foundation or higher at GCSE?

[betternextlife]

At parents eve (Nov) in French and Geog both said DS had potential for B at GCSE. But he as now been told he is only being entered in foundation. School are now saying better to err on the side of caution, but I don't think this is the right decision and DS wants to do higher in both of these. He is entered a mixture of higher and foundation in other subjects and in the others I think they have got it right.

The entry is for the year 10 papers, but when I asked if he did well could he switch to higher on retakes they were a bit vague.

Any advice?

Can you pay the exam fees for him to do both?

I wouldn't mind paying, but it used to be the case that the exams are at the same date/time. Has that changed?

They would have to be the same date and time to be allowed to fo both. You could at one stage do both, if the parentspaid for one. Thats going back a few years now though

So what happened to the predicted B grades? I think you need to ask about this. This down grading is just the sort of rubbish that is not supposed to go on, kids are to be set aspirational targets and encouraged to take pride in aiming high!

You need to check how much of the final grade these exams are worth. If he does F tier and gets a high C, then gets B or even A grades on his controlled assessments he should still get a B overall.

Ask to see example papers at F and H tier, how big are the differences? Normally F tier papers give more bullet points or similar to guide students' answers, if this is the case his teachers may feel he needs these to help structure his response.

There's no down-grading TMJ. Students are entered at either F or H for the listening & reading papers. But the speaking & writing controlled assessments are open ended. So your son can still get his B if he does well on the controlled assessments. The R & L exams are worth 20% each whilst the W & S are 30% each so you can see that with good controlled assessments a B should be achievable. I'd suggest that Higher R would be a safer bet generally than higher L if you son is borderline as in general the R paper is easier and less of a stress. I'm an MFL teacher BTW. Hope that helps!

and yes you can switch levels for retakes. The best mark stands.

it is a difficult decision. If the pupils sits the higher and struggles they could end up with a lower grade than if they did the Foundation. I would be worth looking at some past papers with your son as VVV said. On each there are 4 overlap questions - these are on both H&F. So if your son seems able to cope with the overlap questions reasonably securley then he should be ok to do the higher imo.

sorry about 3 separate ans typos - being pstered by DS!!!

Thanks for the responses. We'll look at the French papers and see what he thinks. If not completely confident then we'll go for Foundation this summer and if that goes well maybe try a higher paper as a retake.