AQA Foundation English Remark/Resit

[LaydeeC]

Sorry, I know that GCSE results have probably been done to death but I am churning something around in my head and don't know what to do.

My son has Aspergers so has always found English/humanity subjects more difficult than maths/science etc.

We were 'persuaded' to let him sit the foundation paper in English because he was a 'guaranteed' c grade (borderline c/d in the higher paper).

He achieved a D and now has to resit. He was about 6 marks off a c grade in both papers.

Every child in his class who were predicted c grades got d grades.

Is it worth speaking to his teacher about remarking. Alternatively, he will need to resit. A spanner in the works is that he is starting at a sixth form at a different school where he can do the GCSE again. But it may be a different exam board.

AQA do resits in November, could he enter this using the controlled assessments that were previously submitted (and graded c).

A lot of questions I know, but I would do anything to avoid him having to do the work again on top of starting A levels at a new school. It will be difficult enough because of his autism without the added pressure of having to do a whole GCSE course in a year.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

I would speak to school as soon as possible - staff often return before the children. See what the school are planning. Do you actually know that everyone predicted a C got a D or is it just your son's friends? (It's pretty unusual to have that sort of information!).

Once you know his options at the old school remark? resit? then he can decide which way forward is best.

My son didn't get his predicted grade in Maths (he got C not A/B) and he is going to resit in a years time at his new college. We don't know his UMS yet but have asked for them and we will decide on remark having seen those.

Thank you both
Kez, I know because he attends a specialist school with only a few boys so everyone knows everything iykwim.
That's part of the problem, when I say 'all' the students who entered foundation there were about 8 of them. All those predicted a c grade achieved at a d grade.
I think I may ask the teacher for a remark - but I think it was widely reported that English grades were down this year nationally.
Thing is, because of the type of school, it doesn't really affect them if the students don't achieve that magic 5 A*-C. It affects my son as he didn't though and he now feels like a failure.

I know exactly what you are going through. My son's missed Maths grade has meant he cannot do 'A' level Physics at his college choice and that feeling of failure was awful to see - especially as he has two friends who have got onto that course which compounds failure at that age. Possibly that is even worse for a SEN child.

As you know they all got a D then maybe the school will know exactly what went wrong - it maybe a national problem or it might not.

I do thinking talking to all find out all of his options is the way forward. My daughter's friend retook Maths this year at college in year 13 and she did something completely different from GCSE (it was called functional skills). That's all I know about it but, maybe, that would be a better route for your son if it was available.

We've been luckier in that, although he also missed his maths grade by two grades, he has still been allowed to do his courses of choice because he could demonstrate that he had achieved his predicted grade in all his mocks/practice papers and his teacher's prediction was so confident. Challenging the maths is a whole other story!!

Other than that, he did amazingly well but feels like he has failed.
It is just awful that kids can be made to feel like this at such a young stage of their lives.

I may look into the functional skills - he has moved to a school rather than a college though so I'm not sure if this is on offer but I will email the SENCo and find out.

Thanks for the advice.

OP
go for the re-mark
DDs school were incandescent about their AQA English module 1 results - such that the 20 re-mark forms were in the envelopes with the results!
If they get the full cohort re-mark then I get it for free
if not I will definitely pay

when DD enrolled at 6th form college she found out that MOST of the schools are pushing for re-marks

AQA succumbed to political pressure to moderate downwards
it is backfiring BADLY

it is grossly offensive that our children have been political guinea pigs like the fact that the speaking and listening paper is on the results sheet even though it counts for nothing

the fact that your son is at a specialist school is beside the point : they all got shafted. kick off on his behalf

TalkinPeace
That is really interesting!
I emailed his English teacher this afternoon who is going to look at it all when she gets back to school. She is incandescent on the students behalf.
I will email her what you have said.
I feel he was totally shafted. His mock was 79% when the c grade pass was 60%. I was stunned when he got his result - he was as guaranteed a c grade as he could be. And had he done the previous paper he would have got it.
Right, I am kicking off tomorrow.
Thanks so much.

This happened to my DD in 2012 during the Gove English GCSE scandal. She was predicted a C and was 6 marks off obtaining a D. We had the paper remarked and she got a couple of extra marks but not enough to get her the C (although if she had taken the exam earlier in the same year she would've had the C). Anyway, she worked for a year and went back to College last September re-taking her English GCSE alongside her IT course. She has passed with high marks at Foundation getting the elusive C grade. She actually took Functional Skills 1, 2 and 3 at school and passed them all in a year. We are hoping she can take her Maths GCSE at college this year alongside her level 3 IT course.

Hi to all who posted.

Just to say we appealed and he was awarded extra marks but not enough to tip it to a C.

We also appealed his maths GCSE as he was a solid A* and was awarded a B. We were really surprised so I thought i have nothing to lose. He was awarded 12 extra marks and regraded an A.

12 marks!!! we were told by a few people that if it wasn't borderline there is no point in appealing...

Talkinpeace how did your appeal go?

Go for the remark - they can't put the mark down. Also, push to have him take the higher paper if he has to take a resit - students are much more likely to get a c from it. The mark scheme for the foundation paper is much more narrow in its range of acceptable answers. It is a different set of skills and many teachers don't teach them explicitly, they teach the higher paper.

Sorry but they can put the mark down.