Maths GCSE grades lower than English?

[TheSecondOfHerName]

In the results from one school shown here, the GCSE Maths grades are lower than the grades in English Language and English Literature. Is this due to a difference between subjects in the way the grade boundaries were set nationally?

I'm very happy with the acting head, the current SLT and with the school generally

I meant the actual teaching rather than the SLT.

My daughter is slightly below average at Maths (in the top set within the lower half of the year). If she continues making the progress that she has been, and if her year group follows the same pattern, then a grade 6 seems likely.

A grade 6 is a B! Not especially below average!

Sorry, I meant just below average in her her year group. The median Maths grade in the results pictured above is a 7.

Sorry it took me so long to reply. In my school the 5s didn't bulge as much as you might expect- our maths department think the higher paper 5 was not achievable than foundation 5 due to the grade boundaries. They may be wrong but I know SLT think it played a big role. They also think the kids and staff were much more nervous and worried about Maths compared to English, especially after the woeful Pixl mock exams and that did not bring out the best in them.

More not not

Maths is shit and unenjoyable, English is fun and creative.

I may have an English degree

Also girls are generally always better at English - more words are learned to describe emotions, feelings, colours.

TheSecondOfHerName the L6 will get her into 6th form. Have a look through the A Level info. to see if the L6 will make a difference to the subjects she can choose.

The school used to offer extra support classes for maths, you could look into it to see if they still offer them and if they would help push up to the L7. They may only be open to those who are struggling or showing knowledge gaps though.

Can your DC1 give her some peer to peer support at home?

Your DC is not below average, however, she is in a peer group that is top heavy in high ability DCs. The provisional data is out soon on the DfE performance tables. Its worth having a look and comparing results with other local schools, I suspect it may help show that your DD is doing well.

Kids have always performed better at English than they have at Maths, haven't they, generally?

Can your DC1 give her some peer to peer support at home?

I'm guessing you mean DC2 (top set, very keen on Maths) rather than DC1 (switched from Maths A-level 6 weeks into Y12).

She says she wants to go to the sixth form there; she doesn't want to do Maths A-level, so only needs a 5 or 6.

Maths is shit and unenjoyable, English is fun and creative.

My view:
Maths GCSE: straightforward, fun.
English Literature GCSE: arbitrary, subjective, takes all the fun out of reading.

top set, very keen on Maths yes, I think that might be the better option lol.

so only needs a 5 or 6.

That'll take the pressure off, which is good. What ever she can push it up to will be an added bonus and something to strive for :-)

our maths department think the higher paper 5 was not achievable than foundation 5 due to the grade boundaries

My maths department thinks the opposite! We had way more success with 5s on the Foundation Paper.

Maths is shit and unenjoyable, English is fun and creative

Archimedes will be remembered when Aeschylus is forgotten, because languages die and mathematical ideas do not. “Immortality” may be a silly word, but probably a mathematician has the best chance of whatever it may mean.

(GH Hardy)

That's interesting, noble. Our data crunching DH (also a maths teacher) has run the numbers and insists we could have got more 5s and 6s if we'd been braver with higher tier.

Oh I don't know about running the numbers but we had a higher group where some kids dropped to foundation because they weren't confident, and they got more 5s than the kids in the same group who stuck with higher.

I had a Foundation group and everyone who I reckoned had a chance of a 5 got one, except one, so I'm really confident they were entered for the right paper. They'd have crashed and burned on higher.

So its a girls only school. Wouldn't you expect girls to do better at English?

Wouldn't you expect girls to do better at English?

Before I started this thread, I had no idea there was a known sex-linked difference in Maths GCSE results vs English GCSE results. I'm female and did Maths & Science A-levels, as did most of my female friends. My eldest child is male and is doing A-levels in English, History & Politics.

This is one of the reasons I like Mumsnet; I learn new things every day.

Maths is shit and unenjoyable, English is fun and creative.

My son would say the exact opposite. He loves Maths because he's had a couple of really enthusiastic maths teachers who really brought him on in leaps and bounds.

Unfortunately, he had the same old, boring English teacher for 4 out of 5 years, who managed to suck the fun out of every bit of English they studied. My son used to be an avid reader, but hasn't read a book for fun in years. Luckily, the old sod has just retired and DS has a lovely new enthusiastic teacher to take them to their GCSE's next Summer and he's already started to be more enthusiastic again.

I am starting to think it's all about individual teachers rather than type of school. I can't believe how teachers for the same subject can be so different in the same school - is there no supervision/management????

Maths is very creative, there are lots of ways to creatively use math to solve problems -- sometimes several paths to solve the same problem. :)