Languages at Uni ). Many careers - even so-called scientific ones - will involve reports and report-writing at some point.

Fortunately ds knew that dropping English for his Higher wasn't an option (I'll let him off Advanced Higher )

But in WankersHacksandThieves' ds' case, if her ds really can't cope with speaking in public (I like your suggestion of a group), then it might be counter-productive for his confidence.

At least nowadays, Higher English doesn't seem to be as essential for HE as it was when I went to Uni.

Wankers - is there a group where he does feel comfortable? I seem to recall you mentioning him doing Scouts. Is there something he is passionate about, that he could talk about in front of a teacher and one or two of his closest friends or family?

(Cross posted - got distracted by a phone call )

The only time he is comfortable speaking - even with his friends, is on-line. Though thinking about it he has done short speeches at Scouts as part of a debate night actually. He could have opted out of that I guess but didn't. Maybe it is more at school than anywhere else that he is anxious about it. He was bullied in primary. He doesn't want to be seen as being wrong so won't volunteer an answer in class and will only answer with "I don't know" unless he is absolutely sure he is right i.e. it's a factual question. An example a teacher gave once was if they are discussing a book and you asked him what colour the boys trousers were then he'd answer if asked. If you asked him why he thought the boy might be sad, he wouldn't. There might not be a correct answer to the latter or he just not be able to process why someone might be sad - he is not a very empathetic boy.

I'm very interested to see how he does in his English Nat5 - he got a B in the prelim. Tuesday's not far away now.

I sympathise, DS1 is very similar and it was one of the contributing factors to him not doing well in High School, he would never ask for help if he didn't understand something. I am now having to help him prepare for an armed forces interview, it's going to be a challenge.

wiggly good luck with that and yes, he will never ask for help either. It's the things like that I worry about more tbh than the Higher English, how is he going to get a job, find a partner, have a social life? I get comforted by the fact my eldest brother had similar traits but has been happily married for 40 years and raised two children and held down employment all that time. I've barely ever heard him say anything! Though to be fair he did get married and move out when I was a small child.

Wankers, still pondering your DS1 (hating the idea that one small element of the course is the source of such acute discomfort) am I right in thinking that if took English in S6 that DS2 would be in S5 ?

Would there be potential to capitalise on brotherly support and a joint presentation or heavily pre prepared "discussion"?

Yes, DS2 will be in S5. Whilst I am resistant to him being his brothers keeper, they do get on well most of the time. DS2 will put himself out for DS1 in a way that DS1 would not (can not?) reciprocate. I guess we have until next Jan or Feb when their choices need to be made to see what they want to do. DS2 has chosen a lot of essay based subjects, his Nat5s are all quite compressed and he is a bit more of a fly by the seat of your pants character. I hope he hasn't bitten of more than he can chew. Thank you for your thoughts, I do appreciate it.

Masooma, sorry to be late to this, but join the FB group Real Housewives of Newton Mearns ;-)