What happens to the kids who now won’t get into 6th form college for Alevels due to the algorithm?

[L00ptheL00p]

Where do they go? They can’t go back to their old schools and Autumn way too early for retakes after all this trauma and a 9 month education gap.

What on earth are they supposed to do?

Those who don't have the maths and English in previous years start level 1/2 and then do a level 3

That changed last year.

If you don’t have English or Maths you can only do a Level 1 course.

Even if you pass 15 GCSEs but for some reason haven’t passed an English GCSE or Maths GCSE you can only do a level 1 course. Even if you pass your level 1 course with 100% you cannot go onto Level 2 and Level 3 is a pipe dream.

Ds tried a Level 1 course. He walked out after 1 week as he had completed the theory work for 1 term in one lesson and because he was allowed to do the previous year, before they changed the rulings the Level 2 course he had also done a lot of the practical and the other sections of the practical course he had learned himself via YouTube.

No one has ever said anything about Ds not being in education or work.

Oliversmumsarmy Do you have a link to the change? I ask because many colleges up and down the country still allow students who do not have a 4 in Maths and English to enter level 2 courses as long as they are working towards Maths and English GCSEs (or in some cases level 2 functional skills). Some sixth forms allow certain pupils to enter A levels if they just missed a 4 in English or Maths, as long as they re take it alongside their A levels.

If you don’t have English or Maths you can only do a Level 1 course.

Mh da English mock was a 3. Hoped for 4 and predicted to make it.

College said he'd have to do level 2 course if he didn't have English.

Level 1 course are unusually entey level for students who haven't yet managed to achieve GCSEs or didn't pass at least a few.

It's designed that students can start lower and work there way up. Some people just take longer.

But yeah he'd have to take gcse English again.

Doing a level 1 course would be a waste of time for him. The rest of his grades were 6-9.

@Oliversmumsarmy

Do you have a link? If that's true our sixth form is operating illegally!!

We have students resisting maths and English alongside level 2 and in rare cases, level 3 qualifications.

10brokengreenbottles

I can only go by my local colleges.

The college Ds went to for the Level 2 course was the only one in about a 10 mile vicinity that still allowed you to do a Level 2 course with only Maths or English. When he went to initially register after GCSE results day I saw so many 16 year olds coming in with their parents explaining to the reception that they had failed English or Maths and the college they thought they were going to had said no to them and could they register at this college.
This college then followed every other college around here the following year hence why so many people couldn’t do the Level 3 course and when Ds tried to get on to another Level 2 course that complemented the level 2 course he had already completed and passed he was directed back down to the Level 1 courses which were really a waste of time. So he left.

I would be super quick in signing up for a Level 2 course if there is one on offer if your child doesn’t have English or Maths GCSE but I would be wary and have a back up plan if they decide to change it next year and your dc fails their Maths or English GCSE again and they can’t then go onto Level 3 and like Ds are then directed to going to do a Level 1 course.

Ds went into deep depression when he realised the career he had set his heart on and he was good at (98.5% average score in all of his tests and exams) Just because he couldn’t analyse a few poems or stories which have nothing to do with printing out an invoice and talking to a customer about what a job entails.

It seems so unfair.

No wonder we are having to import trades because we are not producing enough

Hercwasonaroll

I don’t know about 6th forms but the colleges around here you cannot get on anything higher than a Level 1 course without both English and Maths.

We can get to most places and would have travelled an hour + to get on the Level 3 course but we looked and couldn’t find 1 college that did the course and let you on without you having both English and Maths.

Some were asking for 5 other GCSEs as well.

Oh right. So it hasnt changed that's just how your local area is doing it?!

My ds college are still considering allowing him to do level 3 with gcse English alongside because it's a stem course and he got 7/8/9 on his stem subject mocks. He's autistic so not having English is due to inherent language difficulties.

But if he does level 2 then as long as he lasses with minimum of a merit then he'll get into level 3 afterwards.

So. My sons college took away grades. So everyone could do the course they wanted.

He was enrolled a few days ago on sport science level 3.

What happens if he doesn’t pass his English and maths. Are they going to downgrade him do you think ? I have tried to speak to someone about this but no one is answering the phones in these places as I assume they are closed.

Does anyone have a clue ?

That sounds like a local area issue and not a wholesale change of policy re courses at level 1,2&3.
Most places round here will let you do level 2 courses and resit Eng or Maths. You do have to have five passes in other subjects.

@Hercwasonaroll

That sounds like a local area issue and not a wholesale change of policy re courses at level 1,2&3. Most places round here will let you do level 2 courses and resit Eng or Maths. You do have to have five passes in other subjects.

DS college is 5 GCSEs 4-9 including English and maths for level 3.

Discretion applied on individual basis but it's uncommon.

Level 2 is for those who didn't get English or maths.

