Any Headteachers/Senior Management to advise re wasted year 10?

[hawleybits]

DD was made to chose a technology as a GCSE option last year - she is now in year 11. For the current year 10 it has been dropped.

Today we have been informed that her graphics teacher for last year was incompetent, has since left the school and that dd's year group will have some extra work to do in this subject, to bring them up to standard. The school prpose to fit these extra lessons in after school and on inset days.

DD is undestandably fed up about it and is asking whether it is possible to drop the subject completely and focus on either doing a full P&B GCSE or just using the extra time for study.

I have spoken to the school who sympathise but are unwilling to say whether or not this will be possible. Can I insist? DD is an able student with very good predicted grades and is absolutely working her socks off. I can't help thinking her time could be better spent.

We had a similar situation and I just insisted that DD dropped the subject.
Ten GCSEs is enough for anybody and IMO it was pointless doing an 11th subject that the teacher and the school had completely messed up.

Far better to get good grades in the remaining subjects.

That's how I feel 3littlefrogs

Apologies for the shocking typos - I was desperate to get it down!

That's really unfair. Put your foot down, it is possible. School will be worried about ensuring the league tables, so might be worth checking she still meets the latest criteria the school use. (EBaccs, 8A*-C, etc).

Good luck.

If your DD had after school commitments then they certainly couldn't force her to drop them to make up for the teacher's incompetence.

I'm a head teacher. The difficulty will be what she does when she should be in that class, who will supervise her etc and how to manage the inevitable group who will also ask to do the same but maybe aren't as committed to independent study as you dd. Ask for a meeting and go in with a firm proposal for how she could manage her studies, and be prepared to consider whether she will have 8 full gcse subjects etc as schools take a mighty hit on anyone who doesn't.

A very valid point about the after school commitments - I might use that one! Actually poor dd seems to have very little time to herself lately.

It's worth mentioning here, that the school are recovering from an inadequate ofsted and are now supported by an academy sponsor (an outstanding local school) so clearly, poor results this year will not reflect well.

Mallorywithout the graphics, dd will have 10 GCSE's. As 3little frogs mentioned, isn't that enough if they're good grades?

10 is certainly enough GCSEs. Graphics seems a bit of a nightmare subject. Dd1's peers who did it were nervous wrecks at the end of the Year 11 - and that's with a 'competent' teacher I assume.

I'm a AHT and honestly understand your concerns. If your dd was the only person concerned here, dropping the subject would make total sense for her personally. However, as said below, potentially the school will have a whole class full of pupils with nowhere to go and nobody to supervise them for several lessons a week for 8 months or so.

Or has the subject already been removed from the timetable, hence the after school/Inset day sessions? If the latter, then I really can't see that the school can insist on her continuing to work for it in her own time, especially if she's well on target for sufficient good GCSE passes without it.

The subject hasn't been removed from the timetable and isn't likely to be. It seems the school are keen to get everyone back on track but not without the kids having to put in extra effort in their own time, albeit supervised.

I appreciate it wouldn't be easy for the school to manage a whole class dropping out but I am concerned for dd and know she is more than willing to study independently in the LRC (those doing an extra GCSE do). This has to be a problem the school must overcome if the situation arises surely?

When my DD1 was in Y11 she had 2 periods a week for private study. She sat in the back of another Y11 classroom and did her own work. The condition was made clear that she had to be mature and sensible or she would return to join the original class (which was an 11th GCSE) It worked fine and she appreciated the extra time for private study