Can you drop a GCSE in Year 11?

[spockehh]

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this. I'm not a Mum but I'm a much older sister and I've helped raised my younger sister. I know it's not the same but I need some advice.

My sister is in her final year of school now. She chose French in the beginning last year but was really struggling so swapped to music. She had friends in the class and had enjoyed music before so that's what she wanted to do. The teachers even said it would be good for her to swap.

Obviously this was a terrible mistake. Last year she had so many days off because she'd wake up and cry and not go to school. This year is really important so she goes in, even though she still cries on the days she has music and then spends the class in a separate room. She doesn't play an instrument, never has, and I don't know why they agreed to let her do the class when she doesn't play.

She's got an exam coming up where she has to perform and she can't. I've tried sitting with her and tried to make it fun but she's just got such a horrible association with it now that she just gives up.

Her mental health is degrading because of this class and it's going to effect her other grades. I know they'd have paid for her exams by now but at this point I would 100% pay the "fine" if it meant she didn't have to do this class.

We've met with the school before because of her poor attendance last year and they just seemed more focused on that than what was actually causing her to miss school.

I know what it's like to hate a class like this, to be filled with anxiety all the time. But I also know how useless these classes usually end up being for the future. She's doing well in other subjects, she's incredible at art, but I know she could be doing better if she didn't have to worry so much and spend so much time in the "quiet room" to calm down because of one subject that she doesn't even plan on doing anything with.

So I guess I just want to know if she can drop the class? Has anyone else had a child drop a class this late on? Did the schools just end up telling you they have to do it?

She can absolutely drop a subject like music in yr 11. Especially if this is the root of her problems. I would just warn to be certain that the music IS the root of the the problem and not there isn't projection onto that subject, which is masking a larger problem. Good luck!

There is a typo - sorry. So I'm saying be careful to make sure that the Dsis isn't projecting her anxiety into the music subject when actually she's is generally anxious and needs support for it.

Dropping subjects in y11 isn't the norm but isn't unheard of either.

They wouldn't have accepted her on a music course if she wasn't capable of passing it and performance is a key element, so I'm guessing she's singing.

Your sister's parents/guardian need to speak to the head of year about how she's feeling and see what support can be put in place on a more holistic level. It's not unheard of for a student experiencing stress and anxiety to displace those feelings onto one subject or situation, only for it to be a different issue when the first subject/situation is removed.

That's not to say that dropping a subject would be a no, but from experience i would say there's more going on than one subject

If she is already not actually attending the classes then to me it would seem to be in everyone's best interests to formalise the arrangement.

An appropriate adult needs to ask for a discussion with the school. You would need a plan on what she is going to do in the ~5 hrs per fortnight she is not in music lessons.

For DD1 (late diagnosed SpLD) this was to work in the 'Referral unit' (normally where the poorly behaved kids got sent), and I promised I would ensure she had a plan as to what she would do in those sessions. For DD1 though this was only from Feb half term of y11 so not for as long.

Schools don't like pupils dropping subjects except in rare circumstances as it runs the risk of opening the floodgates and others asking to drop things too.

They won’t have paid for her exam entry yet, not till next year, so there will be no financial penalty.

If her attendance is terrible then it would be in the interests of the school to have her in not doing music rather than the other way around.

There needs to be a meeting with the school to discuss all these issues and to put a proper plan in place.

Thanks so much, everyone, I honestly wasn't expecting any responses.

@lumpy76 She doesn't exactly enjoy school so I wouldn't say Music is the only problem, but Music is definitely the major factor here. She copes well with everything else, it's just this class that's really messing with her. She'll cry on the way to school, she missed days last year just because of this class, it's only this class she'll miss and go to the quiet room for. I'd say this is definitely what's causing the stress.

@LolaSmiles She isn't singing, that's the thing, she's playing keyboard and I don't even know how that was allowed. We were told by the teachers it would be fine and maybe that was niave of us, definitely, but this is what she wanted to do and with the teachers supporting us we assumed she'd get the help she needed. Obviously I can't say this is the only thing that could be causing anxiety, but if you read my reply to lumpy76 you'll see what I mean, it's definitely Music that's the main problem here.

@TeenPlusTwenties Right now she's basically doing that, when it's too overwhelming she'll go to the quiet room (basically a referral room) and spend time with the support workers in there. If she wasn't so stressed about the class she could probably get a lot more work done during that time. When she doesn't go there and she goes to the Music classes she cries during them, the teacher does nothing. It's horrible to hear that when she comes home. I will have to see if we can get in touch with the school again, but I get the impression they won't care.

@noblegiraffe She's in Year 11 now, she'll have been out in for the exams. We've met with the teachers before but they cared more about her attendance percentage rather than the reason she didn't want to go. I doubt their opinion will have changed but I can only try.

If they did keyboard in lower school then I can see why it would be allowed. I wasn't sure how many schools actually have instrumental input as it varies place to place. GCSE music was only grade 4 standard to get an A/A* when I did the course so getting B/C standard for performance isn't that hard. I wouldn't beat yourself up about the decision to choose it as it doesn't seem like at the time it was a bad decision.

Moving forward, PP are right about possibly formalising the current arrangement if she's already not attending those lessons.

There needs to be support in place for her on a more holistic level I would imagine as ongoing attendance issues from y10 aren't going to get any better towards GCSEs without a proper plan.

spock Although they put in / load up provisional entries the formal entry isn't usually until the Spring term of y11, I think.

@LolaSmiles They did do keyboard in the lower years, not on a proper level or anything but they did. They got a new teacher and he's very strict about it all, from London, and he's said in the past that the children here are too slow, don't care enough, blah blah. It's awful. She's trying so much more now with her attendance, it's just this class she'll go to a separate place. Last year she'd miss the whole day, she knows how much more important the days are now. I'd like to think the teachers will listen this time around as they have to have noticed what's happening, but I don't have high hopes.

@TeenPlusTwenties I can't say I know how it works, but apparently she has her first practical exam for music soon so I just assumed they have put her in for them by now. Will have to check.

Ok, so it sounds like there's some background in instruments but not always. One school I worked in did singing and electric drums as options for those who didn't have separate instrumental lessons. It seems each school varies significantly.

From your update, I wonder if the new teacher thinks the school have set the bar too low for GCSE Music. When I took it, my school said we had to have passed grade 3 music or be able to demonstrate playing to that level, but most of us were grade 5-8 on instruments. He may be frustrated that he's got to change how he teaches to account for a much lowe level of competency.

The practical exams, I believe, are done internally and the recordings are sent off in the spring to the board for marking, but I may be out of date on that.

Hopefully the teachers can try to get to the bottom of what's going on. Dropping music seeks logical, but it would need to be hand in hand with some wider support to avoid any feelings of anxiety transferring to the next subject she's worrying about.

100% drop it. I wish I never took it, I had done no grading, but was playing grades 6-8 pieces on two instruments. I hated the theory side- I did have a crap teacher though (opinions of all music students i know over a 6 year period!), my son now goes to that school, and they have the most amazing teacher, that I’m a little jealous!