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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

Can I withdraw dd from maths exam?

29 replies

dingit · 17/11/2014 11:37

Did GCSE yr 10.
Yr 11 entry will be for Further Maths. Due to crap or no teaching, ( been on here moaning before) her predicted grade is E.
I really can't see the point her sitting it. I would much rather she concentrated on her other exams.
I'm really pissed at the school and hope I have the right to withdraw her. Anyone know for sure?

OP posts:

Leeds2 · 17/11/2014 11:57

I have no idea, but worth asking! They may require her to sit in the maths class so that she is being supervised, even though she might be doing another subject.

I can see that they would not want your DD giving up if it prompted a few others to do the same. There might also be a requirement for all students to do maths up to the age of 16. On the other hand, if your DD is really going to get an E, it won't look brilliant in their GCSE records.

Original poster

dingit · 17/11/2014 12:15

It's not a GCSE, more like AS level, so won't go on their records.

OP posts:

Hakluyt · 17/11/2014 12:16

Can you get her a tutor? Or something? Not having GCSE maths will close a lot of doors to her in the future. What is the school doing about it?

Hakluyt · 17/11/2014 12:18

Sorry- misread. Has she already got a C for maths GCSE?

marne2 · 17/11/2014 12:19

So she has already sat GCSE maths? What grade did she get?

I can see why you might want to withdraw but there could be a chance she gets a D or even a C, at least she can say she has passed. Talk to the school and see what they say.

Original poster

dingit · 17/11/2014 13:03

Yes she's already sat maths, got an A. She plans to do A level, we've spoken to the college she is going to, they are not to worried about the outcome of the further maths, it will just help her in her first year, as she has had some grounding.

OP posts:

Hakluyt · 17/11/2014 13:06

So she's got an A for GCSE maths, is planning to do A level maths, but is predicted an E for further maths GCSE? What's going on there then?

Theas18 · 17/11/2014 13:18

I'm with Hayclut. How does that work A at GCSE and predicted E at further maths?
Is she not able to pick up and run with the further maths herself by the summer? Download the syllabus from the board website. Get hold of relevant text book and get on with it? Yes decent teaching would be lovely and a tutor nice, but a bit of Khan academy or similar on line learning should get her to a C or so surely?
(caveat DD2 is doing some further maths work as " fun" LOL - they are having a lesson a week to do stuff that isn't GCSE fodder as they've covered that and are getting bored with revisiting it)

I might be wrong but IMHO the leap from CGSE to AS maths is is huge and if she doesn't start filling the gap ahead of time ( no matter if she takes the exam or not) she will really find it hard.

marne2 · 17/11/2014 13:20

I would be questioning the school on why she's predicted a E, sounds like the school have let her down or she has lost interest. Hope at all gets sorted out for her and she gets to do her A levels.

titchy · 17/11/2014 13:23

Agree with others. Leave it for now, and see how much she can do on her own. Exam entries don't have to be made until March so there's plenty of time for her to do as much as she can on her own, do a couple of past papers and see what she's likely to get. The make a decision.

Original poster

dingit · 17/11/2014 13:45

Thanks Titchy I wasn't sure when the exam entries were done. I think she is losing interest a bit, and agreed that A level is self study, but she has a bunch of other GCSEs to concentrate on too.
I think she will be ( I hope) fine when she picks it up again at college.

OP posts:

Hakluyt · 17/11/2014 14:47

Something has to have gone very badly wrong somewhere to be predicted an E after only 2 months of the year. Have you talked to her teacher?

secretsquirrels · 17/11/2014 15:13

Many A* GCSE students struggle with A level maths. I'd say anything that helps her maintain her maths through Y11 is worth doing.

Original poster

dingit · 17/11/2014 15:16

It's a year and 2 months studying. She took her GCSE in year 9. That's even worse, isn't it?

OP posts:

secretsquirrels · 17/11/2014 15:23

So you are suggesting she effectively drops maths after age 14 and then take it up at A level with no maths teaching in between?
It seems risky to me. If she genuinely wants to do Maths at A level I would try to make the best of what teaching is available and do lots of self study as well. Far better to drop a less essential subject if time is critical.

Original poster

dingit · 17/11/2014 15:30

No she's not dropping it. She took it at 14 and has just turned 16 and is still going to her lessons. I'm not saying she should stop, just not have the pressure of the exam at the end.

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 17/11/2014 15:37

If she only got an A at GCSE and plans to do A-level then it would be extremely foolish to ditch the further maths which is designed to bridge the gap to A-level. She would be risking complete failure at A-level.

Hakluyt · 17/11/2014 16:04

What does her maths teacher say about it?

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 17/11/2014 18:30

IIRC she's not actually getting any maths teaching at the moment is she? Even with the FM course. Did you manage to get anywhere with the school in dealing with that? She might well get a better grade or at least some worthwhile maths if the school pulled their finger out.

I think noble is right though. She needs to be doing some maths or next year may well be a disaster.

jeanne16 · 17/11/2014 18:43

I would tell the school you want her to resit her maths GCSE so she could try to get an A * grade. This is far more sensible than continuing with Further Maths. There must be sets of pupils sitting the maths GCSE in y11 and she should be able to join them.

noblegiraffe · 17/11/2014 18:51

Ah, haven't we had this discussion before?

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 17/11/2014 19:03

I think it's the same poster, noble. Can't be bothered to AS, but I hope it's not happening in more than 1 school.

jeanne, I think she's already with a Yr11 GCSE maths class. Joining them won't be a problem. Although retaking the GCSE probably might be the way forward.

WRT her losing interest in maths OP, hopefully a lot of that might have come from the way that the school has organised their maths classes. It might better when she has a teacher.

Original poster

dingit · 17/11/2014 19:43

Sorry, yes noble we have. I had a meeting with head of maths, and still seem to be spinning in the same circle. They didn't seem to think a resit was a good idea. There is no chance of a teacher this year. They have had some sporadic lessons after school.
Had a brief conversation with dd when she came in from school ( didn't ask too many questions, as it's her birthday and didn't want to upset her). Apparently her last grade was a high D, so she's getting there, and we are only a term in.

What really annoyed me is I attended a year 9 meeting for DS and head of maths announced that the top set would be doing early entry. As I was in the front row I gave her a look , and managed to keep my mouth shut!

OP posts:

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 17/11/2014 19:56

That really is shit. Can you refuse early entry for your DS if it comes to it?

Well done to your DD on improving her grade though.

Original poster

dingit · 17/11/2014 20:02

Luckily ( I think) he is not in the top set, so it will not apply to him.

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