DD is in Y9. She has recently chosen her options. After much discussion with her subject teachers, form tutor, Deputy HoY (who knows her quite well), and her LSA's, we did her Options form back in February.
Her school has 2 'pathways' to choose from : ACE Pathway, where you do day release in a Workplace with fewer GCSE's, and Traditional GCSE's. The only placements available on the ACE Pathway are for Hairdressing, Childcare or Gym placements. DD wants to do Catering as a career, and we were advised that due to insurance reasons, they would be unable to offer her a Catering placement.
They advised that DD should choose the 'Traditional' pathway. So we did. On the Traditional pathway, you have to choose 5 GCSE's, rank them in order, and you will get 3 out of 5 of those GCSE's to do.
All well and good, form in on time, handed in personally by ME to the school office.
Fast forward to today, and DD comes home with her Options letter. It says that she will be doing Catering GCSE. Not any others. She CAN'T be on the ACE pathway, as all the interviews for work placements were done over a month ago, and she is adamant that she didn't have any interviews. So where are the other two GCSE's she should be doing from her 5 choices?
Her choices were Catering, Textiles, Geography, Resistant Materials, History. In order, based on chats with her subject teachers, what she is better at, and what she enjoys.
I obviously HAVE to ring the school in the morning and point out their mahoosive fuck up that they may just have made a mistake somewhere along the line. But what do I say, other than RAAAARGH YOU'RE MESSING WITH MY DD'S FUTURE!
Could they have moved my DD to the ACE pathway without talking to me first, without talking to DD first, without organising work placement interviews for DD, putting her on an entirely unsuitable work placement?
I am worried that they might have as she is a 'Borderline C/D student' due to her Learning Difficulties, and may well mess up their precious League Table results if she doesn't get the 'C' grades.
But a Work placement in hairdressing or childcare is not the right thing for my DD. I would ONLY have considered the ACE pathway IF and ONLY if there was the option of a Catering Work placement. Which there isn't. So what do I do?
(I should add, DD is the first of my DC to go through the Options hell, so I am flailing in the dark here).
And also that when I didn't get the options I NEEDED for my future career, I went totally off the rails, blew off school (from having been a straight 'A' student), and ended up pregnant within 15 months (with DD!). She is VERY headstrong, and VERY similar to me at the same age. I am frightened that I can see history about to repeat itself.OK, DD isn't a straight 'A' student, but she has WORKED like one in order to drag herself up to being a 'C/D' student from where she started in Y7.
HELP!!