Year 11 parents evening - feel gutted for dd

[briss]

She's always wanted to do physio but science teachers said last night that she'd be lucky to get Bs in the three sciences and that physio was very hard to get into. Said she should start thinking of other ways to get into it rather than the 'traditionally academic' route.

Two years ago they said she should definitely do triple science and was one of their best students. Now they admitted she should have done double science and want to enter her for foundation papers for some of the units.

Dd has worked very hard - but the message we got from all teachers was that she worked very hard but didn't have the 'intellectual maturity' to get very good marks in exams.

She feels crushed and so do I a bit. I encouraged her to do triple science and pursue her physio dream and now I feel I've led her up the garden path.

It wasn't all gloomy - history was excellent and English and RE also good so maybe her strengths lie in humanities.

Just like some advice on how now to boost her confidence (which isn't great at the best of times).

I know the school were doing the right thing but I feel a bit sad that they hadn't seen this earlier. Also I think I've really banged on about how brilliant uni is and now I think if she's not uni material I need to stfu about how great it is!

Marnia'smum - it's dance physio dd wants to do but we guess she'd have to do sports first then specialise. Her inspration is Lisa Howell an Australian physiotherapist.

Balletgirlmum, I would not recommend sports therapy first, she should do general physiotherapy first and then specialise in musculoskeletal injuries before looking for a ballet related job which is extremely specialised and difficult to get into. Sports therapists are NOT qualified physiotherapists. If she does sports therapy at BSc she would then need to do the 2 year MSc to become a qualified physiotherapist.

Sure, plenty of people do A Level science with a B, though how well they do varies, but most of those people I'm willing to bet did all higher papers.

I agree-if she sits foundation papers she shouldn't do science a levels in those subjects. The syllabuses have just changed making it harder now, and often even students who sail through GCSE struggle to make the jump.

There does seem to be a shortage of good dance physios who understand the needs of dancers.
Dd goes to one at school, but we often hear of people looking for someone & most practices Seem to specialise in sport or general injuries.

suffolkgirl well yes obviously training as a chartered physio is better but the issue is she likely won't get the grades to get in for that!
Courses I have googled want at the very least a B in Bilogy plus 2 As

If you look back at my prevoius post I listed other routes which require lower grades. The grades listed by the universities at age 18, seem to come down considerably for a physiotherapy assistant with 2-3 years NHS experience. One of my staff this year got a place with two mid grade A levels in English and Applied science.
If she cannot get onto a physiotherapy course at 18, I would personally advise trying to get work as a physiotherapy assistant or similar NHS role whilst topping up level 3 qualifications and then applying age 20-21 with experience behind her and a healthier bank balance. This is financially much better than taking the wrong degree at 18 and having to do the MSc conversion. Especially as the government is planning to stop the subsidy of course fees. Paying for one degree is better than two.
It is also anticipated that the introduction of tuition fees for courses such as physio will lead to a decrease in the number of applicants and thus a lowering of the grades required. There is a shortage of new physiotherapy graduates at present so we are hoping for an increase in the number of training places as well.

Thanks all. She's going to work as hard as she can and see what her results are like before deciding on a levels. She'll apply for history psychology and biology but if results are better in other subjects she might rethink.

You might well find you have been worrying for nothing Briss!The school might be trying to shock her into working harder!

I hope so!

If she's set on a level biology I'd recommend getting a tutor now to give her the best chance of doing well and being secure in the gcse material before starting a level. I wouldn't worry about doing physic with the tutor-concentrate on biology and chemistry. Good luck to her!

One of my students last year really struggled and totally failed her science as levels, but after a new start with new subjects she's on for great grades and has a new career plan (journalism). It isn't always a disaster when things don't follow the path you're expecting.

Gosh. Several things:

1. A nice healthy shock after the mocks is brilliant. We've actually 'doctored' our grades to make them worse than they should be this year (true story!). You don't want your Year 11 students to think that they can sit back and relax right now. That's a recipe for disaster. Panic them, however? That's what you want.
2. I'm always slightly suspicious of students who know what they want to do with the rest of their lives when they're 15. It's pretty rare, in my experience, that that dream is anything other than a random notion.

Just get her through the next five months. Do whatever you have to do in order to keep her sane and focussed. Then take the next stage based on her grades.

G'luck, OP. (and your DD)

She'll still be uni material - if that's what she wants. Physio has been a nightmare to get into for years - A's at A level & shed loads of work experience needed.

Agree just get her through the next stage then think about long term plans.