GCSE mock results - dropping a language

[thatisnotanoption]

My ds has received the results of his mock GCSEs. They were not good. The worse was German where he took the foundation paper and got a grade1. His target is a grade 3 for German but 5+ for all other subjects.

I really can't see the point of him continuing with German (his only mfl) and would much rather he concentrated on the other 9 subjects he is doing.

I have had an initial conversation with someone at the school who said she while agreed with me as a parent she did not think ds would be allowed to drop German.

This makes no sense to me. Ds wants a future career in sports/physiotherapy so there is no direct advantage in having a German gcse.

Have I missed something? Does the school have a good reason for refusing this request? Do I just need to be persistent? What would happen if he is entered to do the exam but doesn't turn up (possible last resort)?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

If they let one kid drop a GCSE just because they did poorly, they’d have a queue out of the door of others wanting to drop subjects they didn’t fancy working at.

And who would be supervising these kids when they were meant to be in German?

It causes all sorts of problems so students usually aren’t allowed in many schools unless exceptional circumstances.

If he’s entered but doesn’t show, the school may charge you the cost of exam entry.

Also meant to say that German is Ebacc and a grade 1 in an Ebacc bucket is better than no grade for school league table measures.

Schools are not keen to learn students drop subjects for a number of reasons - eg it can set a precedent and lead to others asking.

In addition German is a key subject for progress 8 so they may well insist he continues.

If he doesn't do the exam he will get an X indicting this on his certificate.

I agree (MFL teacher,) that 1 is not great but 3 would be a very respectable grade for the new GCSE IMO.

Can you ask his teacher for some support and what he needs to do? I would suggest a crib sheet of basic phrases to learn for the writing an speaking - keep it simple!

Sorry for typos, on phone

Should have said that ds is not doing a humanity subject so will not count for ebac.

Thank you for your other comments. I am also aware as an employer and having recently gone through the ucas procedure with older sibling that even a grade 3 will not look good and will be viewed as a "fail", even if he is able to increase his performance by 2 levels.

Ds will also have to make a lot of progress in other (much more relevant to him) subjects.

It won’t count towards your DS achieving the Ebacc, but it will count in the Ebacc bucket for progress 8 and if your DS isn’t doing a humanity then it may be even more important to the school that he continues with German.

Yes; as the other posters have said there are three main reasons for not allowing subjects to be dropped (I’m a head of year 11) firstly many students although I’m sure not in your DS case look to drop things they find hard rather than trying to persevere. It’s rewarding come results day when they often do much better than they expected. Secondly it will count in the progress 8 scores for the school. Finally it’s the sheer logistics of students dropping subjects. I had 41 requests one year; and these subjects are all on at different times of the day so a school simply doesn’t have the capacity to supervise this (plus it often has a snow ball effect amongst students) I’d recommend if you are both certain this is the best course of action to come up with a plan; for example some of my art students agreed with the head of art they could sit with them during the “dropped” subject etc so the supervision issue was solved. You will need to be persistent and be prepared to keep asking.

Thank you myusername for your helpful suggestion. Ds is doing DT and would like the opportunity to spend more time on his coursework so I will talk to him about this tonight.

It is also really helpful to have the teachers perspective on this.

I was looking back on my school days many many years ago (I did O levels). I managed to fail my chemistry mock badly and was asked to see the headteacher. She suggested I drop chemistry and when I said I would like to take the exam said " we understand you are only doing it for the experience". This made me work harder and I got a c grade.

Times have clearly changed a lot.

Also ds is not a natural academic. He will have to work very hard and persevere for all his subjects, so would rather reduce his burden by dropping the subject that he has least ability in and is not relevant to his future plans.

He only did a little better in his mock science subjects but he would like to do Biology a level so will have to work very hard to get the required level 6 (or consider Btec).

His older sibling was more academic and found (old style) GCSEs relatively easy. I would not have suggested that he drop a subject.