Why would the school have DSS sit GSCE early?

[Happylittletrees]

DSS has been told as he's in the top set he will sit the English lit GCSE next year in year 10. This makes me nervous as he's a summer born boy and surely that will make him almost two years younger than some of the kids taking it? Is there any benefit to him by taking it early? Any help much appreciated.

I've seen a few schools have done this, I believe that its due to the fact that many kids find Language harder, especially with the new spec, and they want to spend more time on that in Y11.

Dd will also be sitting English lit in YR 10 next summer

My son is going into Year 11. His school did consider early entry for English Lit but in the end only for the top 10% I am glad he didn't sit the exam early as even in the last couple of months he has shown more maturity in terms of his thinking - he is also summer born. My son's school seem to pride themselves on early entry - lots of students getting 'C' - doesn't mean to say they are reaching their full potential.

Some schools do this in the Autumn of GCSE year to allow children to begin the AS course early. My DD changed schools at 6th form and wanted to do French AS but found it impossible as many of them had had 2 terms work on the syllabus already. I have heard of this with a few subjects including Maths.

Are parents allowed to withhold permission for this?

I think it was common practice with the old Maths and English GCSE but perhaps less so with the new qualifications. I assume you can opt out - but it would be worth checking about what will happen in year 11 if most of the cohort sat the exam the previous year.

Ofsted have been very clear that schools should not enter children early. There is absolutely no point unless he is top class and going to get a high grade. If he's not, say you disagree with this. It's just silly to get a lower mark a year early. It compromises attainment when other schools don't do it.

The Progrees 8 English measure takes the best result out of Lang and Lit, then double weights it, (the other English can be used in an Ebacc slot) so I think it would be better for the school to get e.g. a 7 and a 5 rather than two 6s. Perhaps they have decided to sacrifice English lit to the lower score and go all out for the highest score possible in Lang.

That may not be in the best interests of the young person though. It is sad that the school puts itself above the best outcome for pupils.

I'm not sure what the school get out entering him early though? Won't this also make the first year of new GCSE grading rules? If he passes but not as well as he could can resit? He is top set but stop set at fairly poor secondary modern. They keep telling us what levels he's currently predicted and working at but how on earth can they know? I thought no one knew as the first group of kids haven't been through yet? Neither DH nor I were educated in the UK and we are finding the whole thing mind boggling at best.

It would be better for the school league tables to maximise one of his English results.

Resits won't make any difference to the league tables because they use first result only, so they'd probably be reluctant to enter him for resits if passes.

He wouldn't be the first year of new GCSE gradings for English, current Y11 already sat them this year. However predicted grades and targets will be all very murky until we get the first set of results for them in August.

Lots of school spread a number of gcses over both yrs 10 and 11. Also him being summer born doesnt make a difference he has had exactly the same amount of education as everyone else!

I think it is also due to the amount of exams that pupils have to take due to the changes to GCSEs. This year pupils were utterly exhausted and it will be worse next year.

This is standard at my dc's school (international school following british curriculum) - english language in year 10 then lit in year 11. They also take maths in year 10 and AS maths in year 11. My son is also summer born and as pp mentioned he was not disadvantaged.
However, as we are overseas the exams are igcses rather than gcses so no new grade system at the moment.

My children are both summer born (and one is in year 10). On the whole I agree that any disadvantage has evened out by now. But English literature may well be one of the subjects where it is still an issue. It's a subject where you draw on your experience of life, relationships, emotions etc and having plenty of life experience under your belt must be helpful. Sitting it at 14 years old could therefore, I feel, put them at a disadvantage compared to those who will be well over 16 when they sit it in year 11.

I think it's wrong with the new Specs even for the brightest pupils. The new grade 9s are going to be much harder to achieve than the old A* and early entry might make the difference between an 8 and a 9 even for very very bright kids.

It sounds like the school is thinking of its best interests, not your sons.

I do agree that Eng lit would be affected by a student's maturity and life experience.

I was placed in this position and I am an august baby but with maths instead. It meant my coursework was rushed as other coursework was still also due so I didn't do as well as I perhaps could have I gained a b grade but I was 3 marks away from an A

It turned out the school had done it due to it being turned into a specialist school for maths and I.c.t.

We also did an Ict gnvq which was also taken early and I done amazingly. But again coursework deadlines were tight so it wasn't done as well as it could have been.

Gross. At the school where I teach we think LIT results will be better across the board. The new Language GCSE is punishingly hard and boring.

I would be trying to withdraw your child from this and getting him to sit at the end of year 11.

Whilst I agree with the idea that maturity adds to the ability of pupils to succeed at Lit. I would be wary of following Bungled's advice since there will be no teaching of Lit in Y11. I would be very difficult.t for a pupil to sustain their knowledge/ exam skills for a year especially when they are preparing for all their other exams.

The option is for him to drop down a set as those kids will be taught both over the two years. He's not keen to drop a set though. They also won't resit him if he passes which he most certainly will. My fear is he is going to end up with a lower grade than he's capable of just because they are sitting him early.

It is one of those ideas which might well be altered in the light of this years results.

That's a good point about teaching in year 11. Hmmmm.

When I was at school I did something similar to this but I went to private school. I started the GCSEs for the ones I was best at in year 9, year 10 took the exams, year 11 took rest of GCSEs and one AS level, year 12 one A2 and rest of AS, year 12 rest of A2. There were a couple of others in my class who did the same but most didn't; it was the parent's choice. I feel I definitely benefited as I got really good grades and splitting them up meant less pressure and I wasn't overwhelmed. Started uni at 18 with everyone else my age. But I was rather a precocious child and was ready to start them in year 9; you know your child and what's best for them!

My yr 9 daughter came home and told me the same (no communication from the school), also they all have to do RE and are sitting that a year early too. Part of me thinks it will be good to concentrate on two without all the exams at the same time and if results are lower than you'd hope just make it very clear on cv that examination done in one year, that will be impressive surely?