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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

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15 replies

Ludoole · 29/03/2014 01:00

So my son and I went to school today to sort out options.
One of his option choices is French, however we have been told that the take-up rate for French is not looking good so he may end up with his second choice

If this happens, is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately I am not in a financial position to get a tutor to enable him to do it independently from the school.

OP posts:

TeenAndTween · 29/03/2014 09:41

I don't think there is much you can do.
In DD1's school they need 10 pupils to pick an option in order to be able to run it.

I'm a bit that so few pupils appear to want to do French though!

I guess he could change schools... Or do Spanish if that is offered?

VivaLeBeaver · 29/03/2014 09:44

Its crap isn't it. Is his second option a mfl?

A friends son chose Geography and as it was over subscribed he was given photography instead. School drew names out a hat to see who got what. His mum went crazy as her son was passionate about geography, wanting to do a degree in it. She argued with the school and won.

cricketballs · 29/03/2014 11:17

unfortunately a school can not justify the cost of a subject running with small numbers. At my school I have to have a minimum of 12 in order to run a subject.

intheenddotcom · 29/03/2014 15:52

Move schools or ask if he can take it at a nearby school - that is what was done when I was at school and an option wasn't available. It depends on timetables though.

Original poster

Ludoole · 29/03/2014 23:19

Thanks for the replies.
Moving schools is not an option. Unfortunately French is the only mfl offered and im also surprised that so few pupils don't want to take it.

Suppose we just have to keep our fingers crossed that enough students want to do it, although im not holding my breath...

Thanks again.

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 29/03/2014 23:21

If it's the only MFL and the school don't run it, then their Ebacc figures in the league tables will be 0% from the start. I'd be very surprised if a school would do that.

stonecircle · 30/03/2014 10:36

Goodness - I'd have thought a school would feel duty bound to run the French class, however small the take up, if it's the only MFL language they offer. Is that really the case though? Is it a very small school? I'm struggling to understand how this could be so. At ds's school they offer French, Spanish, German and Chinese - and have to take one to GCSE

CecilyP · 30/03/2014 12:16

Is it a very small school? Seems very strange not to be able to offer a mainstream option like its one MFL. If it was a second MFL, I would have said there is not much you can do, but as it is the only one, I would definitely make a fuss.

crazymum53 · 30/03/2014 14:51

Agree with noblegiraffe it will not be good for the school to have a zero rating for the Ebacc for your child's year and it will look strange for prospective parents (and may put some of them off this school) if they are unable to offer a MFL at GCSE.
Schools are under pressure to encourage all children able to do so to obtain the EBacc so it is likely that they will still have to offer French GCSE despite low numbers.

In relation to oversubscribed subjects some schools have a system where as well as choosing options, the pupils rank the subjects in order of preference. So a student who ranks Geography as first choice would be given preference to a pupil who had put Geography as third choice. This should prevent the scenario described by viva and works well at dds school.

clary · 30/03/2014 18:10

That's awful if there are not enough students to do French

Textiles was not offered in DS1's year (yr 10) but that is somewhat more marginal (tho I was a bit shocked at that tbh).

How big is the school OP? I do know of a school locally to me that 2 years ago said on the website that no student did MF at KS4 - I made that face again! I think even they have some now tho. Agree that would be a 0 on the ebacc and the new Best 8 measure for the school, I am surprised they would be happy with that.

EvilTwins · 30/03/2014 18:17

I find this surprising. I teach in a school which has a tiny Yr 9 cohort (less than 80) and we're running 2x MFL, 2x humanities plus drama, a couple of tech subjects, art, textiles, sport, health & social care, ICT and business studies as options, alongside the usual English, Maths, double/triple science and RE. The only "missing" subject is music, and we knew in advance that there would not be sufficient interest (fewer than 10) so it didn't go on the form. We might be small but we need bear in mind EBacc and Progress 8.

Picturesinthefirelight · 30/03/2014 18:22

Dds school is very tiny (between 18-26 pupils per year) & they still offer French.

Students have to pick either French, Geography or History.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 30/03/2014 18:30

I agree that this is surprising due to the EBacc requirements. DS1 & DS2 are at different secondary schools but both strongly recommend the pupils to take EBacc qualifying subjects, which obviously includes one foreign language.

In my year at school, there was no RE because only 6 wanted it & minimum number was 10. A foreign language was compulsory. To be fair, of all the things I learnt at school, my French & German have probably proved the most useful!

clary · 30/03/2014 18:38

Yay santas (MFL teacher here)

Original poster

Ludoole · 31/03/2014 00:49

This really is the case!
French is the only language offered and is only in option block 1.

It was my sons first choice in that option block. Originally he didn't think he would do well so asked his French teacher if it was likely he would get a C grade and she said he was capable of an A to C.

Its not a small school, theres 200 students in year 9 alone. It has recently become an academy and is cllassed as being in an under privileged area.

I was surprised that the school wasn't encouraging EBacc subjects too, and I think I shall ring the school to query this.

Thanks again for the replies.

OP posts:

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