English GCSE and the uselessness of my daughter's school

[alison60]

I'm livid with my daughter's school.

She was predicted to get A for English GCSE. She's got A for her coursework. But she completely failed the exam.

Now this suggests to me she has a serious problem. I think they should have told me straightaway. But not only did they not inform me but they have dealt with it by simply moving her from Higher to Foundation.

This means that she can't do A level English. And to be honest, if she is struggling this much with exams, it calls into question whether she is going to do well in any of them. And this happens when she is in the middle of applying to Sixth Form. So it's quite a big deal.

She's dealt with it by having a huge meltdown, which has made the whole situation even worse. The school has spoken to me twice about the situation without bringing up the English GCSE - in fact, explicitly telling me that she has no academic problems. And of course, from their point of view it isn't a problem - a C looks the same on the league tables as an A.

But surely when a pupil suddenly underachieves this dramatically it should raise a big red flag for them?

But do you know that your dd was bound to fail her exam and that the school should have known about it? Perhaps she just freaked out on the day? Or didn't do as much revision or revise as efficiently as they expected her to?

Are you expecting them to look into a crystal ball and know exactly what any one student are going to be like on any one day?

If she was getting As for her coursework, then I think it was perfectly reasonable for the school to surmise that she might get an A for the exam too. They are not clairvoyants, you know.

I have been setting and marking university exams for many years and usually students perform more or less as you would expect- but not every time. People have bad days, they give way to sudden panic, they fail to read the instructions properly, they misunderstand a question. Exam is about how you perform under stress: you can't know how somebody will do this until they have actually done it.

I would not be livid with your dd's school, but I would go in and discuss if there is any possibility that it might just be a freak result. In which case you tell them she would like to resit the exam with a view to doing her A-level in English as planned. It is not her last chance ever.

Hi
I guess you mean she failed the mock exam. That's not unusual but to drop from a predicted A to a C is unusual. Did she miss a question out?
Have you tried contacting the school to request that she be entered for Higher? You would need to move quickly on this; use the A grade coursework: a very convincing argument!
I'm sure your dd is feeling de-motivated, but lots of kids stuff up on their mocks and it makes them prepare better for the real thing and they do well in the end.
Who are you contacting at the school? By-pass the class teacher and try to speak to the HOD or HOY.
Good luck.

I don't expect them to be clairvoyant: I do expect them to take this seriously. Moving her from Higher means she can't do the A level (and they're not willing to move her back). Finding that out in the middle of applying to Sixth Form is a big deal. She could well have failed because she didn't revise properly or didn't handle stress well. That's what they should be trying to find out. I gather that she did some questions well, but others not at all; apparently the teacher had already noticed that she was quite slow. Now it may well be fair to say 'Look, you're not A level material if you can't work faster' but then we need to rethink what she is applying to do next year. Also, don't tell me that she has no academic problems when you already know that this has happened. No, I'm still pretty livid.

The actual GCSE is not until the summer. Let them put her in for the Foundation paper, but pay yourself to put her in for the Higher and get some coaching for her. She does two exams, best result used for 6th form, problem solved.

It's a tricky one. Although the school should try and find out what went wrong, by having meetings with her and going over the questions on the mock that she struggled with I guess you may have to be more proactive in helping her with revision. This is not a criticism, but lots of children really don't know how to revise effectively and if left to their own devices end up wasting time or procrastinating. Just a thought.

Go to the school again and be firm that you want her to do the higher, explain that a foundation C is no good, not just for applying to do A level english but also for many degrees nowadays (eg teaching the english,maths and science GCSE grades have to be from higher papers). Paying for the higher is an idea but where would she sit it? and also the exam would be at the same time as the foundation I think as they are often printed in the same booklet and you select which one to attempt.

Why are the school not willing to let her do higher?
It is crap my DD having loads of probs at her bog standard comp with coursework - kids are not briefed properly and then get C's which is apparently "fine" - yeah for the school in the league tables and I think as standard you are told your kids are doing well. Keep a close eye on progress- with my older DD we didn't realise until Easter that she hadn't a clue in Maths (we kept being told she was doing well and would get an A/B)but she failed the past papers I gave her to try at home. I then had to coach her and learn alongside her with my 30 year old skills and she managed to scrape an A. Often think they would do better at home.

The English teacher told me she thought her mistake was putting my daughter in for Higher in the first place - apparently she made the mistake of looking at the opinion of her last year English teacher. I can't help suspecting she thinks I did the coursework - which is very far from the case - and I wish she would just bloody well come out and say so. The problem with paying for her to do Higher or do it separately etc. is that the 6th form applications and interviews are going on now, and they use the school's projected grades to make offers. So as of now, she can't do English A level.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice. I really wish I had been more nosy and not just accepted teachers telling me "She's very able".

