4-4 in Trilogy Science end year 11 recommending Foundation

[manlyago]

Bit disappointed as I feel it’s really limiting him. With hard work he could do better. The school says he may have a better exam experience/feel more comfortable. Feels an opt out.

He’s in a mixed (higher/foundation) class which doesn’t help. The biology is the one he struggles with the most. Retention/dyslexia.
We’re committed to helping him /tutor. He is very sporty (national level) and so misses a fair bit of school/ revision time.

Other subjects were OK - in the 5-7 range.

I’m not very familiar with the whole foundation/higher thing. Would welcome any thoughts/advice.

What year is he in now? 10? Nothing wrong with Foundation if it gives him confidence and he's not on the border where he'd be held back by the grade cap.

With the caveat that each school does things differently...

Assuming he's currently year 10 now, what are they recommending foundation for? Next round of mocks? Next years class grouping?

They don't have to officially declare his tier until just before the real exams, so if he'll still be in a mixed grouping next year this isn't a set-in-stone decision.

On foundation they can achieve from 1-1 to 5-5, on higher 4-4 to 9-9.

If he were my student I'd recommended doing foundation for the next mock, because if he scores slightly lower on higher he'd get a U, which doesn't help anyone. Then if he got and high 5-4 or a 5-5 because of applying himself before then I would put him in for higher in the mocks after that.

Higher is not recommended unless the student is likely to get at least a 6 (6-6 here I guess). It's too likely they will end up with no grade at all.

It sounds as though in your DC's circumstances that Foundation with the option to "bank" a 5-5 is the best option. There really isn't a huge amount of point in really pushing him just to get (say) a 6. Unless he wants to study science further, but you don't mention that.

Combined science is a bit inflexible in that you have to sit all higher or all foundation papers, so if you have a weaker science it pulls the rest down.

Assuming he is Y10? Decisions about tiers of entry are not made until March next year and changes can be made up until the day of the exam (although they cost the school more).

If he has got a 4-4 in his mock then would be better sitting foundation and work to get a 5-5 next year. Risk of taking higher tier paper is there is less support in lower tier questions so students can fall off the bottom and end up with a U.
If he wants to take higher tier he will need to show he could get a 6 in his next mocks.

Thanks all. Yes sorry he’s year 10 just now. He’s not wanting to continue with Science no. That’s reassuring thank you. Sometimes I feel the school underestimates the kids (they did with my oldest) so I’m a bit sensitive to it.

They’ve said the decision doesn’t need to be made yet.

I think we’ll get a tutor for him. His biology for example was at a time that he always seemed to play sport (plays for some first teams) so he missed so much of it. Never quite caught up. They’re protecting that time next year I think.

What do you think he could realistically achieve in Science and without negatively affecting his other subjects? If the answer is 6-6 or above then worth the conversation but probably not otherwise. As someone else has said, it's tricky if they are much weaker in one of the sciences as it pulls everything else down.

His maths is relatively strong 6/7 end year 10 so physics is ok although I don’t know his actual grade. Chemistry too seems better. It’s the biology. Maybe a 6-6 (or higher) but could be a lot of effort!

I’ve asked for the papers back and we’ll look into getting some help over the summer.

I mean given that he’s missed so much Biology. He could really bump it up with some help. Maybe!

I can recommend FreeScienceLessons for basic science concepts explained well in short 5 minute videos.
Primrose Kitten and MyGCSEScience also good, but longer and go in more detail.

Make sure he goes through his Year 10 exam paper and identify where he lost his marks (teacher will usually do this with him) then print off the specification for Paper 1 and colour green/amber/red for each topic.

If you print off the multiple choice questions for Paper 1 on past papers going back a few years then mark them from the mark scheme (you can find both on Maths Made Easy past papers if you google) you can see which he struggles on/gets wrong and that also gives you the topics/areas he is weak in to work on.

See if you can persuade him to make some notes/flash cards on these in the holidays as there's still a lot of the syllabus to go in Year 11 and if he ideally gets on top of Year 10 work he will then have time to work for Year 11.

Biology has the least maths/calculations so there's no easy marks for a science if he is good at maths. Sciences are content heavy so it's worth spending a bit of time consistently-say half an hour- a day on it.
I would say if he's getting the grades in his other subjects, then it's probably lack of knowledge that dropped his grade and he needs to spend some time concentrating on purely science to get it up.

The only way he will be sitting higher paper is if he gets 6/7 in end of unit tests/mocks from now on I would say, as there's still a load more content to come.
My ds was stronger on Paper 1 on all his sciences because he was able to spend longer revising in Year 10 than Year 11 where his other subjects started to demand more of his attention.

It's hard to work on your weaker subjects so a tutor should bring some enthusiasm into the equation, but it needs work on your son's part learning the content to do well. The tutor can help the parts he doesn't understand and exam technique.

Sorry for the essay, but hopefully there's something here that helps.

With foundation, there is less to revise and the questions are more straightforward. The material dropped really is harder & more complex imo. When DD dropped tiers we found all the stuff she couldn't get disappeared.
Less content and more straightforward questions could enable a 5-5 and maybe leave more revision time for other subjects. The risk with higher is dropping from his current 4-4 to 4-3 or even 3-3 or U.
He would have to do foundation for all papers or higher for all, he can't mix and match.

OP I taught a subject with F and H tiers (MFL not science) and tbh unless a student was fairly likely to achieve a 6, I would not recommend higher.

The F paper in my subject is a lot more accessible; students who are perhaps less able at the subject can really see what to do and that they can do it, which is enormously encouraging (rather than looking at a paper and thinking, wow, I can't do this at all). As pp say, if a student takes higher and doesn't do well, they could quickly drop to 3-3 or U. If currently working at a 4-4 then F is deffo the shout. A 5-5 may well be achievable.

I get that it sucks that one poorer science will drag the other two down, but 4-4 or 5-5 is a perfectly fine grade, esp if they are not planning to continue with science. You may know (or may not) but the GCSE certificate does not say H or F, it simply records the grade, so there is no stigma around doing foundation (not that there should be in any case). 4-4 or 5-5 would be fine for, say a primary school teaching career, which asks for a GCSE pass in science.

If he's at national level in his sport is he going to give that up to make time for science?

No right or wrong answer, but I think you probably need to assess which is more important - keeping up training/competing or getting a 6-6.

Thanks so much everyone! So so helpful.

I have organised a tutor for him (it turns out he had a sports fixture over the time his teacher went over the Biology paper so he’s not even seen it! So annoying! Not even his National sport just school cricket.) so the tutor will work with him for a few weeks (about ( sessions) over the summer and then every week once he’s back in school. We’ll see where that takes us. She seems great - has good reviews and she sets homework!

And @titchy he definitely won’t be giving up his sport! Sport (all sports) is his passion. I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive as he generally has time, it’s just been a run of training weekends in the run up and during his end year 10 exams which hasn’t helped. Hopefully having the tutor will help keep him on track as his organisation isn’t the best.