School higher options restricted

[dottieautie]

School haven’t called me back and my autistic child is getting very anxious- their teachers say they don’t know. Child has to make their higher options soon but their two best subjects that they want to take at higher to do advanced higher in s6 appear only once & in the same column meaning only one can be chosen for higher in s5.

Can the school refuse my child the opportunity to study both subjects in s5 or do the school have a duty to find a way to allow them to take both, even if it meant eg having to go to a different school for one of the subjects?

(this is something I had to do in s5 and 6 and attended two different schools alongside my own but my child says they don’t do that now- they may however be wrong)

They don’t have to offer the option. Can they skip the higher and do AH in s6? If they are taking 5 highers trying to go to another school to fit it in will be tough. Is it a higher where you can self study and the school facilitates the course work / exam?

Apparently the prerequisite for AH is to have the higher first. Both subjects their father and I could tutor them through as we have studied both at university level but our child is in their ‘my parents know nothing’ mode of development and wouldn’t let us top up a self study situation. It may come to that though.

It seems a shame that they may end up having to do subjects they’ve no interest or skill in because of timetabling with the ones they do. It’ll be the difference between 5 As and 4as and a likely fail

Schools cannot possibly give every child exactly what they want. Every year some children are unhappy with their options because of timetabling restrictions.

You could possibly be lucky with E-sgoil or a local college doing evening classes.

Do you mind saying what the subjects are?

Ds3 did 6 highers. 5 timetabled and one self study in his free periods. This was because they weren’t offering the at higher that year and it was a subject he wanted to study at university. He had the support of the subject teacher to do it. That might work especially as you could help with the subject.

Option columns weren't set in stone at my DCs school. If there was enough interest in a combination then subjects were sometimes repeated in other columns.

If social sciences one of mine did a different subject at Nat 5; Higher and Advanced Higher quite successfully (went on to study AH subject at uni). If languages not so easy. I remember friend of DD doing a subject in own time with a little help from Langyages Department Head however it was the language she spoke at home.

Thank you. It is a social science and a language. The language isn’t spoken at home but we are both fairly proficiency and certainly good to high school exam standards but I wouldn’t feel confident in teaching it in its entirely or having child study without class time.

It’s interesting to hear about the social science subject swap and that may be an option. We could easily coach them through that higher but I think they’d be anxious at not having the
class. It seems so unfair but they seem to be the only person wanting to take both subjects, which is a shame as both are brilliant and very useful.

There is another regular poster whose DS crashed an AH in a social science in S6 and has gone on to make it his career (he's the same age as one of mine and I remember the update). Hopefully she'll notice this and comment which might reassure your DD.

Agree with you about the classroom time for Higher in languages. If school do the language would they share learning materials with you. DDs friend found writing hardest as she was less exposed to at home particularly to grammar. Other option might be local private school (ours used to allow kids from our school to do an AH in a language with them for free but this might have changed now the are liable for VAT).

Depending on the language, Scottish highers online and Edinburgh College both do online Highers in languages which could fit in where your child has space in their timetable.

it is what is is sadly they can’t timetable to
suit everyone. I think it’s worth speaking to the school to explore options - eg college, another school. My son went to another school last year to do one of his advanced highers but obv that was s6 when he was only
doing 4 subjects, not sure how feasible it would be in s5 with 5.

I did it over 30 years ago doing 5 highers but the class was timed for after break and I had a free period after it - it seems they don’t do free periods in s5 at the school

@PearlStork im not sure how practical travelling to the nearest private school would be for one subject - they’re all at least an hour away on public transport.

I’m still waiting to hear back from the school despite following up a call. Child is now considering moving schools completely. I wish they’d considered this in August when the private school bursaries were available for s5 starts. I think they’ll have missed the entrance exams for s5 now too.

Several of ds's friends never got the subject combinations they wanted either because of timetabling or classes being too full. Ds was the same and had to make a least worst choice in one column, but thankfully it wasn't one of his key subjects needed for uni.

If you can show the school that he needs these subjects for his next stage they might be more supportive or come up with suggestions.

I have three kids, none of them has ever been able to take the exact combination they wanted and we are in a big suburban school with 200+ pupils in S5 and most staying for S6.

Couple of points - just because things are in the same column for S6 NOW doesn't mean that they will remain in the same column for S6 next year. So she does History and French (for example) to Higher in S5, over the course of that year there is an increase in demand for History, or the French teacher leaves and they get in a new probationer who has the flexibility to juggle the timetable and make space for an AdvH class. Things change.

Also, depending on what she wants to do at Uni, AdvH is the "icing on the cake" rather than an absolute necessity for university entrance. I am assuming you are not looking at Medicine/Vet Med/Dentistry where kids do often get offers conditional on S6 results, or you would be taling about maths and sciences. Not being able to do AdvH History is not going to stop her applying for a degree in that general social sciences field.