Rural school. Limited H/AH options. Does it matter if only 4 subjects?

[Issy422]

Wondering whether DD's situation of restricted options for H/AH is common and nothing to worry about, there's an alternative option I'm unaware of, or whether I should be drastic and relocate for a year nearer a larger school (DD not keen).

She wants to go to university, but not until after S6, and not 100% sure yet what she wants to study, probably design, but could change to English or music.

Background is DD in S5, doing 4 Highers and, due to timetable clashes, one SCQF6 (gets UCAS points, but not a Higher, so if uni doesn't count it, she won't be considered to have 5 different Highers from S5).

For S6, DD has to choose 4 subjects, can drop to 3 later in year, but only if all AH. However, there's no AH History, English or Design on offer next year, which leaves her with only Art and Music at AH, and she wasn't necessarily going to do music. For the other two subjects, there's only two Nat5s she can do, one possibly could be a crash higher. And that's before timetabling is set, so if there's a clash, she could end up with fewer options.

Is this restricted availability of options in some locations expected by universities or will it potentially hinder her? We're 'remote and rural', but SIMD40, so WP for some unis and not for others.

No other local secondary she can go to. Local college has nothing relevant. Home schooling not an option as I don't share her artistic talents and I work.

School options include some SWEIC online courses. Are there other online courses?

Is there an alternative we may not have thought of?

On a related note, how much do published entry requirements reflect reality? She's aiming high and hoping for places like DJCAD, SoA or RCS, which are all highly competitive to get in. Are the entry requirements (with a good portfolio) generally enough or do students have to get higher grades/more than 4 subjects in reality to be ahead of the competition for a place?

The universities with different entry requirements for S5 compared with S6 is a bit confusing, eg one course I saw at Glasgow lists AAAB at S5 but AAAAAA at S6. Do these universities only give conditional offers then?

Scottish Highest Online seem to offer online Advanced Higher in History and English, but it looks like you have to pay for them. I don't know about the university entry requirements but good luck. It seems unfair if your DD is disadvantaged due to her school so hopefully they would take that into account.

It's frustrating, isn't it? ds was in a similar situation, also rural school, although he took a year out between school and uni (he was always one of the youngest in his year and didn't feel quite ready). Between the end of S5 and the start of S6 two of the subjects he wanted to do as AH were suddenly unavailable which left him with only one possible AH. If he'd known before S5 he could have chosen differently, many others were caught out by it too. One university (in England) that was very high on his list was now not an option anymore because they want to see two AH. He's got three offers now and is still waiting to hear from the other two, so it's alright but it was nerve wracking until the first offer (his favourite too) came in.
I don't think universities take restricted availability into account. I don't think they are even aware of it. Are you in a postcode for widening access or whatever it is called? We used to be when dd with her all As in every exam applied to university but aren't anymore now. I'm not sure what has changed, we are still just as rural as we were four years ago.

It is tricky when there’s limited AH availability in your area.
Remember university entrance in Scotland is based on highers not AH. Most university courses only require 4 Highers (exceptions being courses like medicine) so your DC shouldn’t be disadvantaged. The S6 entry requirements you’re seeing quoted are for students who didn’t get the grades in S5 therefore they’re classed as taking the exams over 2 sittings, so some universities ask for enhanced entry requirements.

Its always worth contacting the universities/courses directly particularly for courses like art or music as there can be portfolio requirements which make doing AH a great benefit

Does the school not have consortium arrangements which allow them to do subjects at other schools in region? Ours do that for some AH, mostly online.

Also RCS is hot on WP etc so I would get in touch with them. Remember if you are looking at English places too you need to get another student loan for fees.

It would be worth your DD contacting the universities direct for advice on their preferences - they should be helpful.

Can she do any H/AH online remotely via another school in the LA area? Obviously there are downsides but it is possible.

Another option is to do a year at college pre uni?

I sympathise, we are in a similar position.