Not sure if this is relevant but my DS got D/E for most of his mock GCSEs because he did no work - seemed quite pleased with himself. Teachers were furious. He got As/Bs as previously predicted for real things after putting in a small amount of effort. Same for many of his peers - they didn't take the mocks seriously at all. Could that be the case for your DD?

Op Did your daughter sit in Nov? When you say "completely failed" what do you mean exactly? Hard to sit foundation and higher in the same sitting because they clash on exam timetable. You need to take this whole issue further with the schoolIMO. Did your daughter completely fail other subjects? I'm not being nosey but you really need to get these things clear for your own sake and for your daughter's future. Normally there is not such a wide discrepancy between coursework and exam mark. Take it further. Don't be put off. Good luck!

Wouldn't most schools put a pupil with predicted C in for higher anyway? Especially if they have acheived more in the coursework.

I'm an English teacher, teaching GCSE for the first time (worked in Scotland before, so no GCSEs), and I've been recommended not to put any children in for HIgher unless they're likely to get a B.

How badly did your daughter do in her exam? And in what areas did she do worst/best?

Is it possible that she's been 'coasting' on the back of having been told how able she is and having received As for her coursework? How is she doing when she completes practise papers?

The final decision hasn't been made yet, remember, so she can still sit Higher. There's twelve weeks to go, plus she has the Easter holidays and probably revision sessions during her exam leave. All is not lost!! Talk to her teacher about what you can do/what she should be doing at home. Any chance of getting her a tutor?

I refuse to believe it's hopeless at this stage.

*practice papers

I'm an experienced English teacher and it is statistically much easier to get a C on Higher than Foundation. Unless a student truly is a D/C borderline case (your daughter isn't with an A grade coursework folder and a C in her mock), she should do higher paper.
I'd also look into freerangeegg's point about whether she's been coasting - lots of vaguely able kids get an A at coursework and a C in the exam - that's how they get B overall!

RealEyes - no, it's in South London. It's interesting that it sounds familiar - in a way, it's understandable it should be: the way league tables work gives the message that passing at a C is what matters, not making sure every kid reaches their potential. Having said that, my son's school seems much more committed to getting the best possible grades for everyone, and it's run by the same people.

Emilie, she didn't get a C in the mock, she got a D, and that's the total mark when you add in the coursework A, so it's really a bad result. And I don't see why the teacher didn't say "Wow, problem here, better inform the parents".

A D is not completly failing her exam. DD1 didn.t do well in her mocks as we thought she would. Im fact her Geography Teacher was going to put her in for the foundation paper but she pushed to be put in for the higher and that was what she did, Anyway she ended up with 6 A's and 4 B's, She got 2 A's ( Physics and Biology) and a C ( Chemisty) in her A levels plus an A for AS Art. She went on to do Zoology aat uni and got a first and is now teaching Biology.
So it isn't the end of the world if someone does not do as well as expected in thier mocks

Presumably the reason she did so badly in the exam is because she hardly answered any of the questions, which is not something the school would know was going to happen in advance. What you need to sort out is what is going to happen now. If it is a lack of exam technique then push for her to be entered for the Higher, if it is a matter of lack of understanding then perhaps Foundation is right for her.

Absolutely go back to the school and insist she goes in for higher, because as emilie says, she is much more likely to get a lower mark still if she sits foundation - there a C is the highest she can possibly get, whereas if she got a C at higher in the mock it is very normal to move up a grade or even two in the real exams. Teachers make mocks tough and mark them strictly to give the kids the boost they need to revise hard for the real thing. If she got a C in the mock the school ought to accept you overriding them and insisting she goes in for higher esp as you have several weeks and a holiday left to prepare her.

What does she say was the problem? Any possibility that she needs some help with basic exam technique? Ie, read the paper, allocate time to the answers according to the marks available and so on? Because if there is such a difference between her ability out of the exam room and in this is odd. I'd say practise the past papers and emphasise the time issue to her. If she's the kind of person who spends a lot of time on her coursework and spends ages making it "perfect" then it would be a real change of pace, and a different way of thinking to then get into exam mode, and if the school doesn't teach exam technique, then it is difficult to pick up.
In respect of the exam itself I'd push for her doing the higher. In respect of 6th form, would it be possible for her to get in with other choices, and then see how the English went? If she got an A and then wanted to change this may not be an issue if she already has a place at the school, as long as she wasn't wanting to do a difficult combination of subjects for the timetble.