Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

GCSE Pass Grade Confusion

37 replies

TheFrendo · 28/06/2017 08:03

GCSE pass levels causing confusion over university entry

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40418457

Universities are now setting different "pass" grade equivalents.

University College London says a C grade pass now requires a grade 5, while Manchester University has set the benchmark at grade 4.

No surprise there.

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 29/06/2017 14:53

Marine- the school concerned is wrong. A 4 is now officially a pass. Someone linked to Justine Greebing's letter downthread- I suggest you send it to the Head of 6th........

noblegiraffe · 29/06/2017 15:08

Marine a 4 was always the grade that would mean students wouldn't have to resit maths/English in sixth form for current Y10 and 11. This hasn't changed. The change is that now it will never require students to resit, for all year groups, not just 10 and 11.

It's very odd that the sixth form doesn't know this. Your DS should never have been told he'd need to resit if he got a 4, because this was never the case for his year group.

marine04 · 29/06/2017 15:16

Thank you for the advice.

The Head of Sixth Form is adamant that legally she can't take him if he doesn't achieve the five. I am awaiting a phone call about a meeting to do with my sons future at the school so will challenge her then. It's so frustrating as it's caused him so much stress.

ThinkFastNotSlow · 29/06/2017 15:26

noble can you please explain what the "school pass rate" is?

Why will it only effect schools but not pupils?? Surely if a school is concerned about its pass rate dropping, that concern will trickle out to the pupils eventually...? (I really don't know, sorry.)

tiggytape · 29/06/2017 16:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TisGlorious · 29/06/2017 16:30

This is all so ridiculous.

LooseAtTheSeams · 29/06/2017 20:46

Marine the head of sixth form is wrong. If they really don't understand this I'd worry about what else they don't understand!
The school can set a 5 as their entry if they want to but a 4 is sufficient to avoid a compulsory result. For goodness sake, they only need to google to see the announcement from Greening or look on the DfE website. If they want to make 5 their entry level they should be honest about it and not pretend this is a legal requirement. Level 3 means you have to resit, not level 4.

ragged · 01/07/2017 09:58

If I were Marine, I'd print out the DfE page that talks about grade4 avoids compulsory resit, write at top of page the URL, then take it to the head of the 6th form. Sweetly say "Gee, this is odd. Do you think it only applies to some schools in England but not all? Do you know why it would be different elsewhere?" Leave the papercopy with Hof6thF.

I have had to do exactly that kind of thing before with schools, they can indeed be misinformed!!

starfish4 · 01/07/2017 10:13

Different schools and colleagues require different grades. If you're staying on at Sixth Form, I know a couple that require A in your chosen subject. DD's present school require B and from this year they want an A in Maths or a language. Other school locally require a B in chosen subjects. I know these are the old grades and for Sixth Form, but it shows how it varies.

BertrandRussell · 01/07/2017 10:58

My ds is hoping to go to a very highly regarded 6th form that in,y requires 4s in maths and English. Unless they are your A level subjects, of course.

CauliflowerSqueeze · 01/07/2017 14:56

Schools will just have to wait and see what the numbers are like at different levels. They can't say they need students to have got, for example. a 6 or above in a particular subject if there aren't the number of bums on seats that they need.

The whole thing is such a shambles it really is.

MaisyPops · 01/07/2017 15:07

If you want to be cynical about it:

A grade 4 is counted as a standard pass because the government provide funds for GCSE resits and setting a simple 'grade 5 is the new pass' would mean a huge jump in how many students need post16 resits (and that means more money, which they don't want to spend).

They've also said a 4 is fine for entry to FE (not HE) as again, they don't want a drop in numbers on level 3 courses because if those students had to do level 2 courses, they'd be in funded college longer (and that costs more).

So SCHOOLS are judged on grade 5 pass (and will get slated and inspected within an inch of their lives if they don't get x% 9-5). It will probably be the preferred standard by employers and top universities too.
But, in order to save money (and save face) they came up with this notion of a 'standard pass'.

This is the education reform the people who told us all schools had to be above average remember. 😂

New posts on this thread. Refresh page