DS1 (year 10) is doing GCSEs at the moment. He has no hope of getting an A in French yet..

[CuriousMama]

he's been graded to be able to achieve an A. If he doesn't,which he won't, he has to stay back each night to work at getting an A. He'll miss the school bus, which we pay for. I'm so annoyed. I only found out today he's not said anything about it before? I've had no information to say this? He can't process French, it's beyond him. He's top in English, Maths etc.. but just can't master French. Why are they pushing him to get all As?

Is this usual? He's my eldest so haven't had any experience of this? Poor ds1. He's not well to start with and is under the GP as TATT. He just had blood tests and we'll see how we go from there?

I'm thinking of ringing his tutor?

They'll be pushing him to get an A because his computer generated target will be based on his KS2 SATs results and obviously as he's good at maths and English, will generate high targets, despite his lesser ability in languages.

If he misses this computer generated target, the school gets knocked down in its value added.

Is it just his French oral exam or is he sitting the entire GCSE in Y10?

I'm pretty sure you could refuse to let him miss his bus, and if they complain that he hasn't met his target, say that you're satisfied with what he has achieved, or suggest lunchtime catch-up instead?

Unless, of course, they think he is capable of getting an A in Y10 because he scored very high levels in Y9?

He scored a C, that's why I'm confused?

They expect A* in most subjects. I'm not sure if it's just the oral or all of it I'll ask him?

It will (almost certainly) be either a speaking or a writing controlled assessment. They do 2 or more of each of these and each is worth 15% of the GCSE. Just the best 2 of each count so that's 60% of the GCSE in total.

Since they know in advance what they have to speak or write about and have time to prepare it beforehand, it does tend to come down to being a memory test rather than a test of French ability. If your ds is good at memorising verbatim, then he doesn't need much mastery of French at all to score highly.