Generally if you didn't get both you'd do a level 1 because you have 2 GCSEs to resit but again discretion is applied and some do level 2.

It's an outstanding rated college which actually has the reputation to go with it. So they must be getting something right!

It just seems really mean to put them in the level 3 course. Enrol then. Send them all the info and then take them off them and downgrade them. That seems cruel.

@itsgettingweird Sounds similar to round here.

Not sure where @Oliversmumsarmy is based but her experience of level 1 qualifications does seem odd.

I've just looked at our local college. Anything construction based does automatically start at level 1. I guess this is because of the practical skills nature of the job.

Subjects like business, dentistry and media start at level 3 for most.

@Paranoidmarvin My DS was offered a place on a Level 3 course based on his predicted grades. We were told very firmly he needed Maths English and Science or he would have to do Level 2 and then Level 3. Anyway, he got 3 in both English exams. He was totally gutted as it was unexpected. When he went to enrol he was out on the Level 3 course anyway because so many hadn't got a level 4 or above that year. I think to a certain extent for the college it's fitting as many of the closest fit in to the course.

Hercwasonaroll

What do you mean by odd?

Just the fact that you can't do anything above level 1 without English and maths GCSE. That's certainly not true here. The only subject that is true for is construction subjects. Which you can't get on anything above level 1 even with E&M GCSEs. Pretty much all other subjects have a 1,2,3 option depending on GCSE results.

Was your experience just construction based subjects?

Yes it was a trade.

But this rule is the same for all courses.

The issue was he had done brilliantly on the Level 2 course and presumed he would be going on to level 3. To find out that the college had changed the criteria and he couldn’t qualify in the trade he wanted.

If he had known there was going to be a change in criteria he would have chosen a different course altogether. He had 2 options when he started college.

He chose the sensible option and it has blown up in his face.
Now he can’t go back and do the course he wanted to do as an alternative to a trade course.

Finding out that there are colleges that let you onto the level 3 course or even doing another level 2 course just makes it a bit of a kick in the teeth.

Fwiw No one has flagged up Ds hasn’t been in education or training since September

That's bonkers for him, a real case of computer says no.

The only "check" is start of y12.

Is it English he's not passed? January resit might be worth a go as grade boundaries could be all over.

@CrazyHorse I have spoken to someone with the knowledge I needed. They don’t shift them down to a different level if the grades are not there. Fhey monitor for the first six weeks. If the child is struggling then they discuss with parents etc if they want to shift down.
My son will be fine so I’m not worried now at all. So just waiting really to see if he will have to do his English and maths next June.
So he has gone to be happier and so did i. Now awake and reading again. And am still Angry.

Hercwasonaroll

Ds will never pass English. His dyslexia and dysgraphia is really bad.
Neither myself or his Dsis or df has passed English Language GCSE or equivalent and it is too late now as he is now too old for the college courses.

He is now working in his second choice job (really precarious career which is why it was his second choice) and I don’t think he can go back.
He has come to terms with not doing the career he wanted. Like a lot of the students in his class who all passed the course but because they didn’t have both English and Maths GCSEs they too have had to reassess where they go.

All those saying you can do Level 2 and level 3 courses alongside Maths and English GCSEs. Be careful as it could be taken away next year and if you pass the course but still don’t have Maths and English you could find yourself in the same position.

All those saying you can do Level 2 and level 3 courses alongside Maths and English GCSEs. Be careful as it could be taken away next year

Where have you heard this @Oliversmumsarmy ?

CrazyHorse

I am speaking from experience

@Oliversmumsarmy I don't understand. What experience, the government stopping funding of courses? I had no reason to suspect finding fit Maths and English might be withdrawn. At the moment I understand it's a prerequisite of finding that schools and colleges provide Maths and English to those who haven't achieved a grade 4 so it would be a massive U turn. I think most DC who end up passing have extra tutoring anyway

As I have said in earlier posts

Ds didn’t pass English GCSE but was allowed to study the Level 2 trade course which he passed top of his class with 98.5% average score in all of his tests and exams

He failed the English GCSE once again

The same as a lot of the students in his class.

Then when they went to book themselves on the Level 3 course which previously you could do alongside taking English and Maths as an extra lesson the criteria had changed.

If you hadn’t got both English and Maths the only courses you could do was the Level 1’s

This college was the only college originally that allowed you to take Level 2 courses without having both English and Maths

I have looked at colleges all around and Ds didn’t mind travelling but we couldn’t find one college who allowed you to take the Level 3 course alongside English and Maths lessons for those who hadn’t passed both.

It is the colleges that have changed. I don’t think it is about government funding.

Out of ds’s class of about 20, about 16 passed the course and out of that only 3 people were qualified enough to go on to do the Level 3 course.
One of ds’s friends now works in a pub, none that we knew of actually continued in education and most have spent the last year not doing very much.

Such a waste when we have a shortage of trades in this country.