Private schooling

[Guccigal321]

My DS has been private since y2 (he's particularly good at maths) now DD Is in her A level years I'm heavily considering moving her from state to private she's getting no where near as much work as DS who's only in y10 they aren't even setting her homework to do on an evening she's far too under worked I can't help thinking if her results don't deliver it's my doing she's not had the advantages of smaller classes and more attention as her brother. HELP !!!

If she's already started her A Levels, when are you planning on moving her? What does she want to do?

Pathology, moving her before Christmas if possible the longer i leave her the more she'll fall behind the other girls.

I meant what does she want to do about school? How were her GCSE results? Have you found a school that offers the same courses/ exam boards she is studying?

I don't set my A Level students the same amount of homework as GCSE. A Level Students should be capable of behaving like they're getting ready for university.

For my A Level students I expect:

1. They engage well in class and participate fully
2. Any additional exercises are completed in their study time/frees (often I give suggested extension work)
3. They are preparing and learning their key content as they go through the course
4. They are recommended a study guide. If they buy it and work through that it will support what we do in class
5. Any homework / prep I set to be completed in detail to a higher level
6. They access the study materials that I make available online to support their studies
7. Wider reading around the subject if they want the top grades

What I actually check and monitor:

• classwork
• essays
• homework
• any additional work they bring to me that they've completed

If they want anything additional then I happily provide it for them, but it's up to them to ask for it. I'm not spoon feeding 17/18 year olds.

Biology, psychology and English language she got 9s at GCSE she's asked four times of all teachers for more work they insisted by October if would have picked up its nearly December I cannot leave her any longer I'm worried he she'll forget what it's like to actually work outside of school, all 12 of her friends went to college so it's not like I'm taking her out a tight friendship circle.

How does your DD feel about moving?

You would need to check whether the new school could accommodate her subjects into their time table, and whether they study the same syllabus.

Also A levels move along very quickly. By Christmas they will have done a lot of work. If the new school have done different elements of the course to your DD she will find it very difficult to catch up.

She seems up for it, she's having far too much screen time which I never allowed at her current school due to the lack of work she's sat on her phone snap chatting or whatever all day she's so smart I can't help but think it's getting wasted.

So have you located a sixth form where she’ll be able to continue with exactly the same syllabus from the same exam board?

Do they have appreciably better A level results and university entry statistics.

Has she said she wants to move school?

She should of course move if it’s in her best interests - but at this stage of the A level course surely she should be pretty much setting her own study agenda?

But why isn’t she studying?

Teachers won’t take the exams for her!

A couple of things:
Is she completing existing work to a high standard and taking enough time on the work that's being set?

Is she independently reviewing lesson content and is she secure in all content so far this year?

I ask that as they are two basics and you'd be amazed how often teachers get asked for additional work when students aren't doing the basics. If I think about my subjects (English Language and English Literature at A Level), there's absolutely no point me setting additional work for a student who needs to revise and get secure on the basics before they move on.

If so, then the next thing I would be suggesting is to get a good study guide for each of the courses. Then work through the topics she's studied so far to develop application.

I hope this comes across as helpful rather than nitpicking, just it's not uncommon to get requests at A Level on things where the student isn't doing all the existing material.

I doubt any private school will take a new pupil a term into the lower sixth. You could consider applying for lower sixth to start in 2020 and write off this academic year.

Why on earth did you wait until she was 17 before wondering whether you should treat her equally to her brother?

She makes a full set of notes and writes them up in an exercise book after every lesson (not required) she sets herself this task but surely theirs more to a levels the making your own notes and the odd homework sheet.

Yes like reading around the subject and following up class work, both of which require initiative rather than being given homework. She won't necessarily get more at another school.

Teachers shouldn't need to set homework at A Level- she is supposed to read around her subject, look up past papers, do the questions, it's self-guided study! She should be doing the same number of hours in the classroom outside the classroom per week- so if 5 hours lessons, 5 hours study per week, per subject.

It's not just about making notes. It's what students do with them.

For example, it's quite common for some students to make lots of mindmaps or write their notes up in neat and file them away and then in their head tick it off that they've "done" their studying.

In reality what they should be doing is taking class notes, ensuring they've got them in an format they can revise from, then actively condensing the notes down to smaller formats (Eg knowledge grids at the end of topics / key flashcards / glossaries etc) and then using them as a study tool to learn that knowledge. Eg look cover write check, or review a topic and then look back at previous work and improve a response they've done previously, or look at the questions they lost marks and have another go to ensure they get full marks and so on.

As I mentioned earlier, I'd also be expecting an A level student to be doing independent study beyond the course (eg relevant podcasts / reading around the subject etc).

I think the "odd worksheet" comment is a little flippant too as there's nothing inherently wrong with worksheets. A well designed worksheet is an entirely valid thing to do.

Typical homework that I would set my A Level classes would include:

• watch a lecture / talk and make notes ready to discuss
• read a chapter of a novel and bring notes to the lesson
• technical exercises worksheets
• group presentation prep
• essay responses / essay plans

I typically set an hour a week of formal homework with the expectation that at A Level they should be using their initiative on private study. I also outline that expectation at the start of the year.

And I'm sure someone who got all 9s at GCSE knows how to study well.

But then what will happen when she goes to university and no one gives a shit how much time she spends studying?

Her masters she'll get at uni will show all her studying 👍🏽

Thanks everyone I'll have a think just want the best for her.

I think the point Velveteenfruitbowl was making is that nobody at university will be watching how much she studies or what she's doing.
She'll be expected to use her initiative and do more than copy up her lecture notes without a lecturer or professor saying "and now you need to read X... Please get a textbook and do the exercises".

As mentioned on other threads, Oxbridge admissions prefer state school applicants. Why don't you just get her a tutor to make sure she's at the correct level fir (I'm assuming) an end-goal if A*'s?

My DS is in L6th in a private school. He gets very little 'homework' as he is able to complete work set in Private Study or free periods. On two days per week he only has one double lesson so plenty of time. Students are expected to be making excellent revision notes as they go along. My DS is also studying for an EPQ and is reading/researching around his chosen topic. The idea is that research/draft is done this year and written up over Summer break, so that it's ready to be marked and Grade added to UCAS forms.