As pps have said,

1. Get in touch with admissions of where she is aiming to get the lay off the land
2. ask current school about online teaching through the LA consortium. AH History and English are both very likely to be available

Certainly schools here will offer online to other schools

Do they have an option to crash a higher subject, I know my eldest crashed 2 subjects as he wasn’t interested in doing AHs.

youngest only did one AH as they needed something to fill their timetable and it was a subject they were really interested in.

Does the school not offer alternatives like NPAs? We are always increasing our offer of level 6 NPAs. Or are there any foundation apprenticeships on offer? We have a number of kids doing YASS courses too https://university.open.ac.uk/scotland/study/courses-schools-and-early-learning/young-applicants-schools-scheme/yass-what-can-i-study
consortia arrangements do not work. Ever. For a variety of reasons and it’s a nightmare where schools have different timings

I'd expect the conservatoire to be much more interested in performance level than academic grades, and art colleges to be more interested in your DC's portfolio.

@LaughingLemur I saw Scottish Highers Online, should have asked in my post whether anyone has used them or heard whether any good?

@Igneococcus I get that frustration. DD could have done music properly this year and History next year had she known there was no AH History. Would have struggled for 5 subjects last year then though. I thought they needed 3 AH for England so also good for DD that it's only 2, but I'm discouraging her from looking at England because of the fees. She did mention London the other day as the top for design is there, but fees and London costs have brought her back to DJCAD. We are SIMD40, so widening access/participation for some unis, but some are SIMD20. I saw long travel to school as an extenuating circumstance example. DD is 50 mins each way usually on the school bus, but 2h40+ to get home from any after-school sessions (when my dad or I can't pick up). DD not enamoured by the thought of 4 weeks of online summer school though 😂. Great that your DS has three offers now. Good luck to him for the final two.

@Largasoss Reassuring that it's only 4 Highers that are expected at most universities and not 5. When I looked a while back, I thought it was 5, but I can see now that was for just some courses. Thanks for the explanation on the S5/6 requirements. Portfolio wise, we have her Nat5 coursework back for D&M and Art and she will have her Art and Creative Thinking work from this year, but nothing outside of school work atm, so she's going to have to think about that.

@HushTheNoise They changed the school timetables this year so the whole region aligns, but these options are already on the options form. DD is doing a summer school at RCS, so will be interesting to see what she thinks. I think their WP is SIMD20 though.

@Meridas College only does vocational qualifications here. You have my sympathies.

@2chocolateoranges She may crash graphics instead of nat 5.

@ForUmberFinch They do offer Yass. On first glance, I thought there wasn't anything related, but can see there's a 'build your own' option, so will let her know

Thanks so much to everyone for your responses. Apologies if I have wrong names. Struggling to post and names keep disappearing.

Scottish Highers Online were recommended to me for my older DD, but ended up not having to use them as her school did a composite H/AH class in the end.

ds had this exact problem just with biology and computing @Issy422 he was going to do both as Highers in S5, planning to continue with AH in computing in S6 but they clashed in the timetable so he did computing in S5, planning to do higher biology in S6. If he'd known computing wouldn't be on offer as an AH in S6, he'd have swapped them around at the start of S5. In the end neither computing nor graphics were offered as AH which caught out a lot of kids, mostly boys. The thing that annoys me most about it is that nobody seems to care at school certainly not the headmaster.
Yeah, university fees in rest UK are terrifying. The English university he would have liked to apply to is in the top 3 in the UK for the subject he is going to study otherwise he wouldn't have considered it.

We’re in England but I assume you apply through UCAS too in Scotland?

I am sure there was a section that asked if you were able to do the subjects you wanted to take. I assumed that this was for situations so you could say I wanted to do further maths but my school doesn’t offer it for example. So presumably this section may work for you? Hopefully someone else may be able to confirm exact wording of this section.

