Dd entered externally for gcse by own school

[Jm69]

Dd has missed a term of year 11 due to mental health issues. She’s at a top london girls school. She remained on the school role and we paid reduced fees during this period. She had limited access to education whilst in hospital but did some work although did miss her Mock exams. She went back to school at end of Feb and has reduced her GCSEs from 10 to 6 subjects.

Today she (and we) found out that she has been entered by her own school, where she has been since year 7, as an external candidate for her exams. I can only assume they fear that her results wil damage theirs. Is this allowed? Has this happened to anyone else? What should we do? Tia

[MinaPaws]

Do what you can to help her get all A*s. They'll be kicking themselves.

[IntheMotherhood]

Parents could ask at all open days/evenings:

• what proportion of pupils tend to be entered as external candidates for all secondary public exams.
  
• what numbers of pupils the school tends to 'move on' half way through GCSEs or A-levels for 'behaviour' reasons.
  
  All senior staff will be able to provide this figure.

[td113]

this is shocking! I am a freelance journalist for a quality national paper and would be very interested in writing about anyone with the experience of schools entering students externally to bump grades. Happy to speak off the record to protect you and your child. Email: [email protected]

[GnotherGnu]

There was a recent media furore about a supposedly high-performing school which was kicking out students who didn't get high grades half way through their A level courses. After the negative publicity, the school backed down

Yes. And this school then had the nerve to boast about its A Level results again this year. An education journalist (who should have known better) actually said it showed the school knew what it was doing.

That can't be correct, HPFA, because the media storm was last August and September, just prior to the start of the current school year. See, for instance, www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/01/st-olaves-allows-rejected-sixth-formers-to-return-to-school

[GnotherGnu]

I was just going to suggest you find an interested journalist, OP. It would make a fascinating story if someone revealed what top schools' results would look like if they entered everyone on the roll as at the beginning of Year 10, and if they took into account the results of pupils entered for A levels externally.

[Astronotus]

Lawyers working for a group of parents at the school initiated judicial review proceedings. The school capitulated and told the "kicked out" students they could return. The head was suspended and has now resigned.

[Walkingdeadfangirl]

This can't be legal, can it? How have other schools not jumped on this bandwagon. It seems to good to be true, just enter all a schools low achievers as external candidates and hey presto your schools results will improve dramatically.
Is it that legal/simple?

[horsemadmom]

The school involved is viciously litigious. This is very different to the St Olave's case as it is one pupil only- that we know of.

[FanDabbyFloozy]

@horsemadmom - must be private as state schools haven't the funds to be litigious!

I'd love to see some FOI requests on this though I am not sure if private schools need to respond.

[IntheMotherhood]

There was a body called Culling4Results that specialised in exposing this practise. You'll be hard pressed to find any of their findings online now...
Their twitter page is still there but links are dead.

[steveharley]

Did you choose the school based on its published results?
This is the obvious outcome of league tables and parental choice. No surprise here.

[Oratory1]

Classic example of everything that's wrong about performance management in education or the NHS. Organisations taking decisions based on maximising their score on a random performance measure rather than what's best for the child/patient. The best organisations will do what's best for the child and accept the impact

[TammyWhyNot]

The word ‘culling ‘ is interesting.
There is a much feted school with the name of a seaside town on the S Coast, a college with a bit of a personality as Head. Co-ed.

Someone I know also received an email by accident; an intimidating e mail to subject heads about “culling” students from course choices in which they would not be guaranteed an A/A*.

[td113]

@TammyWhyNot

Would you put your friend in touch with me, on the email address above, please?

[Jm69]

Thanks for all your comments. It seems that anecdotally this is an accepted practice. I’d be very interested to know how wide spread it is and indeed for School to have to report on the numbers of external candidates who are on their school roll they have sitting each year, along with the results of those internally entered. More transparency and less pressure on our teens, please!

[Jm69]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm so pleased to hear thta you turned things around so well. Its very encouraging to hear.

[Jm69]

its actually not NLCS

[Jm69]

Thanks fort all your comments, feedback and support. We have now spoken with the Deputy Head who is also Head of Pastoral Care about why this decision was taken. She maintains that it is their policy that if a child attends for less than 50% then they are entered as external candidates. THey have my daughter marked as absent for 57%. We have asked which policy this is in and have had no response. It is not in the examination policy. Not sure which other policy it would be in. DD now only taking maths and english this year. Lost all confidence to take the rest. She will resit elsewhere next year.

[Jm69]

PS She was absent because she was in hospital and attended school in the hospital whenever her health permitted.

[Mumoftwoyoungkids]

Happen to my godfather’s son over 20 years ago with his A levels from a top private school. When his parents kicked up a massive fuss they kicked him out completely. He sat his A levels at the local college.

To be fair he was an unmotivated lazy slacker but as he’d been with the school since the age of 3 then maybe a teensy bit of his lack of motivation could be connected to the school.

[ScrubTheDecks]

Jm69 : how utterly cruel. I am so sorry four your Dd. She has done so well to come back from her illness and to be faced with that from the school is 100% unsupportive.

Blatant prioritising of statistics over pupil welfare.

Good luck to your Dd, she is worth so much more than this heartless fee-grabbing school.

I hope other parents realise when searching for ‘top’ London schools that this is how their results are obtained

[Jm69]

Unfortunately there is currently no way of parents being able to check how many kids on the roll are not entered for exams as far as I am aware nor is there any way of finding out how well
Schools manage mental health of their students other than these sort of forums and word of mouth.

[W00t]

Maintained schools can no longer do this- all pupils on roll in Y11 are included in the KS4 performance tables, regardless of whether they sat GCSE or not. It makes sense to have pupils sit and get 1s and 2s than not be entered at all.
As independent schools do not have to be scrutinised in the same way, presumably they can still get away with this?

[Pengggwn]

In all honesty, I am with them. This makes no practical difference to your DD. Her illness isn't their fault, but if they enter her internally her results will affect their income. That is unfair, isn't it?

[ScrubTheDecks]

Pengggwn.
Startling lack of insight into what does and does not make a difference to a young person, and how they feel about themselves and their school, but accurate insight into how these exam-factories of schools market themselves.