Foundation or Higher level maths GCSE

[Donuts000]

Hi,
DD is year 9 and maths is her least favourite subject and the one she struggles most with. Am I right to think if she takes foundation level the highest grade she could get is a 5?
At the start in Y9 she is getting 4s. Any teachers out there who know if that should mean foundation or higher level please? I think she can do higher if she's pushed.
Currently in lockdown if she only answers a few questions in lesson from the work set the teacher isn't asking why or asking for work to be finished, it's as if she's expecting them to fail, when I was at school you had to do all work set or they wanted to find out why (being lazy or don't understand it). I think DD can finish all of it but if she can get away with not doing it she won't!

You are correct that if you do foundation the highest you can get is a 5.
However a 5 is 'good enough' for most things except science based A levels.

'Getting 4s' rather depends on how the school marks. If they have done all the grade 1-3 syllabus and are now setting tests based on real GCSE grade 4 questions, then you would expect her to learn more in the next 2 years and thus expect higher grades.

However if they are doing one topic 'in depth' and she is 'only' getting 4s despite them attempting to teach her grade 6 stuff, then that is another matter.

Our school certainly doesn't make tier decisions in y9. Even going into y11 it has some pupils in a 'crossover' set where tier decision isn't necessarily finalised.

A 5 is a 5. No one knows which tier paper it was on.

She doesn't like maths and struggles with it. Would a 5 mar an otherwise sweep of 7s, or is it actually 'good enough' anyway?

If she's in Year 9, there is plenty of time to make the decision still. So I wouldn't even start to think about it yet.

In general, a school will not enter a child for Higher maths, unless they are likely to get a 6 or above. The Higher maths paper contains "harder maths" only, so a borderline student entering them opens up the risk that they will fail to get any risk at all.
A 5 is a pass and perfectly respectable.

Yes you don't need to decide this yet.
My DS Yr 11 is in one of the cross over sets. Took mocks in November. Had to spend most of his revision time on higher maths paper instead of spreading his revision time equally between different subjects. It was stressful. I'd much rather him take the lower paper and feel less stressed and come out with good grades for all his subjects.
The higher paper makes him feel like he is failing and can lose confidence. The questions are complicated.
The lower paper makes him feel more successful and confident as he can get lots of questions correct. They are written in a more straightforward way.
I think it's a shame the lower paper doesn't go up to grade 6 but a grade 5 maths is something to be proud of.

As everyone else has said they won't decide on tier of entry until the spring term of year 11.

As I understand it the jeopardy of having a bad day or two on the higher exams could mean that you'll fall off the bottom of the distribution and get a U.

The maths teachers will be experienced in this and will guide the decision making over what they see in the next two years.

They are probably just pleased she is engaging with some of the lesson however this may come back to bite her on the arse if she is not cementing her understanding of concepts.

As her parent and knowing she is not submitting all her work I would be talking to her. As teen says it does depend on how they are marking the work as to the grade she is being given.

@Cuddling57 they usually want students to be a good 6 to be put in for the higher paper as an off day can bring them down to a 5. The higher paper for AQA (we were told) has a strong 50% element trying to separate out the 7s 8s and 9s therefore for some children this can be soul destroying if there are questions they simply cannot answer if they are a grade 6.