That's good to know. I was aware of the change to the form this year with the new question along the lines of 'what have you done outside of school to demonstrate your interest in the course for which you're applying'. There's very little on offer here that DD could do, but it has prompted her to step out of her shell and do things she otherwise wouldn't have done. It has been expensive having to travel for things though and we're lucky I can afford to do that, albeit two years of summer 'holidays' in Glasgow wouldn't have been my first choice 😂.

If you go to university in England it's 3 years instead of 4, so there's a saving there. And depending on the university it may offer a bursary for students from lower income families. It's worth checking.

Have you asked if they can allow her so do AH art in with the H class? As I understand it AH is very independent with guidance from a teacher so I wouldn’t have thought it would be too difficult. A N5 portfolio is not going to cut it I’m afraid.

AH Art is one of the two she can do.

Not really a saving if you're paying fees in England which you wouldn't be in Scotland.

We're in a similar boat in the central belt OP, ds going into S5 and only 4 out of 8 of his nat5 subjects are being offered at higher. He currently is looking at uni courses all of which ask for 5 highers. It's very disheartening to know his options have been narrowed so much by circumstances beyond our control. He could possibly 'crash' a fifth. School seem to encourage the college consortia route but those are not university level entry courses.

Apologies @TartanMammy, had one of those moments where I responded in my head only. I'm sure when I looked a year ot two ago, the courses DD was looking at all needed 5 Highers, except the art colleges and RCS, but relooked last week and they are only 4 now, except that 5-yr masters. Our shared subjects tend to be the non-uni entry level ones too. Hope your DS can sort something out.

Think DD is putting down 2AH, 1 crash Higher and 1 Nat5, but when the timetable is set that may change, either negatively if there's a clash, or positively if subjects she's written off have the 'good teacher' taking the Higher class.

Gah! Timetable is now out and AH music is no longer an option, so we're down to 1 AH. There is a combined N5/H Music class that only clashes with her intended Nat5 filler subject, so she's going to ask if she can join that and do AH. Not great for theory, but the more important thing for her, if she opts for conservatoire, is the performance, so could maybe work.

Does anyone have experience of AH music and able to share any thoughts?

Our school has to teach n4/n5/H and AH in the same class. AH get some extra time in teacher non contact periods but that’s very much teacher discretion and if not taken for cover. It’s really not ideal. Having AH sat at the back of a lower level class rarely results in a decent pass unfortunately. I think when qualifications are overhauled, we’ll see AH disappear sadly.

@Issy422 mine did AH music. I'd say there isn't much content but she was already performing at a high level with lots of music knowledge so the listening was simple too. Only really challenged by the composition. It might be ok to do in a higher class or get a tutor for. Definitely contact RCS as they will have seen this before. I would guess they would say take ah music if the school offers it but if not , make sure theory is up to scratch by self teaching abrsm grades 5 ( or getting a tutor - mine would so it online!) Is it music yours wants to do? Not too late for a late audition to RCS juniors, you can do a gap year there too.

Apologies, drafted a reply and forgot to post.

@ForUmberFinch That's my concern. She had a poor experience with music teaching in s2 to s4, resulting in a crashed Nat5 once that teacher left. She then had to do her Higher in a Nat5 class. At parents' evening, her teacher said AH would be an easy A for her, so she had been looking forward to getting taught in a proper class for the level for the AH. Meanwhile, she's had really good design teaching and already has an A in the bag (it's an SCQF6 with no final exam, but UCAS accredited at 3 more points than a Higher), and she can do AH Art and Design, so I think she sees design as the more solid route at the moment. It's singing not art that she does at home and wants to see when we're away though, so it feels that her passion lies more with music.

@HushTheNoise Thanks for the insight. She is still undecided between vocal performance or product design for university at the moment. Her singing teacher is a retired professional opera singer and thinks she has the talent for it. We are too far away to travel every weekend for RCS juniors, unfortunately. She is doing a summer school there, but design-based, as she was leaning that way when we booked and I can't afford the accommodation for her to do both.