Dropping a GCSE after y11 mocks?

[TeenAndTween]

I'm pondering asking the school if my DD can drop History GCSE following mocks.
Reasons

• currently likely to fail (as in get E)
• massive learning for subject
• struggling with the question styles and essay writing
• in same week as science 2 exams
• also struggling with English so extra time could go on sorting that out

I think the school will be against

• they don't like kids having spaces in timetable
• they will think that hard work will solve
• no longer entered for Ebacc
• DD likes the subject

Any advice or experiences to share?

She has probably already been entered for the exam, we received DDs exam entry list and timetable last week. I think that if she has been entered and doesn't take the exam she will get a U. Also some schools charge parents the entry fee if pupils do not sit an exam that they have been entered for if there is no good reason (eg serious illness).

You can but try . What does she want to do? They might prefer to withdraw than have a e or even u on their records. However don't use exam timetable in the argument . Ds had several papers each week in the exam period including a direct clash. They should and do cope.

You could ask, but at my school we would definitely say no. It sets a precedent for everyone else to drop GCSEs they don't like.

Thanks. None of you are very hopeful so far it seems.

Withdrawing - according to exams site withdrawing is possible until quite late. We would be happy to pay any fees incurred.

Gaps may or may not help sort out English. She qualifies for PPP so could possibly get some 1-1 time which would help her massively. Or time saved could be spent on homework/revision, freeing up time at home for tutor. She has had 2 short blocks of 1-1 for things in y9 and y10 which helped boost things forward.

Exam timetable. My DD appears to have some particular learning difficulties which we may be able to plead a special case for. Generally all her schoolwork takes much longer than it should. She has a major bandwidth problem. (And yes she is hardworking and doesn't procrastinate etc).

Has anyone managed to get a school to agree to this?

It sounds like she would benefit hugely from carrying on with the subject, as it appears to address several serious weaknesses in her all round education.

Caronaim . Well I see your point. But the fact of the matter is, it is currently not addressing those weaknesses. I kind of feel the school has had 4.5 years to address them, and has not yet succeeded, why should they suddenly manage it in the next 3 months? (Though I suspect the school will side with you).

In principle I would be against anyone dropping a GCSE subject because it is practising their weaker skills.

In principle, I'm not all that happy of the idea of potentially failing 3 GCSEs, when 2 are perfectly passable, due to flogging a dead horse.
And after all, it wasn't a subject she had to take.

The same weaker skills will be practiced by focussing on the English, but without the additional massive fact learning too. The fact learning time could then go to Science and pull that up a grade.

Thank you, this is helping me get my arguments lined up.

Our school allows pupils to drop subjects. It is far better to get fewer, better GCSEs. I would discuss it with the school.

we don't allow pupils to leave a subject, but they will be withdrawn from an exam if they are not going to pass. However coming out of the lessons just hampers their education, as they are not learning during those hours.

What do you expect your dd to do while she would otherwise have been doing History? Do you expect her to work unsupervised in the library, or do you expect school to find someone to supervise her study or work 1:1 with her on something else?

Either way YABVU, unless you have thought of something else.

I could go with that. (Seems a bit pointless though, when otherwise she could go to learning support or the library and do HW, or revise, or practice English questions).

jeanne16 That's what I think.

In our school they work in the library when they have a free period. It happens far more often than you imagine and at lots of schools.

Harriet I was thinking working independently in the library, or at the learning support centre. She is known to be hardworking and sensible, she wouldn't mess about.

Though as you come to mention it, learning support approached her last week and she is now missing 1 random lesson a week to have 1-1 with an LSA. Though we haven't been informed what particularly has prompted this (could be various things). (And missing random lessons isn't good as she then has to catch them up, and most subjects are still doing syllabus and/or CAs).

Remember though, dropping a GCSE isn't just about the 2.5hrs a week lesson time saved, it's not having to do any of the revision or question practice which is far far more considerable.

My dd dropped a subject at the start of y11. We didn't want her to begin the course in y10, but they wouldn't let her not do it then. But a year later, a few students had dropped various options, and it wasn't a problem. They went to the library or the learning support coordinator, and got marked as present on the electronic register wherever they were.

Quite Well, say a tenth of pupils were to drop one option subject. That would mean 20 pupils drop a subject, divide by 4 option blocks, so that would be at most 5 at any one time, which really isn't many is it?

Atia thank you.

ds dropped spanish half way through Y11 - he hated it and it was much better for him to concentrate on the other GCSEs where he could get top grades. School had no problem with it, he just did private study instead which meant he had extra time for revision. He felt so much better after stopping it.

Thought I'd update.
We had a face to face meeting with SENCO and Tutor and they went away and spoke to people, and DD is being allowed to drop the subject, which is great news.

I was just about to say don't drop it. My Ds last year was advised to drop history by his teacher as he was on target for an after his mocks and terrible coursework. His form tutor refused to let him drop it. He had given up himself, expected an E, wrote it off as a subject and did no revision whatsoever preferring to concentrate on the others. Unbelievably he ended up with an A.

Not helpful to you now, I guess.

He was on target for an E after his mocks...missed the important E out there...

Bowlers Well done your DS. If DD could pull the same thing out of the bag for English that would be fantastic!
One of the big problems for DD is that she cannot interpret pictures well. If we look at paintings, unless they are entirely realistic she often can't see what they are (even when obvious to the rest of the family), this has caused real problems for source questions. Then coupled with other specific difficulties she has, it turned history into a massive mountain for her.

Well don't give up hope for English Teen, I've seen a miracle happen!

Dh and I were really cross after the gcse results; we had agreed with the teacher and said ds could drop history before his tutor stepped in and said he couldn't. He only got two A's. He would only have got one if we had listened to the teacher.

Good luck to your dd in the summer.

If DD gets an A for anything we'll be dancing in the streets!
(After we've picked ourselves up off the floor).